Over a month of driving with the new program, I have not experience a drop in MPG.

 

Marc thanks for the update. Now we know at least one dealership im the GTA that can perform the update. What you noticed with the neutering of the DS mode, we all experienced similar results with the last update ITB10-075.

 

Marc, stellar review, really nailed it for the most part except mpg observations (at least regarding my observations). I've got 1k miles since the flash and got almost exactly the same mpg hwy (w/ a .2 to .5 mpg improvement) around town I'm not sure, I'm thinking it should be at least the same. Glad to know your panic braking in D still works (and I'm not the only one). I'm still very happy w/ the overall reflash performance, just a more refined drive, and it still gets after it if needed

 

Marc thanks for the update, is your vehicle a 2009? its infiniti customer service that is saying there are no tsb's for my vin# is this update vin specific? its not that they can't find the tsb they are saying it does not apply to my vehicle, not sure why, anybody else had this issue?

 

I don't understand the references to panic brake and gas/NASCAR/too dumb. You simply cannot do that on most of the east coast, or west coast. Too much traffic. When I need to panic brake, it's to come to a complete stop. Period.

Avoidance is not panic braking even in a semi-emergency situation. Panic braking implies literally standing on the brakes to avoid a crash. I cannot think of one time in my accident free life, that I panic braked and then whilst slowing down, floored it.

The streets are not NASCAR and I would hope educated drivers who took some driving instruction, know the difference.

 

Sorry, your opinions do not represent reality. Take any driving course on the planet (driving, not racing) and they will instruct you how to always be in the right gear at the right time and how to be prepared to drive through/around/away from an accident. Flooring the gas has zero to do with this and one would never floor it in the middle of a panic situation. The concept that there is only one choice to all situations--to come to a complete stop--is quite frankly ridiculous.

Sorry, but North Americans are the worst drivers in the advanced world and you are illustrating why. We give out driver's licences with next to no demosnstration of driving skill or mechanical knowledge required. It is likely that less than 25% of North Americans could get a German driving licence--even after multiple tries.

The panic braking transmission programming has been designed properly, and now even improved. If you are a perfect driver, you'll never need to access it, so what's the issue?

Do you also have a problem with the seat-belt pre-tensioner? I just set mine off doing the brake check last evening. I didn't need it because I wasn't about to hit anything--it was just a safe test. Should the car somehow be able to figure that out or should it act conservatively to maximize safety?????????

Complaints about this excellent (and soon to be universal on all cars) system boggle my mind.

 

Yes...read the hassle/procedure I had to go through to get it done. Do not take it to Downtown--they are useless. Alta would be my first choice based on phone response.

 

All: the change in mileage should be imperceptible. It is a slight revision to the shift points. All I was responding to was people saying they got noticeably better mpg after the update. The change will either be zero, or, a slight drop. My only point was it can't get better based on what they changed...it can only get worse.

 

I don't agree North American drivers are the worst in the world, and my post illustrates nothing of sort, as your post illustrates that you didn't mention defensive driving once, if that is what you practice.

A good driver adapts to the car they are driving and drives defensively in spite of the fact the tranny may be in the wrong gear. I drove a manual for 12 years so I do know about shifting.

 

I didn't mention defensive driving or twenty other things--this post isn't about driving schools or techniques. We are discussing transmission programming. You want the transmission to ignore sudden/panic driver inputs. I don't and appreciate that it is paying attention and I think Infiniti did a good job of ensuring the car is in the right gear at the right time, which FOR A TRANSMISSION is job one. The transmission can't help with any other aspects of good driving or accident avoidance, can it?

 

I don't think this has anything to do with the 7AT reprogram, which we should just be celebrating at this point, IMO.... But I agree that the 99 percentile north american driver is pathetic (in terms of skills) compared to those in Europe for example.

Just drive in Italy and Germany for a couple weeks... American's sloppyness, carelessness, and complete lack of skill or even any understanding of basic laws of physics on the road is really shocking when you watch how driving is done, with great care and precision and cooperation in other parts of the world... We are like little babies who just can't help ourselves and never plan to improve (pride and ego coupled with ignorance)

I am excluding the 1 percentile American driver from this of course - they are very rare though!

Having said this, I want to also say that NOBODY's post in this thread has demonstrated any particular excellence or incompetence in their driving (in my opinion) and I am hoping we can all agree this is way off topic in this thread.

 

Looks like I did not read back far enough in this thread to see that there was in fact a TSB. I called Infiniti and verbally threatened legal action against them if they did not immediately buy the car back from me, and the guy confirmed that there is in fact a TSB. When I called to set up the appointment on Monday, the service guy said "I've not heard of ANY issues with lag from the transmission. First I've heard of it.", so I assumed there was no update. I just called them again, and a different guy told me there is in fact an update for the transmission. AWESOME!!!

Taking the car in this evening for them to work on it tomorrow. Hopefully by the time I pick it up tomorrow, it's a happy car and I won't have to take legal action.

Now, if they could only fix all the damn rattles from the interior... UGH. If it's not squeaking under the dash, it's from the steering column, or the sunglass holder door, or the rear seat window shelf, or one of the door handles...

 

bitNine:

For the past year I was too bothered by the 7AT (until now) to notice any of the rattles.

I think you're going to happy with the update. I hated the car before, now I enjoy it.

That dealers and Infiniti reps still say "never heard of it" is sad. Speak to a technician (as I did) and the story is different - they know about it, and admit it's been there for a long time.

 

The rattles bothered me for a while. Now I just roll the window down and listen to my exhaust.

 

Flame Warriors