CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 has a growing number of transmission complaints at low mileage. The issue is part of a class-action lawsuit that says the transmissions shake violently during acceleration between 15mph and 30mph.

4.6

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
23,633 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.

2013 Nissan Pathfinder fuel system problems

fuel system problem

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2013 Nissan Pathfinder Owner Comments

problem #16

Dec 182023

Pathfinder

  • miles

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

In September 2020 there was a recall on the CVT transmission for several cars. I was not notified whatsoever, so consequently I had to pay for a replacement at my local dealership in February 2021. I was told that I was receiving a new transmission. In December 2023, I was informed that I would need a whole replacement. I went back to my local dealership and they informed me that they would be willing to fix it with a replacement from the factory if I did the labor. They stated I would have to do a claim with NISSAN USA for the replacement. I called and was informed that I did not qualify because of the mileage and warranty period. I went back to the dealership and explained the issue, they said they could do nothing also. I HAVE DOCUMENTS WITH ALL THE DETAILS I WOULD LIKE TO SEND IN. The link to upload was not working for some reason. I tried several times.

- Columbus, OH, USA

problem #15

Jan 242020

Pathfinder

  • miles
My car ever now and then makes no power after breaking. I have to take car out of gear step on gas put it back in gear to drive again only happen ever so often. I think there is a recall on freak switch.

- Brooklyn, NY, USA

problem #14

Jan 112020

Pathfinder

  • 133,200 miles
Increasing engine noise, heavy highway vibration (almost like unbalanced tires) and very choppy start-from-stop exceleration caused me to have the car looked at by a mechanic. Diagnosed as a transmission problem. Only option is to replace. I thought there was an earlier recall on this model for powertrain issues, but my car shows "0 unrepaired recall items"

- Norton, MA, USA

problem #13

Aug 202019

Pathfinder

  • 65,000 miles

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

Brake lights stay on and vehicle has loss of power when trying to accelerate and the when brake lights go off it goes back to full power. This is a known issue with this model but it appears my VIN number isn't covered although it has the same issues as other 2013 Nissan Pathfinders. I have less than 61000 miles on the vehical.

- Ft.Gibson, OK, USA

problem #12

Jul 012019

Pathfinder

  • 89,000 miles
While the vehicle is in motion if randomly becomes unresponsive to the gas pedal being pressed to engage the engine and continue moving forward. The vehicle doesn't shut down, the engine is still running, however, it doesn't respond when the gas pedal is engaged to accelerate. This occurs while driving on city streets and highway. The safety concern is when the vehicle is moving with traffic and doesn't respond to the gas pedal the vehicle begins to slow down and may cause an accident. The most recent episode occurred this afternoon (7/1/2019) while driving to the servicing dealership for a scheduled oil change. My wife merged to the left lane (also the passing line) in order to get off the left side exit to the dealership. The vehicle became did not respond to the gas pedal and slowed down to 45 mph nearly causing an accident because traffic on the left lane was moving approximately 65-70 mph. My 2 young children were in the vehicle at the time as they are most of the time when the vehicle doesn't respond to the gas pedal being pressed. We've had the vehicle diagnosed by the local Nissan dealership (crowley Nissan) and they've found nothing wrong with the vehicle. We were told that's how the cvt transmission is supposed to work ( it's not supposed to potentially kill you and your family). I've done some research on the web for similar issues and there are many Nissan Pathfinder experiencing the same concern. I also contacted Nissan of North America to express the concern and they had no resolution, the representative also said they can not take website input, or blogs of customer expressing concerns with their vehicle. The only suggestion is the take it to the dealership and have them diagnose the problem, but the dealership tells us they need a trouble code from the system that's failing. When this occurs no trouble code comes up, so, we're going around in circles.

- Oxford, CT, USA

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problem #11

Jun 012015

Pathfinder 6-cyl

  • 22,000 miles
While driving, vehicle looses power, acceleration, pressing on gas and nothing happens, shift car to neutral and press on gas and RPM"S go up, shift back to drive, press on gas and RPM's don't move, vehicle does not go. All the times that it has happened we had to coast either to the side of road, or to next light. This is a rear end collision waiting to happen, this is definitely a safety issue!!! took car to Nissan dealer, but since car did not detect any error codes, dealership was unable to find fix, but there is definitely something wrong with car, www.carcomplaints.com went unto this site and found more than 100 complaint similar to mine, about car loosing power. Somebody has to look into this before someone gets seriously hurt or dies. This is my wife's car and I have a 3yr old and a 2yr old that she drives around, please, someone look into this.

- Lakeside, CA, USA

problem #10

Apr 032015

Pathfinder 6-cyl

  • 13,700 miles

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

Upon acceleration from idle or at traffic light, depressing the acceleration pedal produces no movement. You have to press the gas pedal all the way down, upon which no movement forward is created. Also, the passenger front airbag, even with a 160 pound passenger sits in seat, airbag light is still turned off, subsequently turning off airbag.

