Wheel bearing went bad at 37K. My mechanic, who is an honest guy, told me I should go back to Nissan and have them cover it under warranty because there is no way a wheel bearing should go bad at 37K. I went to Nissan and told them there was a wheel bearing issue and they told me it would be covered under warranty but if it's not the wheel bearing, then it would cost me 150$ for the diagnostic. I was sure it was the wheel bearing so I said go ahead. They later called back and told me it would not be covered under warranty because I caused the issue by running into a curb and hitting the axle and messing up my wheel bearing (I don't run into curbs. The only time I very carefully and slowly ran over a small curb is when my Nissan provided tires completely blew out in the middle of a highway and I had to get to safety because there was no shoulder on the highway. I also don't know if they were making this assumption because I was a female, asian driver). I asked them how they knew this is what caused the damage and asked them if there is damage on my axle. They said there isn't damage on my axle but there is damage on my rim. I then asked them how they knew something hit my axle then. They kept talking in circles and I got upset because they weren't listening to me and just trying to get out of the warranty.

I called my mechanic and he said that whatever damage they're claiming was on the rim was not extensive enough for him to even consider it to be a factor in damaging my wheel bearings and told me they were just trying to get out of their warranty and that they always do this.

I had my fiance call back and talk to the manager and the manager was actually polite and signed off on it to be covered under warranty. The service advisor was nothing but rude and condescending to me though. I'm happy with the service manager's decision and his politeness but the dealership service advisors need training on how to be more polite about situations like these. I know they're nothing but money hungry scammers but I can clearly see that the way he treated me and my fiance (male) was completely different. In addition, this isn't the first time that they denied my warranty. My CV boot had to be replaced at 40k and they refused to cover that under warranty as well. I had two mechanics tell me that Nissan needs to cover it and that there was a tiny hole and seems like a manufacturing problem but then the dealership told me that it was completely slashed. Moral of the story: don't let the scumbag dealership scam you. Document everything and spread the word.

Update from Jul 6, 2016: CV boot problem was discovered at 30K not 40k (Typo).

Problems started in August of 2014, many trips to service department. Finally in June 2015, new CVT Transmission installed. Since new CVT Transmission installed,not even 3 full months or 3000 miles, car has severely shuddered/jerked worse than before replacement. Again, service unable to duplicate to get computer documentation for Nissan. Loud front end noise being heard since new replacement. I was told this was a wheel bearing. New wheel bearing installed. After 3 different complete stop and restarts, noise is still present. Current mileage on car, less than 29,000.

First off I was nearly killed when the hood latch failed to close properly and the hood flew up and smashed into my windshield blinding my vision while driving. I almost died. When I initially brought it to the dealership they looked at me like I was nuts. I have NEVER seen a hood not stay closed with the safety latch feature even if the hood was inadvertently opened. Substantial damage occurred to the hood and fenders and amazingly shortly thereafter a recall notice was sent to me regarding failure in hood latches properly securing and possibly causing hoods to open while driving . WOW ! To the dealerships credit they finally fixed the hood and fender damage under warranty.

Now there is a wheel bearing issue. The brakes and tires had worn at an amazingly fast rate. I didn't think much of tires and brakes wearing out at 25k miles, especially with the low quality of parts used on new cars. I bit the bullet and installed new brakes and tires with hope that it would alleviate the front end growling that was unbearable to listen to. Well to my amazement the front end growling persists and it is likely the front wheel bearings are SHOT.

I am bringing the car back to the dealership next week to see if my warranty will cover wheel bearing replacement. I expect to be looked at like I was with the hood latch mishap and also expect a recall notice soon to follow on wheel bearing failure on 2013 Nissan Altimas.

Its just sad you spend so much money om a new car and they beginning to disintegrate after 25,000 miles. I will surely report back after my dealership visit next week.

Update from May 14, 2015: brought to dealership and they confirmed bad rt front wheel bearing and replaced no charge

under 5yr/60k warranty. they got me for an alignment $89 but I was ok with that.

I am back yet again with by far the problem I have reported yet. I was driving on a highway where the speed limit is 40 mph and after 5 minutes of driving I hear a loud roaring noise coming from the front passenger tire area. The noise was loudest at 45 to 50 mph and also when the car was coming to a stop. Further into my drive a vibration in the gas pedal became present along with the noise. I also heard crackling noise from the passenger front tire area. It got so bad I pulled in a parking lot and called roadside assistance to send a tow truck to bring it to the dealer.

I got to the dealer and they test drove it and confirmed my fears, but worst. Both wheel bearings were failing and my brakes were shot. This is way to soon for bearings to go out. You normally don't see this in cars that are 20 months old with 60k. Most cars have well over 100k when they fail. To my misfortune I did not purchase a extended warranty and I had to foot the bill. So after 2 wheel bearings and a set of front brakes, a tire, alignment, and my brake fluid flushed cost me over $1400.

Update from Aug 29, 2018: Had to replace bearings yet again at 129k. Something is definitely flawed in the design of this car. Apparently bearing are only good on this car for about 60k.