CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005-2007 Pathfinder appears to have a widespread defect where coolant leaks into the transmission, causing transmission failure around 90,000 miles. Repair costs are typically upwards of $3,500.
According to the New York Times & a class action lawsuit, the defect actually extends through 2010 model year. More info here.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
101,844 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.
2007 Nissan Pathfinder with 86K miles. Vehicle began hesitating when traveling 40 mph on highway, then loss of power sometimes. The car began to overheat. Took it to a mechanic who told me that it was the transmission and radiator. Cooler line had failed and mixed with transmission. I called Nissan and was told that they extended the warranty to 100K but I would have to pay $2500 out of pocket. Learned of a class action lawsuit in 2012. Nissan never notified me of the transmission problem. If they had notified me on time, I would still be under the 80K warranty. I have no money to fix my car and now I'm stuck paying for a car that I can't drive.
2007 Nissan Pathfinder le - 92,000 miles est. - I bought this vehicle new in 2007 and have been very pleased up until the past two weeks. My story is the same as others - transmission started getting rough, particularly around 45-50 mph and on inclines. There is an audible and jolting clunk moving from neutral to drive. While driving in the above range, the vehicle sounds just like driving over a rumble strip on the highway. I haven't even taken the vehicle in to the dealership yet, and I already know what the problem is. This car has been babied for years being that it is the sole automobile that my wife and kids drive in. I'll be [xxx] if I'm going to pay a $3000 deductible for a defect that Nissan has had full knowledge of for years now! to[xxx] with the settlement that left most of us out in the cold while padding the pockets of the attorneys! it is time for the NHTSA to step up and make the only right and safe decision that Nissan refuses to make! these cars are not safe to drive on the road in this condition! mine will remained parked in the drive until Nissan is forced to recall every vehicle with these faulty radiator/transmission issues. This is my complaint. I hope that Nissan does the smart thing here. They have lost me as a customer for life, and I've owned or driven over a dozen Nissan in my time. It's a shame that this company will sit back and let these complaints mount up until truly forced to do something about it. They should be disgraced knowing that right now there are mothers & children driving in vehicles that could suffer complete transmission failure at any point leading to injury and death. My advice to all is to bring this to their doorstep. Technology offers us the ability to bring the fight to the top of the food chain. I'll be bombarding email addresses and voicemail boxes until this is resolved. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Radiator failed, leaking antifreeze into transmission. This mixing of antifreeze and transmission fluid caused transmission to fail. The violent vibrations and rough shifting is a safety hazard and Nissan should recall all models with this radiator. I had to pay $2500 to have this defect repaired.
My vehicle was shifting weird when all of a sudden it violently lurched forward while in traffic. I took it to the transmission repair shop and was notified that my transmission had coolant in it and needed to be replaced. This will cost over $9,000 to repair and the safety issue is that the vehicle lurching forward so violently is unacceptable because of the faulty transmission cooler etc...
The automatic transmission in the vehicle began to shift roughly. It was determined through the Nissan dealership that the radiator had a crack in, and radiator fluid was leaking into the transmission fluid. It is a design flaw.
- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA
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My Nissan Pathfinder radiator coolant leaked into the transmission, I got an extend warranty and now the extended warranty is not covering it due to radiator coolant leaked to the transmission and it not a cover benefit now I'm screw.
The radiator and transmission has appeared to fail in my Nissan the radiator started to leak several months ago and I finally had to replace the radiator and now the transmission has started fail. The car has been well cared for and both the radiator and the transmission appear to be failing well before a normal radiator and transmission should.
Vehicle's transmission started slipping at certain speeds. Got a trans flush hoping it would improve. Problem returned. Service engine light came on. Took to garage and had a new wiring harness put on. Problem returned. Got stranded and had vehicle towed. Determined that coolant was in the transmission fluid. Huge repair bill. Part of the class action suit now but am still out $2500. Probably started occurring before 80,000 miles and had I been more investigative at that time, bill would have been covered because it was under 80,000. Now it's over that amount and I am out of luck. Huge disappointment in Nissan!
Transmission starting slipping then started jerking while driving then it started overheating. Took it to a Nissan dealership because I bought the extended warranty that was supposed to cover the powertrain. They told me that the cooler cracked which caused the radiator fluid to leak into the tranmission and messed up the radiator, which is not covered by the powertrain warranty because the radiator cooler was not part of it. The dealership wants to charge over $6000 to fix it.
Transmission failure while driving in traffic. Caused by ruptured coolant line, coolant mixed with atf. Replaced radiator and flushed transmission, but damage was already done.
