6.3

fairly significant
Typical Repair Cost:
No data
Average Mileage:
22,850 miles
Total Complaints:
6 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (3 reports)
  2. repair transmission (3 reports)
2016 Nissan Maxima transmission problems

transmission problem

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2016 Nissan Maxima Owner Comments

problem #6

Jun 062016

Maxima Platinum 3.5L V6

  • CVT transmission
  • 6,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Dealer technician said it’s a cvt trabnsmission and the car should be driven in manual shifting in city under 30 km/h to avoid shaking of the cvt... Well, I think it is up to the driver to decide when he is the mood to use handshifting or automatic ...

- Roger H., Montreal, QC, Canada

problem #5

Feb 022021

Maxima SR 3.5L V6

  • CVT transmission
  • 93,500 miles

Purchased the vehicle brand new in 2016. At approximately 55,000 miles, the car would shake on acceleration. I took the car to the dealer and they told me it was CVT Judder. They had to replace the valve body. I asked if that was the solution or just part of the problem as I read about older Nissan CVT problems. They assured me that it would fix the problem.

Car drove fine until recently. At approximately 93,000 miles (2 years later), problem came back. I read about all the Class Action Lawsuits that have been settled for the CVT transmission and how Nissan increased their Warranty for selected models to 10 years and 120,000 miles. I brought the car to Charlie Clark Nissan in El Paso to have them access. I was told my car was not covered by the extended warranty. I asked why not, it's a $45,000 Flagship of Nissan and it's having the same problems that the other models were reporting with a defective CVT transmission. I was told "sorry, we do not cover that".

I brought the car to a transmission specialist and asked for a quote. Told them this was repaired 2 years ago. He told me replacing the Valve Body is a band-aid solution to a bigger problem. They should have replaced the transmission. I told Nissan this and was told, it is recommended because it fixes the problem. I asked how long the warranty on the valve body was, he said "12 months". Funny how it got me past the 60,000 mile drivetrain warranty and now it's my problem. DO NOT BUY A NISSAN CAR. Nissan does not stand by their product. Cost to replace the transmission is $8,000. I was told I could try and file a lawsuit with all the other complaints. I told them, that is a terrible way to promote your Flagship car.

- Eric B., El Paso, TX, US

problem #4

Oct 082018

Maxima SL 3.5L V6

  • CVT transmission
  • 21,000 miles

2016 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SL - bought it pre owned, certified and after a week I noticed the CVT transmission shaking, shuddering (the judder) when accelerating at low speeds especially when transmission is hot. Brought it to the dealership's service center who fixed it in a day. They replaced the valve cover, as reported by others here, and it is OK for now (as of 10/16/2018). Will provide updates if or when it happens again.

- John C., Bethpage, NY, US

problem #3

Sep 182017

Maxima Platinum V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 9,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The transmission started to malfunction when I would accelerate from a stop up to less then 10 mph and then the car would begin to shake and shudder.they replaced the valve body and now it has been fine.

- Gregory S., Laurel, US

problem #2

Mar 012016

Maxima S 3.5L V6

  • CVT transmission
  • 2,000 miles

VERY DISSATISFIED WITH THIS TRANSMISSION. CHATTERS, JERKS, WHINES AND RPM GOES LOW AT STOPS.

Update from Sep 11, 2016: CAR IN SHOP FOR 2 WEEKS REPLACED THE VALVEBODY. SEEMS TO BE OK FOR NOW.

- two10john, Bloomington, CA, US

problem #1

Jun 142016

Maxima SR V6

  • CVT transmission
  • 5,000 miles

The transmission started to malfunction when I would accelerate from a stop up to less then 10 mph and then the car would begin to shake and shudder and progressively got worse until I exceeded 35 to 40 mph. It would start shuddering after the transmission had warmed up. It progressively got worse and it would shudder anytime I climbed a hill. The car/transmission has only 5275 miles on it. I took it to my dealer to be checked out. I waited an hour for the service tech to tell me that they could not find any alarm or fault codes after hooking the car up to they computer. I told him that shuddering was not my imagination. So he said they would check further into my complaint. They took the car out on a road test and found nothing. They still found nothing wrong. They then had me take them on a road test which of course the problem did not happen during the test. They then told me to take the car home and bring it back in as soon as it happen again because they obviously thought it was my imagination. Another 2 hours pass by. I told them I couldn't accept that and told them the car should stay there until they can figure out how to fix it and to give me a loaner. They didn't want to do that but I insisted. They said they would try one more thing. The service tech came back an hour later and said that the computer now showed a fault they called a "Judder" (jerking studded). My car has been in the shop now for 6 days and I am told it will be at least another 2 days because parts had to be back ordered. I was told that because the car is so new there aren't any replacement transmissions or repair parts available at this time. WHAT? I now have absolutely no confidence in the reliability of this vehicle. How can I trust traveling any significant distance from my home without fear of this transmission failing again? After all the first transmission only lasted 5,000 miles. How long will a repaired transmission last or even a new one?

- yrobert, Mequon, US

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