Clutch Pedal/linkage problems of the 2011 Nissan 370Z

While driving down the highway in 6th gear for about 30 minutes to an hour, the clutch pedal begins feeling very soft and begins sticking to the floor to the point where it is necessary to pull it back up with my foot. On texas highways, this is extremely dangerous if I am unable to engage a gear while driving in heavy traffic, especially since a lot of highways are under construction with no shoulder to safely pull over to. The part at fault is a poorly constructed concentric slave cylinder. This is a piece of plastic that is extremely prone to failure. It should have never been constructed from plastic. Nissan also refuses to obey their 5 year, 60,000 mile powertrain warranty to fix this issue. (the only clutch part listed as "not covered" is the wearable clutch disc itself). They also refuse to acknowledge that this is a common issue. I'm attaching a screenshot of over 100 370z forum members who have reported this issue as well. This is clearly a problem that needs addressed, but Nissan refuses to acknowledge the safety of their loyal customers.

When I entered my car to leave in the morning my clutch pedal had next to no pressure when depressed. The clutch would only disengage with approximately half an inch before reaching the floor. I immediately shut my car off and called the Nissan service center. I was advised to bring my car in. After waiting for traffic to subside I nervously drove my car to the service center without incident. While driving, I noted that the pressure in my clutch pedal was getting worse. Had this started while driving I could have been severely injured, or worse. The Nissan service center determined that the faulty part was the clutch concentric slave cylinder. This part is somehow not covered in my vehicle's power train warranty, even through it is an internal part of the transmission. I am fortunate that this did not happen while I was driving my car, as things could have been much worse. Nissan has been reluctant to even acknowledge that this has been an issue with this vehicle, even though there are many complaints about this failure, which is easily discovered when doing investigation online.

I went out to start my car for a drive on 06/21/15. As I was reaching for the clutch pedal with my foot to start the engine, I found the clutch pedal had already sunk half way to the floorboard before my foot came in contact with it. I had to reach in further almost completely extending my leg in order to make contact with the pedal. Upon checking the clutch fluid I was surprised to find some of my fluid level was half empty had and looked very dark. There were black debris sitting under the fluid reservoir. My fluid level was at the max when I last checked it two weeks prior, so between that time some fluid had leaked out. I filled up with some brake fluid and pumped the pedal several times, which helped regains some pressure in my clutch pedal but not completely, there is still some slack in the pedal travel. I immediately went online to research the problem. I ran across countless complaints from other z owners having the same issues with their factory clutch slave cylinder (csc) & master slave cylinder. Many reported their clutch pedal "diving" and would not return during driving. Unlike me, most of them were left stranded on the side of the roads due to not being able to operate the clutch after the pedal loss pressure and dives to the floor. Furthermore, people have reported their factory csc failures since the Nissan 350z were still in production (2002-2009). Nissan north America is fully aware of this defects in their clutch assembly. In 2008, Nissan issued a recall to 350z owners to replace their defective csc. I am appalled that they (Nissan) continued to rely on the same defective parts on their Nissan 370z. Currently, Nissan has not address this problem on their 370z model, nor are they honoring any warranty claims regarding this issue. This is a real concern as it posses a serious safety threats to all z's equipped with manual transmission.

I purchased the 2011 Nissan 370z nismo with 30,000 miles from a Nissan dealership and after 2500 miles of driving I had this issue with the clutch. I was driving and the clutch pedal went to the floor and would not come back up. After pulling over I checked and saw that the clutch fluid reservoir was completely empty. I know the fluid was full and clean when I got the car because we looked at all of the fluids at the time of purchase. I ran to a gas station to get some brake fluid to fill it up and drove home. I did not touch the car until I was able to drive it to the dealership that weekend. The dealership techs were unable to find any kind of leak in the clutch line, slave cylinder, or master cylinder and recommended I have them flush the fluid with new "gtr brake fluid". As of right now that has been done (not covered by my drive train warranty), but I'm not sure how new fluid will stop a leak. I don't drive the car as much and have been keeping a close eye on the fluids.

I went to start my car and the clutch pedal was low. Once I went around the corner from my house, the pedal almost fell to the bottom. Since I could not put it in the next gear, I put it in neutral and pushed it back into my garage. My mechanic said it was the clutch slave cylinder. He also said there was a lot of break fluid in the transmission coming from the csc. I went on 370z pages and this complaint is all over the place. There are numerous forums to this issue. Luckily I was not driving on the freeway or I could have caused a major accident. If this issue has been happening for a long time to hundreds if not thousands of cars for this make and model, why has this not been fixed? bill was around $1000. 00. Haven't had any issues since replacing the csc but only have put about 4 thousand miles on it since.

Driving vehicle in light traffic and clutch pedal begins showing little to no resistance, easily sinks to the floor. Soon thereafter clutch pedal has to be pressed nearly to the floor to shift gears. Car is taken to local Nissan dealer and clutch fluid flushed and replaced with dot 4 fluid. Driving car the very same day and exact same symptoms reoccur but this time no gear engagement is possible even with clutch pedal pressed all the way to the floor. Car is towed back to dealer and inspected. Inspection reveals failed concentric slave and clutch master cylinders. Cost to repair over $1000, according to powertrain warranty provided with vehicle the concentric slave should be covered under warranty but dealer claims otherwise, speaking with Nissan consumer affairs to try resolving the issue but no luck so far.

I was on the freeway and all of a sudden my clutch pedal loses all pressure and drops to the floor while I was trying to downshift to slow down. My car would not let me out of gear and I had to stop while in gear causing the engine to cut off. This caused me to lose all power assisted brakes. I was exiting and trying to slow down. I almost caused an accident and had to swerve to avoid hitting cars ahead of me while still traveling around 50 mph. This is very dangerous and there have been numerous complaints about this part.

Base model. Manual transmission. Stock - no aftermarket enhancements. On freeway attempting to decelerate (shifting down from 5th to 4th) clutch pedal "disappears" into the floor board. This marks the beginning of problems with the clutch pedal having a mind of it's own. Transmission hard to shift 1st and 2nd gear. Barely made it into dealership next morning. Dealership only has a TSB to replace the transmission fluid. Fluid changed, drove away. Problem returned 2/7/14 and continued to get worse for next few days. Returned vehicle to Nissan dealership on 2/12/14 where it is waiting for parts (clutch slave cylinder). Nissan corporaation TSB recommends replacement of clutch master cylinder at same time of clutch slave cylinder, however, dealership has not made mention of this. Part supposedly won't arrive until 3/3/14. After further research, the 370z suffers from this clutch slave/master cylinder issue on a consistent basis. Current car has only 7,600 miles. This is covered under 3/36 warranty, however, the issue is dangerous because it can happen so suddenly and I would reiterate that this problem is apparently common. Who waits 3 weeks for a clutch part unless Nissan corporations is so back-ordered on 370z clutch components that Nissan cannot keep up with this repair demand? Nissan needs to re-engineer this clutch master/slave cylinder issue and reacall these cars to get them fixed properly.