RecklessMaker
Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2023
- Messages
- 9
Update!
After almost 6 months, I finally got an ETA on a replacement battery. At the end of January and out of the blue, Nissan called to say the replacement battery would arrive late April or early May. Additionally, they are providing a loaner and gas until then.
Fast-forward to now, and a lot has happened in the last week. TL;DR: Nissan may have shipped two defective, reman 30kWh batteries instead of a new 40kWh.
On Saturday (3/9) I called the dealer to ask that they power on the car so that my pay-per-mile insurance could get a signal from it. At the end of that call they mentioned that the replacement battery had already shipped. A whole 1-2 months ahead of schedule!
Then on Tuesday (3/12) I get a call from the dealer I originally brought the car to saying that the battery had arrived and asking to bring the car back. That first dealer bricked the car then gave me the runaround for months afterward, so I absolutely did not want them touching it again. In a follow-up text, the service advisor also said that the battery can't be transferred to the new dealer because it is VIN-specific. Though this dealer had gotten literally everything else wrong up to this point, I was still concerned. During that months-long runaround, "can't" more often meant "can't be bothered". So I left the new dealer voicemail yesterday (3/14) asking whether this was the battery they had been tracking.
The old dealer really wanted to make the battery go away ASAP, so I called the new dealer again this morning (3/15). They said that they had received the battery and installed it last night, but that Nissan had just issued them a stop-work order because the replacement battery is somehow defective. They have been ordered not to touch the car, Nissan has a specialist working on a fix, and they will call me back on Monday (3/18) or Tuesday (3/19) with more information.
The one loose end was that they didn't seem 100% confident that the battery they installed came from the previous dealer. So, I called that dealer to confirm. Unsurprisingly, nobody picked up the phone. However, they did return my voicemail surprisingly quickly (especially considering it was the only voicemail they have ever returned). The service manager "confirmed" (doubt) that they still have the battery they received on Monday (3/11), and that Nissan had sent out an email regarding my vehicle. He couldn't find the email to read to me, but he summarized it as "not to install the 30kWh batteries as of right now. [unintelligible] ...once the battery is installed, the check engine light could pop on."
This seems to be the issue that the other dealer was referring to. If true, it does not inspire confidence. Worse, he said it was a 30 kWh pack, not 40. If that's the case, it's probably a remanufactured pack. Last I heard, Nissan discontinued production of the 30 kWh pack years ago.
The service manager also said that the new dealer shouldn't have received a battery for my car. That either the new dealer is mistaken or that they installed the wrong battery. On the one hand, this makes sense; I would expect Nissan to have some sort of check preventing two replacement batteries being issued to the same car at the same time. On the other hand, having worked in a giant company myself, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. This dealer has also been wrong before, so I take everything they say with a mountain of salt. In fact, if true, this would be the first thing they've been right on.
So that's where I'm at! Seems like there's more than a little chaos at Nissan HQ at the moment.
After almost 6 months, I finally got an ETA on a replacement battery. At the end of January and out of the blue, Nissan called to say the replacement battery would arrive late April or early May. Additionally, they are providing a loaner and gas until then.
Fast-forward to now, and a lot has happened in the last week. TL;DR: Nissan may have shipped two defective, reman 30kWh batteries instead of a new 40kWh.
On Saturday (3/9) I called the dealer to ask that they power on the car so that my pay-per-mile insurance could get a signal from it. At the end of that call they mentioned that the replacement battery had already shipped. A whole 1-2 months ahead of schedule!
Then on Tuesday (3/12) I get a call from the dealer I originally brought the car to saying that the battery had arrived and asking to bring the car back. That first dealer bricked the car then gave me the runaround for months afterward, so I absolutely did not want them touching it again. In a follow-up text, the service advisor also said that the battery can't be transferred to the new dealer because it is VIN-specific. Though this dealer had gotten literally everything else wrong up to this point, I was still concerned. During that months-long runaround, "can't" more often meant "can't be bothered". So I left the new dealer voicemail yesterday (3/14) asking whether this was the battery they had been tracking.
The old dealer really wanted to make the battery go away ASAP, so I called the new dealer again this morning (3/15). They said that they had received the battery and installed it last night, but that Nissan had just issued them a stop-work order because the replacement battery is somehow defective. They have been ordered not to touch the car, Nissan has a specialist working on a fix, and they will call me back on Monday (3/18) or Tuesday (3/19) with more information.
The one loose end was that they didn't seem 100% confident that the battery they installed came from the previous dealer. So, I called that dealer to confirm. Unsurprisingly, nobody picked up the phone. However, they did return my voicemail surprisingly quickly (especially considering it was the only voicemail they have ever returned). The service manager "confirmed" (doubt) that they still have the battery they received on Monday (3/11), and that Nissan had sent out an email regarding my vehicle. He couldn't find the email to read to me, but he summarized it as "not to install the 30kWh batteries as of right now. [unintelligible] ...once the battery is installed, the check engine light could pop on."
This seems to be the issue that the other dealer was referring to. If true, it does not inspire confidence. Worse, he said it was a 30 kWh pack, not 40. If that's the case, it's probably a remanufactured pack. Last I heard, Nissan discontinued production of the 30 kWh pack years ago.
The service manager also said that the new dealer shouldn't have received a battery for my car. That either the new dealer is mistaken or that they installed the wrong battery. On the one hand, this makes sense; I would expect Nissan to have some sort of check preventing two replacement batteries being issued to the same car at the same time. On the other hand, having worked in a giant company myself, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. This dealer has also been wrong before, so I take everything they say with a mountain of salt. In fact, if true, this would be the first thing they've been right on.
So that's where I'm at! Seems like there's more than a little chaos at Nissan HQ at the moment.