Seat Latches Prove to Be a Problem
Question: The upper portion of the seat on my Nissan Sentra broke recently while I was reaching into my pocket to get some change. I almost had an accident. A friend told me that a lot of Nissans do this and that somebody was looking into the problem. Is there a known problem? --T.U.
Answer: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is conducting an investigation into reports that as many as 1.5 million Nissan cars produced between 1982 and 1984 have a potentially dangerous seating defect.
The agency has received 96 complaints from motorists that the back of the car’s seat can suddenly slip backward. The complaints have blamed 22 accidents and 13 injuries on the alleged defect, agency spokesmen have said.
The safety administration recently intensified the investigation, stating it would conduct an engineering analysis in which the actual seats would be subject to testing.
The failure of rear seat latches often occurs in the same way your seat broke. People reach into their pockets to get change, pushing all their weight against the back of the seat as they stretch out their legs. When a particularly heavy person does this, so much weight is put on the latching mechanism that it simply fails. While the seat should not break in any case, you probably don’t want to test how strong it is.
Q: I recently purchased a new car and am confused about the warranty. Do I have to take the car back to the dealer who sold me the car or can I take it to any dealer? --D.S.
A: You should not feel alone in your confusion. A recent survey by Allied-Signal, a major producer of auto parts, found that two-thirds of new car owners said their dealer told them nothing about the warranty at the time of the sale.
Under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, manufacturers are prohibited from making warranties contingent on the use of their repair shops or parts. The only exceptions are if the manufacturer provides a product free of charge or if the government grants a waiver.
That means, of course, you can take your car to any sort of garage to perform the recommended service in the owner’s manual, and it will not invalidate your warranty. It also means you can buy oil filters that are not produced by the original manufacturer and it won’t affect the warranty.
In either case, you want to find a good garage and buy good-quality parts. You have just invested thousands of dollars, and you don’t want to save a few dollars that could eventually harm your car.
Q: I own a 1987 Subaru XT GL that I took in for a routine servicing. The next afternoon, there was a high-pitched noise, and by evening the transmission was popping out of gear. The dealer told me that the transmission was ruined and assured me it would be covered under my extended warranty. But an inspector who examined it claimed that it was operated with no transmission fluid in it and refused to pay for the repair. The dealer won’t fix it either. I understand these problems are common with such warranties. Is there anything I can do? --M.W.S.
A: Unfortunately, extended warranties seldom provide any real benefit to motorists. Car salesmen push these warranties because they are extremely profitable for dealerships, not because they are doing you a service.
Most of these extended warranties are sold by a third party. The original manufacturer and the dealership have nothing to do with them. Various state agencies have no jurisdiction over them, either. In other words, there is a total lack of accountability.
Just about your only recourse at this point is small-claims court. If you can get an affidavit from the dealership that the car had the proper level of transmission fluid when it was serviced, you will have a very strong case.
