CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2014 has a small, but significant number of transmission complaints at low mileage. The issue is part of a class-action lawsuit that says the Pathfinder's transmission shakes violently during acceleration between 15mph and 30mph.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
35,067 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.

2014 Nissan Pathfinder drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2014 Nissan Pathfinder Owner Comments (Page 7 of 9)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #60

Feb 062015

Pathfinder

  • 500 miles

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

1. front passenger seat occupant indicator. Weight activated, irractic function. 2. variable speed transmission shudders when the car is going up a grade or is subjected to a hard pull, up & down mountainous terrain or up over an elevated railroad crossing.

- Blairsville, GA, USA

problem #59

Aug 162016

Pathfinder

  • miles
Multiple issues with this SUV had to have rear shock/strut replaced. Instrument cluster panel has been replaced. Passenger side air bag comes on when person is sitting there. Cvt transmission problems. The SUV has been in the shop on multiple occasions for each issue the transmission issue has been in the shop 6 plus times and I just picked up the 2014 Pathfinder 8-16-2016 and was told and have it on my invoice that the service tech drove the SUV and feels the transmission slipping or skipping but there is nothing they can do Nissan power train warranty will not allow them to replace it because my check engine light is not showing a code. So I have a 2014 Pathfinder that is a complete safety hazard for my family and other people on the road. The SUV will cut out, slip, shutter, lose power and has the potential of causing and accident when trying to accelerate which is terrible for who ever was to hit me and also could be fatal if I was to be hit and the passenger side air bag does not deploy could really hurt/kill the passenger. Every excuse I get from Nissan is they reprogrammed the car and this never fixed anything. The car was having transmission issues back before it made it to 30,000 miles and now at 55,000 miles the SUV is having major issues with the transmission. This is a known issue but Nissan refuses to fix. Nissan instead puts this SUV back on the road knowing it is having a safety issue for acceleration and passenger side air-bag and putting people at risk. I am requesting Nissan to do a buy back of this SUV. I am not looking for a replacement with another faulty transmission or a rebuilt transmission. I have found that there is a class action law suit in federal court in Florida with people having the exact same issue. So obliviously there is a major problem with these transmissions.

- Middleburg, FL, USA

problem #58

Aug 012016

Pathfinder

  • 5 miles
At slow speed car started shaking in hot weather with A/C on.

- Foster City, CA, USA

problem #57

Jul 262016

Pathfinder

  • 42,000 miles

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

I started noticing a slight slip in the transmission when I first purchased the vehicle, I didn't think much of it because it was a new vehicle. Then I would notice shaking periodically on the freeway; thinking it was the road. Now, fast forward my car obviously has a bigger issue. I was on the freeway and my car began to spudder and jerk and felt like I was going to lose power. I immediately exited the freeway and took the streets worried it was going to fall apart on me. I drove a few miles and jumped back on the freeway thinking it would go away. Nope! same thing happened and I was extremely frightened that I was going to get smashed from behind. The spudder feels as if you are going off roading. This occurred on the freeway when proceeding to accelerate after slowing in traffic. I thought for sure I was breaking down and my vehicle was staling.

- El Monte, CA, USA

problem #56

May 102016

Pathfinder

  • 25,000 miles
I purchased a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder as a new vehicle in October 2015. Since purchasing the vehicle I noticed the vehicle shuddering at low speed or when turning. This shuddering has become more frequent and now happens when the vehicle is cruising down the road. We have also noticed that the passenger airbag will show that there is no body in the seat even when there is someone sitting in the seat. The first time we took the vehicle back to the dealership the mechanic was not able to experience the issues that we had communicated to them and dismissed our claims. Will be going back to the dealership to discuss shuddering issue as it feels like the transmission is going to fall out.

- Pearland, TX, USA

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problem #55

Jun 052016

Pathfinder

  • 37,750 miles
I purchased a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder as used vehicle in September 2015. Since purchasing the vehicle my wife has complained about the vehicle shuddering at low speed or when turning. This shuddering has become more frequent and now happens when the vehicle is cruising down the road. We have also noticed that the passenger airbag will show that there is no body in the seat even when there is someone sitting in the seat. The first time we took the vehicle back to the dealership the mechanic was not able to experience the issues that we had communicated to them ad dismissed our claims. Contacting dealership 6/6 to have vehicle issues checked again.

- Tempe, AZ, USA

problem #54

Apr 012016

Pathfinder

  • miles

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

The computer in my 2014 Nissan Pathfinder continued to present difficulties. These malfunctions were documented with Nissan and the computer was in fact replaced. We were in negotiations with Nissan to warranty the computer with the powertrain warranty. On April 1, 2016 my wife started the vehicle in the driveway and went inside to let it warm up. When she went out (approximately 10 minutes later) the vehicle was gone. It had slipped into drive on its own and gone straight down into the woods, taking out two trees and hitting a telephone pole at the bottom of the hill. The airbags did not deploy. Nissan's finding were that the black box within the vehicle did not show anything and, therefore, they were not taking responsibility for it. We have all the documentation for the difficulties with the vehicle leading up the collision.

