Like the many, many other complaints on here as well as other internet sites, I too have a faulty transfer case on my AWD. I took mine in to the dealer because I was experiencing a burning oil smell. The replaced the transfer case seal at a cost of $1700, it didn't work, still leaked oil. They replaced it again since the first seal was "under warranty" about a month later, still did not work. Now, as you would expect, I am told the whole transfer case needs to be replaced. They have offered to do so for another $800+ dollars with no labor charge but they also seem very reluctant to do so. I am guessing there is more wrong then what they are telling me and they know they will just see me back in there in a few more months for more repairs. I have spent $4,000 on repairs in the past 8 months and my 2003 Murano has become a money pit. I still owe on it, so I can't afford to get rid of it, not that anyone would buy it. I am done with the dealership which everyone advised me not to go to but I thought I was making a good decisions since they are Nissan, stupid choice on my part. I will never buy another Nissan again, it has been nothing but problems and the really sad thing, the vehicle and a sturdy, good handling vehicle. Nissan is losing a lot of customers in this process by not owning up to their faulty product. I guess when you make enough money, it's no big deal to lose a few hundred of us in the process!

- Boonville, MO, USA

The cvt transmission in my 2003 Nissan Murano has failed (135,000 miles) and the dealer (norris Nissan of ellicott city, md) says the repair will cost over $6,000. I have read on the edmonds car chat site that there are thousands of similar complaints. This is potentially a very dangerous situation as well as an expensive one.

- Ellicott City, MD, USA

Purchased this vehicle with 20,000 miles on it, kept well maintained, drove 90% highway miles mostly commuting to care for elderly person. Front struts leaked and failed without warning at approx 60,000 miles, then had loss of power, transmission/driveshaft began "howling noise" and we could smell faint oil smell, took to dealer were told it was the transmission valve body which they fixed under warranty, that they could detect no oil smell or source for same, and that cvt howl was just the normal sounds of that type of transmission. We specifically asked whether there are any known problems or failures with drivetrain assemble components, because we heard of many other strut failures by Murano owners after our struts failed prematurely. We were told there were no reports of any trouble, not to worry about it. The howl never went away, and the oil smell came and went. Sept. 4, we pulled out of our driveway drove about 50 yards down the street and hear a horrible thumping noise, like a flat drive, we stopped immediately and checked, no flat tire. We started the car again and drove a few feet, same noise. We parked the car and had it towed to dealer. We are told the transfer case "grenaded" that we must have been driving it hard (we were going about 10 mph), that it would be $4000 to repair! the tech asked if we had been hearing any unusual noises before the failure, we told him we had, and we had reported it to the dealer when it was under warranty, but they refused to help with the repair costs. I checked on the internet and spent 6 hours reading thousands of similar transfer case failure stories on Muranos with all levels of mileage on them, many had been told, like we were, that warning signs were nothing when their vehicles were still under warranty. The dealer also tried to charge us $2800 for the part, which we found for $1518 from another Nissan dealer. This is a known problem, has caused vehicles to stop in traffic and should be a recall defect. Thank you

- Edgerton, WI, USA

This car has a serious safety flaw in that it hesitates from an idling stop. When you press on the gas while sitting with the engine idling the car will just sit there and then lurch forward suddenly. I first had this problem with the vehicle in 2005 or thereabouts, took it to the dealer (wilde Nissan waukesha wi) who contended they could find nothing wrong with the car. This was/is a very intermittent problem which comes and goes without warning, you never know when it will happen. I subsequently took the vehicle back to the dealer several times and got the same story. Eventually the dealership changed hands and the new owner (boucher Nissan waukesha wi, same address and location as original dealership) was diligent about researching and finding the problem. It was diagnosed as a "valve body problem" by the boucher folks. Nissan refused to honor repair claims and costs which were estimated to be around $1500 because the vehicle was "out of warranty" at the time boucher identified the defective condition. I firmly believe that Nissan should have honored repair costs as this is a serious safety flaw in this vehicle which could result in a crash or serious injury if not death of driver. Nissan has taken a very negligent and non caring consumer response position on this matter. The NHTSA should take Nissan to task to repair this serious safety defect in this vehicle before someone is seriously injured or killed because of the defective condition.

- Brookfield, WI, USA