Sheehy Infiniti of Tysons

RecosnideWe purchased a QX50 Infiniti from Sheehy Infiniti of Tysons, Vienna VA seven months ago, on February 13, 2020. While we have liked a number of features and aspects of the vehicle, we have been frustrated and disappointed by certain characteristics, alleged limitations and inadequate performance in the HVAC system that has sadly left us with some level of buyers remorse.

The car, either by deficiencies of design or workmanship, has left us annoyed and seeking corrective action.

We have raised our concerns and observations to the dealership on multiple occasions which proved unsuccessful and frustrating. We are thus escalating our complaint to your offices.

1.Over the course of the late spring and summer, we have noticed that the AC takes an unusually long time to cool off the car. This of course became more noticeable and annoying as the summer wore on and temperatures rose. This has not actually been that hot a summer in the Washington DC area compared to earlier years.

It has been relatively milder. Yet by comparison with other vehicles, including our 2012 Fiat, it takes a very long time to cool the car if the outside temperature is in the high eighties or higher.

2.When a temperature is set for the AC and a certain level of fan action, we have noticed on the few occasions that we have travelled a longer length of time that the temperature remains unstable while in use, requiring frequent re-adjustments and changes. We have had to keep the AC temperature set to the lowest setting of 60 to have any guarantee of maintaining climate control in the vehicle. This has been very inconvenient at times.

3.The controls for air circulation are misleading and do not operate as they should.

When the button for channeling air flow to the chest of the driver is selected, substantial and noticeable airflow continues at the level of the feet. This has been more than annoying for my wife when she drives, as it has sometimes created cramps in her legs and feet from an undesirable flow of cold air directly on her feet despite having set the climate control otherwise.

4.The setting for recirculation of the internal air does not seem to work properly. Substantial air and smells seem to continue to flow in from the outside, including exhaust smells from other vehicles on the road.

5.On very humid mornings, a thick layer of moisture develops on the windshield which can not be easily dissipated by the windshield wipers and repeated applications of windshield cleaning fluid. The build up can also be found on the side front windows and on the mirrors.

Again this is unusually persistent and disruptive to driving safety.

I have to note that we have understood that the Infiniti is a premium car, and we have the Luxe level of trim of the QX50. Yet the HVAC controls have been far below the performance and expectation of what we have seen in many vehicles substantially cheaper than the Infiniti. This has left us puzzled and annoyed with the car.

We have taken the vehicle in for servicing with the dealer several times, noting the problem. We have been told by the service department that they can not find anything wrong on the computer.

We had an extensive discussion with Mr. James Tipton, the Service Director of Sheehy Infiniti, who clearly tried to help us with the situation, but he could not identify anything he could remedy as configured. The dealership sales manager previously indicated that there were better baffles on the air circulation for higher level trims, such as the Essential. Our model is not the basic level PURE trim, but a LUXE model.

If true, we are offended we were not alerted to this and baffled that a configuration would be sold in this way without providing that clear information to us before the purchase.

This is our first supposedly premium class vehicle purchased in the USA. We have owned multiple models of Ford SUVs and crossovers, including the Explorer and Edge, the Honda Pilot, and most recently in South Africa we owned a Land Rover Discovery 3. Currently we have a Fiat 500C. In none of the vehicles we have owned and have rented in the USA and around the world, have we encountered these sorts of annoyances with the vehicle.

Even in the case of substantially cheaper economy vehicles.

Admittedly most of these problems do not interfere with the driveability and safety of the car. So far we have had no reason to question the reliability of the vehicle; we have had it for less than a year.

However point 5 does raise as well a significant safety and driveability concern in conditions of high relative humidity in the early morning. The layer of moisture persisted on the windows, hurting visibility unless the windows were repeatedly opened, for almost an hour. We are concerned about how this might also worsen as we go into autumnal and winter weather conditions.

We are very disappointed by these issues and seek to pursue, as mentioned above, some level of corrective action. We certainly can not recommend this vehicle without these caveats to friends and contacts. We feel this is a damaging dimension which reduces the hoped for quality of the brand and vehicle in our eyes, unless resolved.

I hope to hear back from you on what can be pursued with this situation by Consumer Affairs.

Sincerely

Allan J. Alonzo Wind