My situation is nearly identical to kimitriz above. I went through the whole process from the dealer to Nissan Consumer Affairs and was told they would not cover the repair. When I asked about the criteria used for their decision, the representative refused to provide details.

My 2007 Xterra is well passed the warranty at just over 100,000 miles and the problem, at least to my knowlege, didn't start until several months ago. One of the dealer's maintenance supervisors is the one that pointed out the problem to me.

Nissan also told me that they review the repair request on a case by case basis. That simply means it is based on the individual and not the nature of the problem which should not be the case.

I have filed a complaint with the BBB and have starting looking at the possibility of a class action lawsuit. I do not know if that's a viable approach, but at the very least, I will file through small claims to at the very least get Nissan to provide details of the criteria they use for their decision.