CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Nissan Altima has multiple problem trends including the CVT transmission, and now that this model is out of warranty, it earns our "Avoid Like The Plague" badge.
Be warned: the 2014 & 2015 Nissan Altima appears to share these same problems.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
8 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
58,569 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Stopped at a stop light. Made left turn car shuddered smoothed out and drove 1 mile and parked car for 30 minutes and got ready to move vehicle and shifted to reverse and engine stalled. Started engine put transmission in drive and engine stalled. Dealer say's transmission is bad and needs replaced.
I have 2013 Nissan Altima S. it has ~89K miles on it. The transmission stopped working on 10/11/2020. How can NHTSA assist? Nissan refused to provide any assistance. The cvts installed in the Nissan Altima have caused a variety of problems - shaking, losing acceleration and stalling, among others - according to owners who are regularly posting complaints on websites such as autonews.com, carcomplaints.com, and cars.com. Nissan Altima owners have secured a settlement offer from the carmaker which would resolve claims that the vehicles' transmissions fail prematurely. Lead plaintiffs alleged that 2013 through 2016 Nissan Altima suffer from shuddering, hesitation, stalling, and noises stemming from defective continuous variable automatic transmissions.vaccording to the Nissan class action, vehicles stall unexpectedly, causing them to stop in traffic without illuminating the brake lights.vconversely, the defect could also allegedly cause an unexpected surge in power, causing drivers to lose control.vvdespite consumer complaints, Nissan reportedly forced owners to pay for a $3,000 fix that often left them with more defective parts.case # 42179365. Due to covid, my issue surfaced after 7 year deadline on May 11, 2020. This is wrong and Nissan will not take responsibility for it. I tried to work with madison at Nissan 615-725-7208. I am having the work done based on diagnosis from wright Nissan. The work will cost me about $3,500. Wiegand brothers transmission will replace the transmission. 445 rochester rd pittsburgh, pa 15237. 412-364-8000, 412-364-7399 email: Wiegandtransmissions@yahoo.com
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that on several occasions the gear shifter seized while in the park position. The driver was unable to immediately shift out of the park position to the drive position. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 180,000.
- Lillington, NC, USA
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The air bag light activated and the engine RPM dropped while driving. The engine accelerator lost power, then picked up speed after pushing on the accelerator.
The car has a shutter, jerking, high RPM, loss of power, driving the car down the road and it all of a sudden blasted up to almost 7000 rpms and violently jerking and shuttering while driving down the highway at 75- 80 miles per hour almost causing me to crash the car, it then lost power with me pressing my gas pedal all the way to the floor, it's a huge safety issue and Nissan needs to fix this before people get seriously hurt or even die.
The vehicle is having problems going into gear and shifting correctly. Vehicle was purchased by me in 2018. I have a clean title. There has been a recall on the transmission. I received a letter from Nissan. They are refusing to repair it because the VIN shows the vehicle was salvaged in two other states. Nissan says I must have a clear title from those states before they will repair the car. I was told by people in both of the states that I can not get another title while I currently have a title. I have been driving the car since purchase and am still driving it. It has under 84,000 miles which is what the letter states. I read that Nissan can not refuse to fix a salvaged vehicle if it is being driving. Please help me and get them to honor this warranty.
Vehicle stopped automatically (by itself) while in motion. Lucky that it was in a parking lot otherwise this could have been a fatal accident. When taken to the dealer, they mentioned its an issue with the transmission and will need to be changed. Looking it up on google made me understand that its a common issue with Nissan Altima and Nissan has not taken any steps or offered any help to its customers to support fixing the issues. Its a disaster waiting to happen, kindly take some actions!
I own a 2013 Nissan Altima purchased from my friend who originally purchased it from a Nissan dealership. The car's shown transmission issues 12th July 2020 when I was about to stop for a signal. The car was shuddering before coming to a full stop. Initially I thought it was a brake issue, naively thinking given that I experienced it when coming to a stop. But when I pressed gas after signal turned green, the car did not accelerate as it would do normally. I rode the vehicle for another 5 miles the next day and the problem continued to get worsened. Upon researching and finding that it is a transmission issue, I scheduled an appointment with Nissan dealership for July 15th morning. The car did not go in reverse at the beginning and I had to change the parking gear before I tried to reverse again. This time it slowly moved. When moving forward in roads, the car was not able to go beyond 20 mph and the RPM would go up and down when pressing gas. I barely managed to reach the dealership and they assessed the vehicle to have transmission issues. They told that the transmission needs to be replaced.
