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NFT: Nissan Continuously Variable Transmission

BigK : 5/26/2017 8:27 am
My wife has a 2014 Nissan Versa Note with 73k miles. The powertrain warranty ends at 60K and the car needs a new $4k transmission. In doing the research we should have done prior to buying the car it appears that Nissan has a ton of problems with these transmissions. I have already contacted NissanUSA and they are "reviewing" the case. I am fully aware that it is out of warranty and they will probably tell me I am SOL, however there have been a couple of class action suits that were settled with owners getting extended warranties. Am I out of line thinking that they should provide some assistance? The car is probably only worth $6500 or so wholesale in good running condition, so a $4k repair doesn't make sense

Has anyone dealt with anything like this?
I had a Murano with CVT  
bigblue12 : 5/26/2017 8:31 am : link
And went through three transmissions in 4 years before dumping the car
Almost every new family sedan sold in America now  
NoPeanutz : 5/26/2017 8:47 am : link
seems to have a CVT, because of fuel emission standards (though it seems that POTUS is trying to roll back the clock). Automatics seem to come only on select models, and manuals in general are hard to find.

The fact that you are reporting that these guys have a higher rate of failure is... concerning to say the least. That being said, Nissan "reliability" seems to fall below the other Japanese makers, Honda and Toyota.
Oof. Scary stuff.  
x meadowlander : 5/26/2017 8:50 am : link
We've got a 2015 Altima we love - the car is head and shoulders sweeter than anything in class, but that weird Transmission is the only gripe I have with it. Just shifts bizarrely, unexpectedly - continuously looking for top fuel efficiency. It's my wife's car - I still haven't been able to 'become one' with that tranny - has a mind of it's own - by design.

Hasn't given us any mechanical issues yet. Hope it stays that way!
RE: Almost every new family sedan sold in America now  
x meadowlander : 5/26/2017 8:54 am : link
In comment 13483073 NoPeanutz said:
Quote:
seems to have a CVT, because of fuel emission standards (though it seems that POTUS is trying to roll back the clock). Automatics seem to come only on select models, and manuals in general are hard to find.

The fact that you are reporting that these guys have a higher rate of failure is... concerning to say the least. That being said, Nissan "reliability" seems to fall below the other Japanese makers, Honda and Toyota.


FWIW, my family has owned many Nissan's over the past 30 years - my parents owned 4 Sentra's in a row - we never had a single major problem with any of them. Can't say the same for Toyota (1 was a serious oil burner at only 50,000mi) or Honda (Civic with a blown motor with only 110,000mi).

Only tranny's I ever had to overhaul/replace were American. (Chrysler/Caddy)
I didn't have this problem  
UConn4523 : 5/26/2017 8:54 am : link
but I had a horrible electrical problem with my 2013 Sentra and in the 3 years it was leased the electrical was replaced twice (engine wiring harness). The car would literally shut off when in reverse. We had a bunch of other problems as well and Nissan wouldn't do anything for us so I won't be a customer of theirs ever again.

Its part of the reason why I will continue to lease. There's too many horror stories of vehicles over 50k miles, right when you almost have the car paid off. Always having a car payment stuck but atleast its something I can budget for with no surprises.

Since then I've gotten a 2016 Honda CRV and a 2017 Toyota Hybrid Rav 4. Love both and if I'm going foreign it will be between these two.
I have a 2012 Versa w/ 85K miles  
Greg from LI : 5/26/2017 8:57 am : link
I've been a bit worried about it because of all the stories, but no problems in the three years I've owned it.

And while everyone swears by Honda, we had a Honda Odyssey that was an absolute disaster. Electrical problems out the ass, and the dealer was a nightmare to deal with. Never going back to Honda.
RE: I have a 2012 Versa w/ 85K miles  
x meadowlander : 5/26/2017 9:02 am : link
In comment 13483082 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
I've been a bit worried about it because of all the stories, but no problems in the three years I've owned it.

And while everyone swears by Honda, we had a Honda Odyssey that was an absolute disaster. Electrical problems out the ass, and the dealer was a nightmare to deal with. Never going back to Honda.
Weird. My Odyssey has been an absolute tank. Zero issues. 115,000 miles. Also have several friends who own and swear by them - part of the reason we bought it!

Gave it a sex change last year, put a trailer hitch and trans cooler on it, now she is a he. :D Have been hauling a camper all over upstate NY with it , no problems. Fingers crossed now!

