I was driving my Altima Hybrid yesterday and after about a mile I started hearing a clanking and whirring sound. It was definately not normal. Then I tried to accelerate and it would not go any faster than 25 mph and it sounded like it was getting jammed back into a lower gear but I know it is a CVT so I don't know how that works. I made it to where I was going and then got out and it smelled like something was burning and there was a light sizzling noise coming from under the car.

So I called road side assistance but they said we didn't have towing in the plan which we thought we did but since we were stuck until the next day to have it checked we decided to see if the car would run after sitting there for a few minutes. So I started it up and drove it around like normal and everything was fine.

Nothing seems to be wrong with the car now but I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this problem or knows that this could be?

 

Not sure about what your problem might have been - maybe the emergency brake not fully released? - but Nissan includes towing in the basic 3 year/36,000 miles warranty. All you needed to do was call a Nissan dealer unless you have over 36,000 miles on your 08 NAH:

TOWING COVERAGE

If your vehicle is inoperative due to the failure of a
warranted part, towing service to the nearest authorized
Nissan dealer is covered for 36 months or 36,000 miles,

whichever comes first.