A month and a half ago, I purchased a 2005 Nissan Sentra from Mossy Nissan in National City, CA. 5 days ago On Dec. 9th, I was driving down the free way and my back left tire blew! Luckily no one is in the lane next to me since my car swerved in to the left lane and began fish tailing. Thank goodness I was able to pull over safely. Due to the blow out, the housing underneath of my car was completely shredded.
My husband and I immediately went to the dealership after we put on the spare to speak with the manager, Joseph, regarding the incident. Joseph claimed that tires are not covered under any warrenty from the dealership since anything could have happened. I could have ran over a nail, had low tire pressure, etc. However, my husband explained that the tire completely ripped away from the sidewalls. Joseph said to go to any reputable tire place and they can inspect the tire and find the cause of the blowout and if it was a manufacturing defect, the company that made the tire will replace it.
We went to Discount Tire & Fire Stone. Both places told us the tire blew because it is an old tire and unsafe to drive on! My 2 back tires were made in apparently the original tires that were put on the car. It's a wonder that this did not happen sooner to both tires! However, the 2 front tires were brand new. After closer inspection, it was clear the 2 back tires had been cracking and pulling away from the sidewalls for quite some time. They also said that even if it had been a manufacturring defect, they would not be responsible. The only reason they would replace the tire would be if I bought it directly from them and they do not know why dealerships always say that to their customers.
Upon learning that my safety was compromised due to the fact these tires are too old to be driven on and yet, passed through inspection, and the dealership is taking no ownership over the sitation, I was outraged. We went back to the dealership only to deal with an even more defensive, unhelpful & unconcerned about my safety sales manager, Joseph. He argued that the tires were not old and told us to "prove it" that they were the original tires put on the car almost 5 years ago. He claimed up and down, there is no one we can go to above his head, this is not his fault nor his responsibility. At 1 point, since we were obviousky getting no where with him, my husband asked for a quote on how much it would be to replace the housing underneath of the car, and Joseph replied "I'll get you a quote, but I'm not paying for it!" Then, never even got the quote!!!
The only time Joseph seemed the least bit concened about my safety is when I suggested to go in and tell his potential customers that they sold me an unsafe car and almost caused a major car accident, injuring me and several others. But I am sure it was more concern about possibly causing him to lose a sale.
My husband then called Mossy's corporate office, explaining that he bought a Nissan Extera about 2 years ago, urged me to a get a Nissan because he was so pleased with his first experience with them, only to be treated like dirt. This car should have never went through inspection and the fact that my safety was compromised seems to be of no concern. Mossy stated that there is nothing they can do because it is an independent dealership. Apparenly Mossy doesn't give a hoot about their reputation and lets anyone wear their name.
I will be contacting the better business bureau and relaying my experience to anyone who will listen, unless of course they make it right for me. Although at this point, even if they paid for 2 new tires and the damages caused, they can not pay for my time and stress over the situation.
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