I had one Nissan  
Giant John : 5/26/2017 9:10 am : link
That mistake won't happen again.
I had one Nissan  
Giant John : 5/26/2017 9:10 am : link
That mistake won't happen again.
Let it play out. They know they have a problem  
AnnapolisMike : 5/26/2017 9:18 am : link
They will probably replace it for free or a reduced amount. Once they do (if they do) dump the car.

Sometimes you just get a lemon  
Greg from LI : 5/26/2017 9:20 am : link
Even the best makes have them. My parents have both driven the same Toyotas for about 12 years now, my wife's Prius was flawless, but I'm sure there are people out there who had a terrible experience with a Toyota.

My wife's car was recently wrecked and she was really pushing to get another Toyota, but we got a deal on a Mazda that we couldn't refuse.
RE: Oof. Scary stuff.  
BigBlue2112 : 5/26/2017 9:23 am : link
In comment 13483075 x meadowlander said:
Quote:
We've got a 2015 Altima we love - the car is head and shoulders sweeter than anything in class, but that weird Transmission is the only gripe I have with it. Just shifts bizarrely, unexpectedly - continuously looking for top fuel efficiency. It's my wife's car - I still haven't been able to 'become one' with that tranny - has a mind of it's own - by design.

Hasn't given us any mechanical issues yet. Hope it stays that way!


This is exactly what I've experienced with my 2013 CRV. The car is constantly trying to shift on it's own to maintain top fuel efficiency. It makes for an unpleasant driving experience if you don't know how to work with it (as you learn after driving it for a while). You almost have to floor it to change into higher gear at times then ease up on the gas to go back to your prior speed and see the lights on the dash go green meaning ECO driving.
Whatever you do, don't replace it with a Dodge  
jcn56 : 5/26/2017 9:24 am : link
Not even 2 years old, the water pump goes. Fine, not a huge deal - but no dealer within a hundred mile radius that's willing to touch it within the next two weeks. The one I went in to when the pump started to go wouldn't even give me the courtesy of a quick look under the hood to confirm what I thought was wrong.

Turns out, the damn pumps are on national backorder, so it was either let it sit for 2-3 weeks at a dealership and I rent a car to hold me over, or pay $400 to have the damn thing swapped out by my mechanic.

The pity is I loved the car to that point, but I don't get fooled by the same company twice.
Are most CVTs problematic?  
trueblueinpw : 5/26/2017 9:30 am : link
I have an Accord with CVT. It's a company car, I barely drive and it's on a lease so I don't really care about the thing. But I do like the CVT on the car, I love the way it avoid the clunk you get when a traditional automatic shifts gears. Anyway, just curious if there's something about the CVT that is flawed?
There transmissions are garbage  
gmenrule-va : 5/26/2017 9:31 am : link
I have a 2015 Nissan Rogue and the transmission had to be replaced at 44K. The only lucky part for me was it was covered under warranty. I will never buy another Nissan.
Every brand has problems, and everybody has their own horror story.  
fivehead : 5/26/2017 9:35 am : link
The fact is, that when you drive your vehicle for a bunch of miles over a bunch of years, stuff is going to start wearing down. It's just how it goes.
RE: I had one Nissan  
spike : 5/26/2017 9:35 am : link
In comment 13483092 Giant John said:
Quote:
That mistake won't happen again.


Me too. Never again. Cheap POS
Just heard back from Nissan  
BigK : 5/26/2017 10:19 am : link
And they are going to replace the transmission for free. I am pretty impressed, I was expecting a fight
RE: Every brand has problems, and everybody has their own horror story.  
jcn56 : 5/26/2017 10:20 am : link
In comment 13483119 fivehead said:
Quote:
The fact is, that when you drive your vehicle for a bunch of miles over a bunch of years, stuff is going to start wearing down. It's just how it goes.


True, but you see patterns of defect and of dealer behavior that should make you think twice in some cases.

In my case, I get that things break. A water pump on a not yet 2 year old car shouldn't, but it's mechanical and it happens. Turns out, it happens very frequently on these models, many times well before you hit 36k miles.

OK, so things break - how the dealer network responds is a different story. When you do a search and find nothing but horror stories regarding the service that said manufacturer's dealers provide when something does go wrong, that should be it. Some makes go at it head-on, and offer recalls for faulty parts. Others issue TSBs and have mechanics look out for certain problem signs and proactively make repairs.

And then some don't give a flying fuck and leave you stranded on the side of the road.

