2023 Nissan Rogue with cracked oil pan

Question

Dear Scotty,Greetings from Manila, Philippines!I'm writing you about a car problem my sister-in-law is currently experiencing in Houston, Texas.She migrated to Houston only last October and purchased a 2023 Nissan Rogue, which was delivered to her on December 10, 2023.When she was about to leave work yesterday, Jan 9, her car had a warning on the dashboard that it was low on oil. She brought it to the nearest Autozone store to have it checked only to find out it had no more oil in the engine! She purchased 1 quart of oil and poured it into the engine. Then she saw that oil was leaking fast under her car, which means something is terribly wrong. She added another quart of oil to make her reach her place at Midmain, Midtown Houston. Then she drove home and called Nissan's roadside assistance, supposedly a 24 hour service but was told their tow truck is unavailable. The car was picked up noon today noon, Houston time and brought to Nissan Central for assessment. In less than an hour, they came back with the verdict: Cracked Oil Pan, hence, they ruled it as human error. The photo did not appear to have damage from any accident while running on Houston roads and the cross member was intact. How come Nissan will not take this as part of the warranty when this is a basically new unit which was only used for 400 miles! Nissan is charging her US$1,400 for the repair and they will not start any work until she pays them in advance!This is outrageous as it appears she is being ripped off, being given a defective unit then when the oil pan gave way they will not take warranty for it and instead charge her in advance for the repair!We would like to seek your assistance what she can do in order to: 1) have her car fixed ASAP as she needs it to go to and from work, 2) try and get Nissan to accept this as warranty repair, or 3) if she will take the repair cost, get quality work at much less cost.My sis in law is a starting nurse who migrated for better opportunity and she has not even earned enough to pay for such huge repair cost.I hope to hear from you soon as she is in a difficult situation now.Best,Rene SantosManila Philippines

scottykilmer · Answer

Well the reason they're doing it is because if the oil pan actually is cracked, the only way it's really going to crack is by hitting something and they'll never cover anything like that. I used to be right next to the midtown in Houston and I'd check it out for free but I'm in Tennessee now. I can only tell by looking at and see what kind of damage it had on it but I've never seen one crack unless it hits something