2013 Nissan Almera Pricing and Specs

It sounds very much like your car has a problem with what’s called its clockspring. This is an electrical contact that allows the functions controlled by, or mounted on, the steering wheel to operate while still allowing the wheel to be turned. Over time, the clockspring wears and finally breaks which is almost certainly why you lost the cruise control and horn functions at the same time. It’s also why the airbag light has illuminated, as the broken connector won’t allow the computer to talk to the airbag in the steering wheel.

Most workshops will be able to replace the clockspring, but unless you’re a competent mechanic, leave it to the experts as anything to do with an airbag requires utmost care and respect. Even the experts will disconnect the car’s battery before tackling any airbag issue.

Actually, this is simply how a CVT operates. When you load the engine (and towing a caravan is a great way to do that) the transmission will switch to a lower ratio in order to keep the engine in its comfort zone and making enough power to keep everything moving at the speed at which you’ve set the cruise control. Because there are no set ratios in a CVT, this can sound a feel very alien when it happens. It's one of the things many people dislike about CVTs.

When you turn off the cruise control and allow the throttle to return to idle, the car detects that the crisis is over and changes the ratio to allow the engine to slow down as less power is needed. And that’s why it all feels like it’s returning to normal. But, really, what you’re hearing and feeling is just the CVT doing its thing.

You could be looking at something internally wrong with the transmission, but the clue that this might be something simpler is in the way the engine will start in Reverse which, of course, it shouldn’t (for safety reasons). The suspicion would be that the relationship between the selector (inside the cabin) and the actual gearbox is somehow out of synch. So when the selector is telling you the car is in Reverse, it’s actually in Park or Neutral, which is why the engine will start.

That might also explain why the car won’t select fourth gear; the position that actually coincides with Drive (or fourth gear) looks – from inside the cabin – to be the Neutral position. So, to check this, put the car in what looks like Neutral and, in a safe place, see if it moves when you give it some throttle.

Failing that, you’ve got two separate problems. The first is the inability to select fourth gear (which could be a hundred things) and a failure of the safety switch which is allowing the engine to start in Reverse.