If the OP is out of warranty but the manufacturer knows there's a problem with that series of transmissions, they should do something for him, if not pay for an outright replacement then at least offset some of the cost.
Went through this with Ford  
davek3698 : 5/26/2017 10:20 am : link
years back on a 2004 Explorer. Transmission issues were widespread and well-known and they did dick about it. Dealership even wanted money to look into it slipping, even knowing that it was extensive. I was SOL.
I've had three Nissan s all no problem  
Larry in Pencilvania : 5/26/2017 10:35 am : link
Only issue I had was defective windshield wiper motors. Of course my luck they died during a down pour. I will be honest that my next car won't be a Nissan
RE: Are most CVTs problematic?  
Jim in Fairfax : 5/26/2017 10:40 am : link
In comment 13483110 trueblueinpw said:
Quote:
I have an Accord with CVT. It's a company car, I barely drive and it's on a lease so I don't really care about the thing. But I do like the CVT on the car, I love the way it avoid the clunk you get when a traditional automatic shifts gears. Anyway, just curious if there's something about the CVT that is flawed?

My understanding is that Honda and Toyota CVTs are reliable.
Wife's Prius had a CVT  
Greg from LI : 5/26/2017 10:41 am : link
Never had one problem
My daughter has a 2010 Nissan Altima with CVT  
giant24 : 5/26/2017 10:44 am : link
nice looking car but boy are those transmissions noisy especially starting cold. Read somewhere this is normal and due to the technology.
RE: Whatever you do, don't replace it with a Dodge  
Matt M. : 5/26/2017 10:56 am : link
In comment 13483104 jcn56 said:
Quote:
Not even 2 years old, the water pump goes. Fine, not a huge deal - but no dealer within a hundred mile radius that's willing to touch it within the next two weeks. The one I went in to when the pump started to go wouldn't even give me the courtesy of a quick look under the hood to confirm what I thought was wrong.

Turns out, the damn pumps are on national backorder, so it was either let it sit for 2-3 weeks at a dealership and I rent a car to hold me over, or pay $400 to have the damn thing swapped out by my mechanic.

The pity is I loved the car to that point, but I don't get fooled by the same company twice.
The dealer wouldn't give you a loaner? When the part is on national backorder, that is not a good sign. Everyone and their mother has the same problem.
Nissan CVT warranty extension: Here ya go BigK  
Marty in Albany : 5/26/2017 11:04 am : link
See link.

A lot of car companies have secret warranties. I blew a head gasket on an our of warranty Ford and the dealer went 50-50 with me on the repairs.
My wife's 204 Subaru Legacy  
antdog24 : 5/26/2017 11:07 am : link
has the CVT trans. Her previous 05 Subaru had a traditional automatic transmission. I'm not sure what Subaru is doing differently but the drive-ability definitely seems better on the CVT version of the car. It appears to produce more low end torque making the car seem snappier off the line. Cant'say enough good things about these Subaru cars.
RE: RE: Whatever you do, don't replace it with a Dodge  
jcn56 : 5/26/2017 11:09 am : link
In comment 13483185 Matt M. said:
Quote:
In comment 13483104 jcn56 said:


Quote:


Not even 2 years old, the water pump goes. Fine, not a huge deal - but no dealer within a hundred mile radius that's willing to touch it within the next two weeks. The one I went in to when the pump started to go wouldn't even give me the courtesy of a quick look under the hood to confirm what I thought was wrong.

Turns out, the damn pumps are on national backorder, so it was either let it sit for 2-3 weeks at a dealership and I rent a car to hold me over, or pay $400 to have the damn thing swapped out by my mechanic.

The pity is I loved the car to that point, but I don't get fooled by the same company twice.

The dealer wouldn't give you a loaner? When the part is on national backorder, that is not a good sign. Everyone and their mother has the same problem.


Not just one dealer - not one out of the 6 dealers I called in the NY/NJ metro area.

Three just said they don't do that, one said they'd do it but they were all out, and the last two said they wouldn't provide a loaner since I didn't buy the car from them.

And while the part was on backorder, some dealers had it. I tried to buy it from one, but they specifically said they reserved it for repairs. When I told them I needed it done, I was told 'you can bring your car in on June 4th'.

Which was great, considering my water pump had already just about unraveled.

Now I have to try and find a way to get them to cover it under their emergency repair provision, but I don't see that happening.
Really glad for this thread  
Mike in Marin : 5/26/2017 11:36 am : link
though I sympathize with the OP and others that have gotten screwed.