- Chambersburg, PA, USA

problem #53

Apr 252016

Pathfinder

  • 38,000 miles
Transmission failure- my vehicle has had a shudder when turning and at low speeds since day one, and it was purchased brand new. It now has 38,000 miles. Each time I brought it in for the shudder, the dealer would blame it on some 'other' issue. Since I bought the car, I have replaced the tires 2 times at the advice of the dealer (yes, they tried to blame it on the tires) and have had the brakes replaced at their advice. None of that fixed the shudder. I've spent a few thousand dollars proving that. Last week it was at the dealer for 4 days, and they admitted there is still a shudder, which is constant and gets worse when going uphill, but said it is because my tires are "square". brand new tires they just talked me into buying. They told me there is nothing more they will do and asked me to come get my vehicle. This is the fourth dealership my car has been to. I picked up the vehicle and not 2 blocks down the road at about 10 mph it started violently jerking and no amount of gas would make it go. It stalled in the middle of the road, with my baby in the back seat. It did the same thing several more times on the way back to the dealership. Their mechanic drove it and again, it immediately jerked violently as he first pressed the gas pedal- he did not experience it stall (or said he didn't ). now they admit it is not tires and said they need the computer to verify that there is a problem. They won't fix it unless the computer says there is an issue, even though it is not drivable. Nissan corporate called me today to say the computer says there is no issue and told me I have to return the loaner car and pick my broken down Pathfinder back up. No repair will be performed, since the "computer" isn't getting a fault code. So I am stuck with a $40,000 hunk of junk that I can't drive or even sell. Corporate even said that if it is not drivable, I should tow it away.

- Kennesaw, GA, USA

problem #52

Jun 242014

Pathfinder

  • 3,000 miles
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. While driving approximately 50 mph, the transmission exhibited hesitation and began to violently jerk. The failure recurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on numerous occasions. The transmission was reprogrammed. The manufacturer was notified and sent an engineer to investigate the failure; however, there was no resolution. The failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.

- Grayson, GA, USA

problem #51

Apr 162015

Pathfinder

  • 7,000 miles
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that the air bags were defective and the warning light illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times for the failure. The dealer replaced the seat load sensors, occupant classification system, and reprogrammed the air bag module. The failure was not corrected. In addition, there were a defective valve body in the transmission. The valve body was replaced; however, the failure was not corrected. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 7,000.

- Masontown, WV, USA

problem #50

Jan 042016

Pathfinder

  • 24,000 miles

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

Transimission slips and hesitates. We've owned it for two weeks now and it has already slipped twice. Vehicle on has 24,000 miles on it.

- Carthage, NC, USA

problem #49

Oct 152015

Pathfinder 4WD 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 18,000 miles
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. While driving approximately 50 mph, the transmission "slipped" and started to shake without warning. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the transmission was diagnosed as faulty and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the vehicle was involved in a crash, which voided the warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 18,000....updated 02/03/16

- Clearfield, UT, USA

problem #48

Aug 102015

Pathfinder

  • 5,000 miles
The automatic transmission (cvt) on my 2014 Nissan Pathfinder is very noisy, specially when driven cold. During normal driving conditions, sometimes slips and feels like the car looses power. This is happening since about 5,000 miles. Now 7,000 miles and the problem continues. Feels like the noise is getting louder as more miles are put on the car.

- Santiago, Dominican Republic, FL, USA

problem #47

Jul 042015

Pathfinder

  • 25,000 miles
I bought a new Nissan 2014 Pathfinder about 16 months ago and have experienced multiple transmission issues, which causes the car to shutter and jerk violently at speeds usually between 20-30 and 40-50. The symptoms started out every so often and then progressed to happening every time I drove the vehicle. At about 25K miles it got frequent, which is when we took it into the Nissan dealership and they determined that we needed a new transmission, and we had it replaced. A short time after having the transmission replaced (about 2 months), we noticed the shutter symptoms happening again at the same speeds. This time around, we also noticed when we went down large hills, the rpms would shoot up uncontrollably at speeds less than 20 and begin to shutter the car, which was dangerous and it felt like we could not control the descent. We took the vehicle back to the Nissan dealership and indeed, another transmission failure. The dealership called it a transmission valve problem (not exactly sure what that is) this time around, which is part of the transmission. Nissan has known about these cvt failures for a couple of years and has continued to sell them knowing they don't know why they keep having failures. Bottom line is, take it in when you feel the first shutter.these cars need to be all bought back from the consumers.

- Gainesville, VA, USA

problem #46

Sep 152015

Pathfinder

  • miles
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. While exiting the vehicle, the doors automatically locked while the key fob was still in the vehicle. In addition, the contact was unable to re-enter the vehicle to get to her child, who was trapped in the vehicle due to the failure. The contact also stated the vehicle was difficult to shift from drive into reverse or reverse into drive. Additionally the liftgate failed to remain open and closed independently numerous times. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Coconut Creek, FL, USA

problem #45

Jan 072014

Pathfinder

  • miles
The hood starts to flex or shake at speeds of 70mph and above. Transmission has a severe shudder when accelerating slightly between 20 to 30mph.

