Steering lock failure, bypass kit, key fobs, dealer charges, Nissan CS sucks, oh my!

Portlis

So, I own a 2009 370z that I bought new in 08'. In 2012, my steering lock failed for the first time. I fixed it by hitting it with a hammer and cutting the brown wire like people around here recommended. Problem solved. In 2013, I brought it in for regularly scheduled maintenance and by then they told me that there had been a recall on their faulty piece of crap steering locks, so they insisted on replacing it. Like the fool I was, I agreed to let them do it. Hey, they must have fixed the problem, right? I should have known.

And yes, before I go any further, in hindsight I never should have trusted that Nissan fixed the problem. I should have just pulled the stupid fuse and been done with it, but I didn't.

Fast forward to a month ago, the steering lock failed on me again. What the hell Nissan. Only this time, I couldn't fix it by beating on it or clipping wires. I tried everything to fix it, all of the tips and tricks, but no matter what I did it was completely locked. I couldn't get the ignition to cycle to acc or on.

As a last resort, I bought the steering lock bypass kit off of ebay (I had some coupon codes which made the price better) that was linked on here. THANK YOU SO MUCH to the guy who linked this bypass kit and explained that it might help those of us who couldn't even get into ACC mode. The bypass kit worked like a charm. Once I knew what I was doing, it literally took 5 minutes for me to swap out the part and my car worked again. The mother****ing dealer wanted to charge me an insane amount of money to fix it, and $75 bucks and 5 minutes I was able to take care of it on my own. Your failed parts were strike 1 Nissan. Providing zero customer service and zero help for your customers problems and trying to rake them over for even more when this part is available is strike 2. For anyone in my situation, just buy the bypass kit and save yourself the time and money.

So all is well now, right? Wrong. Now my keyfobs don't work because I "replaced" the steering lock. Apparently this is an anti-theft "feature" according to Nissan. I can only manually lock and unlock my doors with my actual key and the car will only start with the fob in the fobgina. I figured this would be a simple solution, right? Nope, wrong again. Apparently I need to bring this to a Nissan dealership to get them to reprogram my fobs. Fine, I figured, a little hassle isn't the end of the world. So I call them and they tell me to just bring in proof of ownership, my 2 fobs, and I'll be good to go. They never mentioned any cost over the phone. When I get there, they tell me it will take about an hour and will cost $119.99. What the actual **** Nissan? $120 to simply reprogram my fobs? BECAUSE YOUR MOTHER****ING PARTS KEEP FAILING, and I had to take it upon myself to fix the problem on my own with my time and money? Sorry, this is strike 3.

Lets recap: Nissan makes vehicles with faulty parts, then issues a recall for said faulty parts. Recalled parts continue to fail, and now Nissan doesn't give a $**t and refuses to put out a recall for the parts that continue to fail. Despite this, Nissan has essentially admitted that this is such a widespread problem that they themselves have created a part to bypass the faulty part. How insane is that? Nissan then tries to charge an arm and a leg to fix their faulty crap which can be fixed on your own with $75, a few minutes of time, and a tiny bit of knowhow - and of course they would never suggest this route because that would actually save their "customers" money even though the $75 part is THEIR part! And, as icing on the cake, your fobs won't work because of THEIR faulty crap that they won't stand behind and they're trying to rape us for another $120 to fix a problem that we never should have had to begin with AFTER already spending $75 that I shouldn't have had to spend in the first place? Yup, that's about it.

I'm done. I've loved my Z, but I will never own another Nissan vehicle again if this is how Nissan handles their business and treats their customers. I'm not asking for money and I'm not asking for parts. I literally just need a few minutes of their time to fix a problem that their own faulty crap caused, and I wasn't even the one who insisted on having the recalled part replaced in the first place, they were! What an absolute ****show. In my entire 38 years of life I've never dealt with another product or company that showed this little concern for their customers, offered ZERO help whatsoever for problems that their faulty products have caused, and seemed to almost have disdain for you when you call them and ask for help. What a god damn joke. If a half hour of labor (and zero material cost) is too much to spare to help out a customer that needs assistance because THEIR products have failed, then that's not a company I'm interested in doing business with any longer.