Very happy with our 2002 Xterra with 160k miles. Very few problems over the years, though I just called a tow co. for the 3 rd problem in 2 months. Starting to go. Other 2 repairs were minimal to get fixed. 2-300 each.

Also very happy with our 2013 Armada. Zero problems so far with 50k miles. But now I have to think about getting my soon to be driving daughter something and the Xterra won't last much longer.

So I need 2 new(er) cars. Been looking at the Rogue and some other Nissans for us. Thanks to this thread, I'm going to be a lot more cautious or maybe just get a Mazda SUV, keep looking, etc.
I have a 2012 Focus which also has class action lawsuits  
buford : 5/26/2017 11:53 am : link
regarding transmissions. I was 'lucky' that mine just quit on me while I was driving to work and was replaced while it was still under warranty. I haven't had any issues yet. It does do some weird things sometimes, but it's not that bad.
RE: Every brand has problems, and everybody has their own horror story.  
ZogZerg : 5/26/2017 12:07 pm : link
In comment 13483119 fivehead said:
Quote:
The fact is, that when you drive your vehicle for a bunch of miles over a bunch of years, stuff is going to start wearing down. It's just how it goes.


a 3 year old car with 72K is not a "bunch of miles over a bunch of years". Cars these days should easily go over 100K without major work required. Some companies can do that and some not so much.
Nissan and Honda have made the shift to CVTs  
Ace718 : 5/26/2017 12:13 pm : link
and it sounds like Honda has had more success with it than than Nissan. I'm not a fan of the CVTs. Toyota has also introduced CVT technology but its limited to their Hybrid models. The gas powered Camry and Avalon still come with the good old automatic.
RE: Just heard back from Nissan  
section125 : 5/26/2017 12:16 pm : link
In comment 13483149 BigK said:
Quote:
And they are going to replace the transmission for free. I am pretty impressed, I was expecting a fight


Good for you. Glad it worked out.
I had an Altima SL  
Knineteen : 5/26/2017 12:36 pm : link
where the rear cross-member rotted out and they had to basically weld replacement material. The work was covered under a recall, but Nissan never contacted me about it. For years I was driving a car that was basically cracked in half towards the rear.

So, I DRIVE the car into the dealership and, conveniently, the transmission died while under the care of the dealership. So the dealership performs the recall work and then TOWS the vehicle back to to my house.

Needless to say, that was the last Nissan I ever purchased. Sucks for them, because I was ready to buy a brand new Altima too.
RE: I had an Altima SL  
Matt M. : 5/26/2017 12:53 pm : link
In comment 13483322 Knineteen said:
Quote:
where the rear cross-member rotted out and they had to basically weld replacement material. The work was covered under a recall, but Nissan never contacted me about it. For years I was driving a car that was basically cracked in half towards the rear.

So, I DRIVE the car into the dealership and, conveniently, the transmission died while under the care of the dealership. So the dealership performs the recall work and then TOWS the vehicle back to to my house.

Needless to say, that was the last Nissan I ever purchased. Sucks for them, because I was ready to buy a brand new Altima too.
They didn't even call to notify you of the issue? Or, they simply said they weren't fixing it? Either way, it is bad service, but the former is even worse.
Yes Nissan  
mdthedream : 5/26/2017 1:14 pm : link
and ford cvt tranny suck.
I was looking at a ford  
mdthedream : 5/26/2017 1:24 pm : link
2 years old with 24k miles and the Fox report was sent to shop for CVT issue time and time again. Got in the care nice looking car motor ran great but bucked and made trany noise. Did research major issue. The seal leaked at the shaft and onto the clutch causing it to grab.
RE: RE: I had an Altima SL  
Knineteen : 5/26/2017 4:13 pm : link
In comment 13483349 Matt M. said:
Quote:
They didn't even call to notify you of the issue? Or, they simply said they weren't fixing it? Either way, it is bad service, but the former is even worse.

The rear cross-member had a recall on it years before, but I never got the recall notice. So, for years, I was driving on a bad cross-member that eventually rotted out completely. It just so happened that I went in for unrelated recall work and they notified me of the cross-member recall.

It took two weeks to do the recall work, so I'm guessing the car sat on a lift that entire time. That probably didn't bode well for the transmission.
Even after the tranny failure, they didn't diagnosis it very well for me. They claimed it was old and the "AFT was dirty".
It was infuriating nonetheless but I didn't have much recourse with a car only worth a couple grand.
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