- Weston, FL, USA

problem #44

Jun 042015

Pathfinder

  • 32,000 miles
Purchased pre owned 2014 Nissan Pathfinder sl 4X4 wit 30,000 miles from serra visser cullman, al Nissan dealer in May 2015. Shortly after purchase noticed passenger air bag light would malfunction (meaning showing that it was off) when someone was sitting in passenger seat. Even when no one was sitting in seat it would show air ag was active when it should be turned off. Took to same service dept. I bought vehicle from. They ran diagnostics and said vehicle was functioning as it should and to basically ignore light. I was told "trust me your air bag will activate". now vehicle has 37,100 miles and starting to notice the cvt transmission will shudder/judder at certain speeds. Take for instance yesterday between 20-25 mph the vehicle just started to jerk significantly. Took to serra visser Nissan in cullman and they said that there was a technical service bulletin out on the problem and that it needs reprogrammed. The cost was 105 at my expense. I declined because this should fall under the power train warranty and proceeded to call Nissan Consumer Affairs hotline to open case about issues. I have researched online and have read hundreds of complaints about the same exact problems. It seems that none of the reprogramming, replacing transmissions, torque converters even solves the problem. Ive even read where it is a design flaw in transmission. I'm hoping they put a recall out for these issues or by back vehicles. I dont feel safe in it and certainly dont believe owners should pay to have any of these issues resolved.

- Cullman, AL, USA

problem #43

Feb 012014

Pathfinder

  • 6,000 miles
2014 Nissan Pathfinder purchased 12/31/2013. Transmission acted odd within first month of ownership, but was told it takes some time to get use to the cvt. Accepted the judder for about a year, as it was only occurring during slow speeds in parking lots. Had a couple close calls in the spring of 2015, where the transmission shook violently and the car was stalling in intersections. Dealer said they needed to flash the computer to fix the problem. Wife drove the car 9/15 (12,000 miles on odometer), car continued to judder, so we took it back to the dealership. Dealership unable to replicate. Service manager said that they know there is an issue, but until the computer throws a fault code, they are not authorized to perform work. I called Nissan na, they didn't really care, said that the regional rep would call at some point. 9/17, service rep called and said they still cannot find a code, asked that I pick it up and continually drive it in the condition that creates the judder and force the car to throw a code so they can work on a fix. Purchase new, two times in the shop, two more and I will pursue state lemon law. Outstanding dealership and service manager support, but their hands are tied on this one. Bottom line is that the Nissan corporation knows there is a problem, but refuses to fix. The safety of my family and other occupants in the vehicle is not important. Severe injury or death, as the result of loss of power is not enough to fix. Evidently the $4000 for a new transmission and torque converter is more valuable than my families life. Who says you cannot put a price on human life, Nissan does.

- Eagle, ID, USA

problem #42

Oct 312014

Pathfinder

  • 20,000 miles
I have been experiencing a shuddering and hesitation with my transmissions for months now. I usually feel this when accelerating from low speeds. It is a shaking/vibrating felling and it feels like the car does not want to shift gears. I have complained about this to East charlotte Nissan since October, where at first I was told it was a recall. Well, another individual, said it was not showing up as a recall at that time. I took it back in December, but the car still did not have a recall. As the problem persisted, I took it back to the same dealership where I was told that the transmission was given an update and that if it continued to bring it back because Nissan requires them to go through a series of steps before replacing the transmission. Well this past week (June 15-21), it has gotten much worse. In addition to the shuddering, hesitation, and vibration while accelerating, the vehicle has begun almost acting like it was to stall while decelerating. This is becoming extremely dangerous and it needs to be corrected. I have another aappointment scheduled for Tuesday. Hopefully this time I will get some results.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

problem #41

Feb 112015

Pathfinder

  • 3,000 miles
Multiple times when making a right or left turn in AWD when moderate to forceful acceleration is required to make the turn or be hit by oncoming vehicles. From a dead stop, a turn is executed and the accelerator is depressed between half-throttle and full-throttle. The vehicle responds normally at first but about 1-2 seconds into the turn the powertrain cuts out and will not accelerate to more than a crawl. This can last up to 6 seconds and puts the vehicle in jeopardy. I have experienced this on multiple occasions and have narrowly escaped collisions several times. When this happens, I have tried different things in order to get the car to respond. None of the following has worked: Releasing the accelerator and reapplying (pumping). Giving and holding full throttle. My uneducated opinion is that this is a software glitch for the cvt. I think that the transmission assumes that there is wheel spin upon acceleration (although there is none) and the anti-skid software reduces engine power to prevent wheel spin. This has put me in life threatening situations. I reported it to Nissan at the first complimentary oil change and was told that it was nothing to worry about. When I pull out in front of a speeding 18-wheeler, I worry. I feel that I cannot depend on reliable acceleration in normal traffic conditions. The condition is difficult to repeat on-command.

- Wantagh, NY, USA

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