8.7

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$3,650
Average Mileage:
101,050 miles
Total Complaints:
6 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (4 reports)
  2. replace transmission (2 reports)
2012 Nissan Rogue transmission problems

transmission problem

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2012 Nissan Rogue Owner Comments

problem #6

Sep 062021

Rogue Limited 2.5L

  • CVT transmission
  • 93,000 miles

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

Car wouldn't accelerate on dangerous 2 lane hill in the country. It could have been an accident. Had to take car to shop while out of town and then I had to have it towed the next start over. Prior to problem 2 shops couldn't find problem, then going up hill the engine light came on. This is DANGEROUS.

- Carla J., Waldorf, US

problem #5

Jul 052018

Rogue S

  • CVT transmission
  • 100,000 miles

Suddenly the car could not accelerate at all, I was trying to enter the highway and can't simply get to the speed with cars behind needed to break. Happened at least 10+ times during June and July 2018 in Kansas City, MO - taking it to Nissan - really scary experience with child in a car. Nissan, you have to recall and fix it!

- Olga P., Kansas City, MO, US

problem #4

Jul 142018

Rogue

  • CVT transmission
  • 84,234 miles

I purchased a Nissan vehicle for my wife because I have always heard how reliable they are. However, I started to notice the car ramping up in RPMs and losing power significantly while simply cruising on the interstate. We would have to pull the car over and allow it to "rest" for a while before we can journey on. This happens multiple times on even short trips. I took it to a nearby mechanic and they told me that I need a new converter clutch solenoid.

I called a Nissan Dealership regarding this and they automatically said I need a new transmission without even seeing the car or diagnosing it. I am an insurance agent so I asked around to some of my customers who own Nissan Rogues and was surprised to find that the majority of them have this problem. I was even more surprised to find that Nissan has not offered a recall on this. This is absurd!

I will never purchase a Nissan product again if this is how they treat American Consumers. Nissan, you made a faulty product...FIX IT!

- Caleb H., Rossville, TN, US

problem #3

Nov 152017

Rogue

  • Automatic transmission
  • 190,381 miles

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

I bought my Rogue in December 2012, with about 15,000 miles on it. At 59,990 miles the transmission failed and was replaced under warranty. At 120,000 miles the transmission failed and was replaced again. This time costing me $3,300. When I contacted Nissan about this, I was told there was nothing they could do to help me cover the cost of replacement, and that the company could not comment on whether or not there was a known CVT issue. Now it’s November of 2017 and at 190,000 miles I’m having transmission problems again. Never again will I purchase or recommend this brand to anyone.

- Charlie H., Bartlett, US

problem #2

Jul 162015

Rogue

  • CVT transmission
  • 54,566 miles

I am a single mom. My 8 year old son & I were going camping with the cub scouts to Sequoia for the weekend and we were caravaning with other families. When we got to the Tejon Pass my car started to lose speed. I had the pedal to the metal & nothing. It was scary watching buses & big rigs pass us going up hill. The other families in our caravan had passed us up & basically left us behind. I had no idea what was going on.

A few times before I'd be driving around Orange County & I'd push on the gas but it wouldn't go. That issue was brief those few times, but the trip up through the Grapevine that day was freaky. I had all the dads in our caravan checking my car once we got to the 1st meeting place. They weren't going to leave us behind again and made sure we were okay all weekend and on the trip home since we were driving around windy mountains in the Sequoias and then back up the Tejon Pass.

I had called my brother to Google the issue & he told me about the transmission problems that other Rogue owners have been experiencing. He gave me all this technical jargin that I didn't really understand, but advised that I need to pull over & let the transmission cool down if it happens again. I made sure on the way back home that we pulled over before the Tejon Pass to let my car cool down before we moved on. Our little wagon train of cub scout families on the way back were checking on us constantly, communicating by 2 way radios, but we did not have this problem again.

This was scary for me being a single woman in a car with a young child. Today I called Nissan to ask about the problem & they advised to have the transmission serviced regularly, about every 2 years, to help keep viable fluids in the transmission since they break down & don't lubricate properly, causing the transmission to heat up & go into 'safe mode'. They quoted me $250 for that service. I will be shopping around and will have that done when I can afford it.

