Nissan Apologizes, Sends $400 to Some Juke Owners

Nissan goofed. The company's marketing materials mistakenly said the all-wheel-drive (AWD) Juke had a 13.2-gallon gas tank, the same as the front-wheel-drive (FWD) version of the homely subcompact crossover.

In fact, the AWD version has an 11.8-gallon tank. That's a difference of only 1.4 gallons but an error is an error, so Nissan is writing to the owners of the AWD versions, offering not only its apologies for also a check for $400.

If that's not enough, Nissan says it will buy the car back, minus depreciation, or apply a credit to the purchase of a new vehicle.

“Your vehicle was built correctly and as designed,” said Kevin Martin, head of customer satisfaction in the letter. “Nissan sincerely regrets this error and would like to demonstrate how important your satisfaction is to us.”

“While fuel tank capacity may not have been a factor in your purchase decision, Nissan sincerely regrets this error,” Martin's letter says. Nissan has been trying to rehabilitate its customer satisfaction reputation, which has been somewhat tarnished of late.

While this all sounds fine, some owners think it may not be just the marketing material that was wrong.

Jody of Moreno Valley, Calif., told ConsumerAffairs.com that the gas pump icon came on as she was driving home from Riverside in her FWD Juke one day. The onboard computer indicated the car had 21 miles worth of gas left.

“When we when we stopped at the gas station it indicated there were 14 miles to empty.We filled up the gas tank and the pump indicated we had pumped approximately 10 gallons,” Jody said. Jody said she has researcher the issue and found other owners have the same problem.

“I believe they mistakenly put in the 11.2 gallon for the juke AWD or according to measurement standards it has over 2 gallons of usable/unusable portions. What would be the point of unusable gas. what if you were in the middle of the desert and your car runs out of gas and yet you still have gas?” she asked.