Sorry, just had to rant. And I wanted to share the success story with the bypass kit for anyone else in my situation.

Anyone know of a way to reprogram my keyfobs on my own, or am I going to need to use my fobgina for however many more years I own my Z? I refuse to give those bastards a single cent of my money to reprogram them.

Spartan 1771

I know that well equipped locksmiths can also do this. I have a local guy who just programmed a new fob for me. He charged me $75, which was a lot better then the Nissan Dealerships.

Fobgina! That's great!

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-DD Air Guide, Stillen G3 CAIs, 63mm Throttle Bodies, Motordyne M370, Berk HFCs, FI TDX CBE (non-res, CF), Sprint booster v3, Ecutek Dyno Tuned, and the list goes on...

Portlis

Oh, and I should add:

I called Nissan consumer affairs at the suggestion of the dealership.

The dude who answered the phone could not have given any less of a **** and offered zero help whatsoever. He had an attitude with me from the first second. I understand they are just peons answering the phone for 15 bucks an hour, but why even have them there if they a) can't do anything and b) are going to be snippy with people when they call asking simple requests? I asked multiple times who I needed to speak with that had the authority to actually help with something, and he told me no one. There's apparently no managers, no email support, nothing. Snot nosed Derek was the end of the line.

He had the gall to suggest that "because I admit that I worked on the vehicle myself, I would have no warranty or goodwill offer even if my vehicle wasn't SO OLD"

WORKED ON THE VEHICLE!!! Lol!! This part is literally 2 hex bolts and a plug and play wire. Nissan can kiss my ***.

cv129

The standard of using robust parts and solid workmanship that make a car reliable for 10 20 years is no longer a norm.

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Setrab | RE-71 | SPL | JRZ | Nismo | ARK | Whiteline | RacingBrake | CJM Oil Pan | Ti shield

vtec to vvel

so the point of the story: DIY everything.

Also, when in doubt, refer to the FSM in SouthArk370Z's sig.

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Portlis

Unfortunately, one cannot DIY reprogramming keyfobs apparently. So yeah. Wish I could.

The point of the story is that Nissan customer service sucks. They have faulty parts, they know they have faulty parts, they've created more parts to bypass their other faulty parts, and they still won't help a guy out with a simple keyfob reprogram that is only necessary because of their faulty parts without trying to extract another $120 out of me.

Threadlocker

Most dealerships operate this way, especially when it comes to cars over 8 years old. Let's face it, why should they help you? If they goodwill your fob programming, will you return to them for oil changes, general maintenance, and other repairs? Probably not, you're a dead end, the car is out of warranty, and right now you just look like someone trying to get something for free.

I'm not saying you're in the wrong, but the dealership's position on this is an obvious one. Also, calling your problem "simple" shows a lack of respect for other people's time and knowledge.

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Spooler

If you are a good customer and do business with them regularly they will take care of you. If you are a whining little pain in the butt like above, Why should they help you at all?

Portlis

Why should they help me? Because I bought a brand new vehicle from them which had faulty parts on it. They should (and have gotten) want my repeat business, which they aren't going to get again. A half hour of their time which literally costs them nothing but whatever they're paying a tech for labor would save them a customer that they could (and likely would have) made thousands off of in the future. If nothing else, for them it's just bad business. I realize I'm just one guy and my money doesn't ultimately matter to them, but bad business is still bad business.

The first time it failed, it was covered by a recall. Nissan has admitted that this is such a widespread problem that they've a) Had a full recall campaign for this specific problem and b) Created a part specifically to bypass their old faulty piece of crap part that continues to fail. Tell me, why should their original steering locks be covered under a recall but not their newer revisions that continue to fail? I mean, you're clearly trying to defend Nissan/Dealerships here, but give me one good rational reason for this other than the fact that Nissan doesn't want to fork out money despite knowing that this continues to be a problem?