When driving my car it jerks, when I'm at a complete stop and then go to take off the car jerks. My car has the cvt transmission which has or had a class action claim against them however to my understanding I wasn't able to qualify for the extended warranty because my mileage exceeded what was required. I don't feel safe transporting my family in this car due to the hesitation/ jerks, however I'm not financially able to take the car to a certified mechanic. I've tried contacting someone in regards to the Nissan Altima cvt settlement to see if they could direct me to someone who could help resolve this issue but I've had no success reaching anyone. I've had numerous issues with the car besides the hesitation/ jerking, the traction control light randomly comes on for no reason, the A/C want properly work. This has been a ongoing problem for awhile, when I purchased the car ( used ) I was concerned about the jerking when I first drove it but the salesman said that its normal for that type transmission and that I'd get use to it hence the fact I didn't know I was purchasing a car that was putting myself and family in danger. Please help
While driving the vehicle on open highways the vehicle will experience a loss of power and engine shuts off resulting in loss of steering and breaking. Vehicle will also experience the same issues while driving in the city streets. When coming to a stop the vehicle will lose power and breaks will not work. This has been occurring since November 2019
When I driving 75 mph on the freeway, suddenly my 2013 Altima transmission gearbox slipping to neutral. I had to tow the car to Nissan dealership for replace the transmission for $3700.
Without warning my car stopped accelerating. It died at in intersection and had to have it towed to a dealership. The problem started on the highway and the car died at a busy intersection. Car has 123000 miles with never an issue with cvt.. dealer told us it will cost 4,000 dollars to fix. Transmission shouldn't fail at 123 000 miles.
(1) the passenger side airbag light is faulty. It is always lit as 'off' even when there is a passenger on the seat. (2) car jerks when changing gears. I was reversing into a parking space. When I tried changing gears from reverse to drive, there was a delay and then the car jerked. As I tried to slowly accelerate, the car would not advance as it normally should. I then parked and the car began to accelerate/ rev while in park. My car is up to date on everything. I'm afraid this could happen on a busy street or highway. Please help.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that while attempting to shift gears, there was a lag in between when the vehicle responded and the RPM at the time the transmission shifted to the next gear. The contact stated that with the vehicle on cruise control the vehicle revved up with the transmission slipping. The contact stated that while making a left turn at approximately 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was push to the side of the road. Additionally, while driving, the accelerator pedal was depressed to the floorboard however, the vehicle failed to respond. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 96,045.
Car stalled in middle of road while turning left. Started again, but died when put in gear. Pushed it out of the road after traffic cleared. Attempted to drive in for repairs next day, but it sputtered and died halfway there. Had it towed to dealer. Dealer says $4300 for transmission replacement. Dealer said he was unaware of this particular problem and that the 3 outstanding recalls were for minor safety adjustments. Clearly lying to me given the wealth of data regarding similar transmission failures for this model/year I have found online. At no point was there a warning/hazard/engine light on. Very very dangerous defect and should be subject to recall.
Cant get car to go from put to drive always gotta keep restarting I think its shift lock I keep putting foot on brake and have too do it 3 or 4 times very stressful.
While driving my car and merging onto a busy interstate, the check engine light, traction control, and blind spot monitoring error lights all came on the car would not accelerate. The RPM gauge would go up and the car would try to go, but it just wouldn't. I almost got rear ended by a semi truck because my car wasn't able to go or move out of the way. I left it in a shop for over a week and apparently it's something to do with the cvt transmission and speed sensors. I contacted Nissan and all they would tell me was that they did an extended warranty on those transmissions up to 130,000 miles, however my car was roughly 2,000 miles over this and was not covered by that warranty. They told me all I could do was replace the transmission and that was going to cost me roughly $4,000. I'm almost scared to drive it anywhere there's lots of traffic or fast moving traffic for fear of someone running into me. Also when all of those dash lights come on, the traction control isn't working and I've had to drive in the rain several times. I just believe it's overall dangerous and Nissan isn't doing anything to fix the problem for cars that have somehow managed to make it over 130,000 miles. I know several people who've had similar things happen with their Nissan car that has this transmission. I do believe it is a safety issue because it malfunctions at any given time just randomly. I can be driving and it's fine one minute, the next thing I know all of these dash lights are lit up and the car won't accelerate.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Elmwood Park, NJ, USA