- Whitestone, NY, USA

problem #9

Feb 102015

Pathfinder 6-cyl

  • 30,000 miles
Over the past two month I've had 4 incidents when I stop at a light or sign and when I hit my accelerator pedal to start moving again nothing happens. Sometimes I lift my foot off of the pedal and them back again and it starts working normally. Other times the accelerator starts working after a few seconds of being depressed.....more than a little nu-nerving when entering heavy traffic areas.

- Seffner, FL, USA

problem #8

Jan 152014

Pathfinder 4WD 6-cyl

  • 480 miles
Bought this vehicle advertised as "new" however started having multiple issues within the first few days. The fuel gauge would read "0" miles regardless of how much the fuel tank was filled, and the transmission started slipping the 4th day. I would be driving along at anywhere from 30-55 mph when this would happen. Took it back to the original dealer for repair, who refused to put it in the shop and check it out, so I took it to another dealer who said that they were unable to reproduce the defects in the shop. I took it back multiple times for the same issues and they ended up putting more mileage on the vehicle than I did in the first 3 weeks with continuous "inability to reproduce results, " however, as soon as I would leave the shop to go home the transmission would slip and the car would decelerate almost to a stop and then lunge again when it would kick back in. The fuel guage continued to read zero at fill ups, very frustrating. I called Nissan Consumer Affairs with no real progress. The dealer refused repair printoffs as well, so I really don't know what they did to the vehicle while it was in the shop.

- Kennedale, TX, USA

problem #7

Sep 182013

Pathfinder

  • 1,300 miles
2013 Nissan Pathfinder shudders at low speed or accelerating from stop position. Have taken vehicle to dealer several times (12) since Sept 2013. Replaced transmission 3 times, transmission software update performed twice. Each time afterwards I was told some made up story from it's working fine now to you must have been spinning your tires on the wet roads. I took videos of the violent shuddering and loss of acceleration to the service dept and was told there is no fix available for this transmission issue and to drive it as best you can. 55K for a new car to drive the best I can!!!"?" contacted Nissan corporation to file a complaint, after 5 days was denied any relief. Contacted a lemon law attorney and filed a claim. Within 2 days of Nissan being notified by the attorney, they were willing to settle. I received a full buy out and refund of all deposits and monthly payments. God riddance!!!! buyer beware!

- Westampton, NJ, USA

problem #6

Jul 012013

Pathfinder

  • 500 miles

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

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 20 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle lost power. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The dealer diagnosed that the vehicle required a high octane fuel. The contact switched to using the correct fuel however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 500.

- Bealeton, VA, USA

problem #5

May 222013

Pathfinder

  • 400 miles
At 20mph car stutters/chokes as if it will shut off.

- Astoria, NY, USA

problem #4

Mar 122014

Pathfinder 6-cyl

  • 20,000 miles
When coasting into a turn through a traffic light or around a corner and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle does not accelerate. You need to pump the pedal and just wait for the acceleration to kick in. When accelerating from a complete stop at a traffic light or stop sign, the vehicle will not accelerate past 5mph. You need to wait a few seconds and take your foot off the accelerator for it to kick back in. There is no pattern to when it happens. It will not happen for days and then it will happen 2-3 times in one day. This is dangerous entering intersections. It was taken to the dealer last week and I was told they could not duplicate the problem and therefor not fix it. It has happened three times since. I googled this issue and there are hundreds of complaints regarding this problem.

- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

problem #3

Feb 022013

Pathfinder 6-cyl

  • 2,200 miles
I was driving on the highway with my wife and 10 month old daughter. The engine rpms kept going up and down when I pressed the gas with limited or no propulsion. I had to avoid the high speed highway traffic while I moved over 3 lanes to the shoulder. Dealership tells me that the vehicle, with 2200 miles, requires a new transmission due to a failure on the transmission oil delivery system.

- Clifton , NJ, USA

problem #2

Jan 272013

Pathfinder

  • 45 miles
I have my 2013 Pathfinder for around 2 weeks and since day 2 it's having problems I think with the power train. It start to fail the acceleration, like when on a manual car you step out the clutch early. I went twice to a Nissan dealer to verify the problem and on both visits they said there's no problem with the SUV. So I have to wait to something more happens so they can find a problem. I changed my 2010 Pathfinder for this one... I think I made a really bad move here.

- Toa Baja, PR, USA

problem #1

Dec 312012

Pathfinder

  • 306 miles
While driving around 35 mph the Pathfinder started sputtering between 3000-4000 rpms and would not increase in speed. I stopped the vehicle and shut off the engine in hopes to reset a problem. When I turned the car back on, the Pathfinder would not move in drive or reverse. As the tow truck driver was loading the Pathfinder he noticed a large amount of liquid coming from underneath the vehicle. Once at the dealership they found that the transmission cooler line had burst and the radiator needed to be replace. Also another owner of a 2013 Pathfinder was also having problems with their transmission and was told that a problem had been identified with the computer that was affecting the transmission. Nissan knew about the problem but didn't catch it prior to the new Pathfinder leaving the factory.

- Windermere, FL, USA

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