Your slippery slope argument is invalid. I'm not asking for free oil changes, free general maintenance or free other repairs. I've already paid for all of those services to be performed AT the dealership. Why even bring that stuff up? Rational people are capable of understanding that not all situations are created equal. Look through these forums and tell me if you see a single other part on 370z's that gets discussed for being prone to failure over and over. There isn't one. When people buy a new vehicle, they expect to have to pay for routine maintenance and possibly, eventually, repairs. They don't expect that their anti-theft devices will continue to fail over and over and over again because the parts are defective.

My problem IS simple. I need keyfobs reprogrammed. That's it. You don't think that's a simple problem for the dealership to deal with? Referring to a problem that a dealership could quickly and easily solve as simple in no way means that I don't respect people's time or knowledge. It literally just means that it's a simple problem, because it is. You sure come to some strange conclusions. If I referred to an oil change as simple would that be an insult too? Or tire rotations? You know, normal stuff that a dealership is capable of dealing with quickly and easily just like a fob reprogram? Give me a break dude.

Despite this, I don't put most of the blame on the dealership. I put it on Nissan as a company for not having an ongoing recall campaign for all steering lock related issues that continue to plague people. Nissan should stand behind their products and clearly they aren't doing that.

Portlis

I've gotten all of my routine maintenance done there, including 10 years worth of fully synthetic oil changes. I've purchased new tires from them as well. I also owned an Altima for a while that I brought there too. Oh, and you know, I also kinda sorta bought my brand new 370z from them too, if that counts for anything. Not sure what qualifies as a "good customer" but they've certainly never given me anything for free nor have I asked for anything until now.

Call it whining if you want, but it's perfectly justified given the situation. As for why they should help me, feel free to read my previous response if you really care to know the answer to that question, though I suspect your question was rhetorical.

vtec to vvel

Okay, let me rephrase. Point of the story is DIY everything and don't fix what ain't broke. Not trying to bash on you, but you did state you had fixed the issue prior to taking to Nissan.

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vtec to vvel

And I also want to point out, as a general rule in life, you will get a lot more with sugar than salt. If you go in fuming, you are not likely to receive the help/courtesy you want.

Just an FYI, when I traded my '09 Z for a '13 Z, I only received 1 key (mind you, I bought my '13 Z at a Nissan Dealership). I went back a week later and requested a 2nd key and got it keyed/programmed and for FREE. The programming takes literally 2 minutes.

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Portlis

Yeah, I'll take half the blame for this. In 2012, my first one failed. I fixed it with the hammer method. I was perfectly happy with this solution. In 2013 I brought it in for a routing oil change. During that oil change, this very same Nissan dealership insisted on replacing the first steering lock mechanism with the new one that they told me wouldn't fail (lol) because it was finally under recall. I told them I didn't even necessarily want them to do it, but they said they "needed to". I should have put up a fight then and there, but I didn't. I just said fine and let them do their work. Foolish me trusted that they had resolved the problem.

Portlis

Oh, absolutely. Believe me, I was happy and full of sugar when I went to the dealership with my title and fobs in hand ready to have them reprogrammed. I wasn't even upset with having had to spend the $75 on the bypass anymore or that their recalled part failed yet again. I was just grateful that the bypass worked.

I only started fuming after they told me it was going to be $120 after I had already wasted my time driving to the dealership. As I said in my original post, the stupid chick I talked with on the phone from the service department neglected to mention that there would be a cost associated with this, instead letting me drive there to find out for myself. She made it sound so simple, "Oh yeah, we can do that for you no problem. Just bring proof of ownership and your keyfobs and we'll get it taken care of for you" is pretty much verbatim what she said.

Ventruck

It's a mix of a lot of things:

First M.Y.
somewhat of a coming-to-light about Nissan. Look at them now, look at what they've done (or literally haven't done) with this car. Also, that CEO was doo-doo.
Yet at the same time, one would expect some reliable Japanese execution in craft, there are other cars worse to upkeep.

Biggest deal breaker in my Z ownership is I've got a great shop to go to. Dealers have been...
"No U cAnT hAvE tHe GtR mOtOr OiL. OeM iS aLwAyS bEsT. cSc FaIlUrE??? nO wAy!!!"

There's actually one good dealer experience I've had but geographically they're a PITA to get to.