thecybergurus.com

** I’ll be moving this article and future information to the class action site, I’ve had so many responses to this article, that I think I’ll try and push for a class action suit with an attorney. As soon as I collect 100 names, I’ll forward it along to the legal dept. and see what happens. Thanks to everyone for their comments, please share this information across the internet.

My story:

Over the last 5 months I’ve been fighting with Nissan to get my 2005 Titan repainted or replaced due to a defect in the paint that cause it to chip extremely easy. I’ve only had it for 15 months, and 13k miles, but it has more large “rock chips” on the hood, roof, fenders and doors then my last truck of 10 years had.

I first noticed the chips in Aug of ‘06, 6 months after I purchased it while washing it. It was a large chip on the hood, so I went to the local autobody shop and bought some touch-up paint, to fill in the chip. While I was filling it in, I noticed some other small chips in the front of the hood, this seemed odd to me, and a little too many for a truck only 6 months old.

In Dec. of ‘06 I notices another large chip while filling up with gas, it was a large chip in the rear driver side window well. I then decided to look at my hood chip again and noticed several large chips in the middle of the hood. it was at this point I decided to have the dealer look at it.

In Feb. of ‘07 I took it to the dealer to have the breaks looked at, which turned out to be the Nissan break issue that so many owners have had, and required complete replacing. They told me that the chips looked like ordinary rock chips, and they didn’t cover that type of damage, but they would send out a Nissan rep. to do some further testing. I had to take my truck in to have a paint thickness test done, then again the next day because they didn’t get a photo of the guy acutally doing the thickness test. The rep. stated that the paint was within thickness specs, and there was nothing they would do to correct it since it was normal rock chips. So I escalated it to Nissan consumer affairs, after review and a couple more weeks, they came to the same conclusion, without even looking at the truck!

At this point, my only option was to open a case with the BBB Autoline. But first I wanted to do some more research and ammunition gathering, so I went to a local autobody shop for an estimate. Well as it turns out, they had to have their paint rep. come in the next day, and look over the truck before they could do an estimate because they thought there must be a defect in the paint, and didn’t want to warranty it if it wasn’t done correctly. Sure enough, the paint rep. did a tape test, where he put masking tape on the hood over the chips, and proceeded to pull of more paint in 2 different spots. So he said they would have to do a full strip on the truck in order to warranty their work, which added about another $1,000 to the quote, total of around $5,300.

*Update* I just had an arbitration with the Better Business Bureau last Thursday, and I’m waiting on the decision whether or not they will replace my truck or not.

*Update* I found out that my claim from the BBB was declined, now my only course of action is a law suit which I am considering. I am currently in the process of getting people together to fight this, as well as visiting other body shops to gather information on repair costs and opinions about what is wrong if anything with the paint. If you have the same problem, any information or can help in any way please comment below.

Some pictures of my truck, there are also large chips, similar to the one in the 4th picture on the rear passanger side door, and another about the same size in the rear driver side door window well, as well as some on the roof. Too many chips to post them all, but you get the idea.

*Update* 8/8/2007

I heard back from my attorney today, and he said that paint issues are very difficult to win. He has had hundreds of Titan brake cases, but never paint claims. At this point Nissan is only offering me $1000 to settle, while this is better than nothing, it is far below what a full paint job, plus decrease in value equals.

I would say that everyone needs to also file suits before going to BBB since he says this is now evidence against me. This is where I filed my suit, it’s easy, only takes a few min. and can be done online. http://www.nissanlemonlaw.com/ He said it takes at least 100 people to get a class action suit off of the ground, so we will need a lot more people. I’ll be posting online on my site as well as other websites to help spread the word. Nissan should not be allowed to get away with this poor paint! Needless to say this will be the last Nissan I ever buy!!