While driving on street around 2 pm, the car just lost its power and I end up stuck in the middle of the street with my 2 kids at the back seats, the car wont moved and I need to call for help so the other driver helped me push the car on the side of the street. Tow truck arrived and towed my car to the nearest shop and found out that it was the transmission mixed with water coming from the radiator. It cost 2800 for everything. The current miles when this incidents happened is 111200.
There is a known defect in the radiator/radiator coolers in the '05, '06 and '07 Nissan Pathfinders which causes the radiator and the transmission to fail. Please help with a recall on this problem, several of the folks still have a payment on the vehicles. You can see all of the problems that folks are having. Thanks, terry please try to do all you can for all of us, I can't see that Nissan can get by with this. They are just to replace the defect parts.
I took my 2007 Nissan Pathfinder to the dealer to have the brakes worked on and while there they performed a multi point vehicle inspection. From this inspection they informed me that there was cross contamination of the coolant and transmission fluid due to a failed transmission cooler. They indicated that damage had already started and it would only be a short time before the transmission failed completely so I needed to replace the radiator and transmission under the extended warranty and there would be a $3,000 deductible cost. In talking with the dealership service personnel and researching online it is clear that this is a common problem and obviously a design failure which could be a safety issue if the transmission fails while driving due to this known problem. My family and I are thankful that just by chance the brakes needed work otherwise my wife and kids could have been driving and been at risk of potential injury if the transmission failed unexpectedly as has been reported by other Nissan Pathfinder vehicle owners. Due to the number of failures that has occurred it is irresponsible for Nissan to just extend the warranty instead of taking a proactive approach and actually notifying their customers of the problem and fixing the known problem under a voluntary recall. I urge the NHTSA to initiate an investigation and hold Nissan responsible for their design failure and protect the public from the potential safety risk by forcing a mandatory recall to fix the problem instead of just waiting for failure which puts the consumer at risk.
The radiator leaked fluid into the transmission cause damage to the transmission rendering it useless. This is a known design defect with the 2007 Nissan.
Was told that radiator coolant was mixing with my transmission fluid. I noticed first that the heater wasn't getting very hot a few months ago, but since I live in Texas, this wasn't a huge deal for me since it's not that cold and so I was going to have it serviced at my next regular oil change. However, then just a couple of days ago, I noticed that the car would shudder around 45 - 50 mph so I took it in immediately and was told that I was experiencing a known defect of Nissan's built between 2005 - 2010. If I had known about 3 months ago (about the time I started noticing the heater issue) I would've been fully covered under their extended warranty of 80,000 miles for this particular defect. But I'm at 84,000 and therefore have to pay $2500 out of pocket for a new transmission and radiator. I feel that I should still be covered since I started experiencing issues before 80,000 miles but I had no idea that it would be such a huge problem that would require a new transmission and radiator on a car that is only 7 years old...
Transmission began shuttering, not up shifting and limited acceleration and speed on freeway at 55mph. Turns out that the transmission oil cooler lines had been leaking anti-freeze into transmission and destroyed it. Manufacturer has replaced with same cooler and rebuilt (not new) transmission. Issue still exists intermittently. Needs recall enforced. Manufacturer is pricing same cooler and rebuilt transmission at over $7000. Then agreeing to only charge $2500 - $3000 per class action settlement. Outside independent repairs quoted at $350 for cooler and less than $2000 for rebuilt transmission. Gov.'t recall should cover all new and re-designed parts. Failures will and are occurring again. Can result in accident at high speeds.
Left motel at 7am, vehicle seemed to have trouble shifting, high RPM..pulled over to check..would not start..towed to dealership. The consumer stated the radiator failed. Updated IVOQ 01/14/13
Transmission failure from radiator fluid leakage into the transmission fluid. The cooling system for the transmission runs through the radiator. When the radiator fails radiator fluid leaks into the tranny fluid and destroys the internal transmission clutch plates and torque converter. Nissan extended the warranty from 36K to 80K miles or 8 years on the radiator, knowing there was a problem, but no notice from them to owners of this problem. When the problem starts, it is too late, resulting in $6800 - $7500 in personal expenses to replace the transmission and radiator. Nissan will not consider fixing after 80K miles. I have 127000 and only 5 years old vehicle. This problem was acknowledged to affect 2005 - 2010 Pathfinders. There are hundreds of complaints on this issue on forums, which I find after I have the problem. Nissan should recall the radiators and fix the problems. It is a defective $300 radiator that damages a $7000 transmission!... this is unfortunate and irresponsible for Nissan and is basically a band-aid on a serious hazard. Now my $30,000 vehicle is worth $3,000 to the dealer for trade in.
While driving I noticed a grinding sound when I reached speeds of 40-45 mph. When I pulled in to park the vehicle there was a loud grind and then the vehicle would not start. After checking the fluid levels I found that the engine coolant and the transmission fluid were mixing.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Philadelphia, PA, USA