In the meantime, I'm hoping that Nissan steps up to this well known problem, and does something for their loyal customers. I need a reliable car and I have been completely satisfied with my Rogue, but now I'm beginning to have doubts. I bought it used 1 year ago with about 42,000 miles on it. I'd expect more from a car this new. Prior to that I had a 92 Nissan Sentra for 10 yrs & beat that car up but it was a trooper, and recently replaced my Infiniti G20 that I had for 12 yrs.

Nissan has been an awesome experience for me (Infiniti uses Nissan parts because they are only glorified Nissans anyways), but the problems I had experienced with past cars happened when they were getting pretty old, not at 3 years old.....something is wrong with this picture!

- Rhonda H., Orange, CA, US

problem #1

Jul 202014

Rogue

  • CVT transmission
  • 84,000 miles

I bought my 2012 Rogue brand new with little doubt in Nissan. I've always heard good things about them. Then it began. The second day of owning the vehicle the service light came on. I went back to the dealership and they said that the factory settings were off and that the settings needed to be changed. The light that came on was for an oil change -- already?! Sunnyvale Nissan gave me a voucher for two oil changes for the inconvenience. I took the car home and everything was good after that.

I brought it in for the next oil change and they did an evaluation of the vehicle at about 15,000 miles. In between the other oil changes I had brought it to my regular mechanic to do the oil changes because he has worked on all of my previous vehicles (Cars and Trucks), both personal and company issued. During that oil change at Nissan they told me that I needed new brakes, an alignment and an air filter. I went back to my mechanic and we pulled the wheels off together and looked at the brakes, filter and alignment. This vehicle has all highway miles on it and I have got 84,000 miles out of the factory brake pads. Does this tell you anything? The filter was fine but the alignment got done at 48,000 miles with the new tires I had put on it.

At approximately 80,000 miles the vehicle wouldn't start. I had left it at home for a weekend while I was out camping and took my truck. I get home and get ready for the work week and the car wouldn't start. I had power to everything, but still nothing. The vehicle wouldn't turn over. As I got into the night I tried to fire it up again. Finally it started, but the engine light came on and it ran terrible. I called the dealer and they told me to bring it in. They had it for a few days. In the meantime, they wouldn't give me a loaner car until they figured out what was wrong with it. (Keep in mind that I bought the highest warranty coverage that you can possibly get with Nissan which covers rentals and pretty much everything on the vehicle). The issue this time was cylinder 1 and 2 had failed. They had to replace the injectors and coils on the vehicle.

At 84,000 miles I took it on a vacation to Lake Tahoe, still a little hesitant that it wasn't 100%. Everything was fine until I hit the mountains. The vehicle wouldn't go more then 42 miles an hour through highway 80 from Auburn to Kings Beach. I knew something was wrong with CVT. It wasn't shifting as it should. I pulled over a couple times to turn off the vehicle and restart it to see if it was something with the computer. Each time I shut it and restarted, it would be ok until another incline. I knew something wasn't right when I was going 65 mph at 4,200 rpms.

I called Nissan Sunnyvale and they said that it would be ok drive. I said what happens if it floats a valve or causes any other damage? Their reply was that it would be ok and that they knew exactly what was going on with it. They asked me to describe it and I used the word (whining) He said great that's exactly what I was looking for. I said what does that mean? He stated that Nissan has been having a problem with the CVT overheating and burning the tranny oil. I said ok so how does this get fixed? He replied that they had to install an exterior mounted transmission cooler. The service writer called me 7/23/2014 at 4:00 PM and said if I wanted to pick up the car and continue to drive it that would be fine. I asked why would I drive a broken vehicle? At this point it would cost me more money in gas and could cause additional damage. I knew if I said "ok I'll pick it up and drive until the parts come in" then that's on me and that could potentially void the warranty due to negligence on my part. I told them to keep it until the parts come in. I asked why hasn't this been integrated being a 2012? The answer that I got was Nissan has been having this problem recently and they have experienced this with vehicles ranging from 30,000 miles to my vehicle at 84,000 miles.

* My first question to the service writer is why aren't they putting a new CVT in my vehicle. The reply was that an external tranny cooler would fix the problem. My response was that this would only be a band-aid to the problem. * My next question was at 7/23/2014 at 5:30 PM when they granted me a rental vehicle, when I asked if was the tranny oil was burnt? He said I don't know, but I can find out. * My next question was why would you install this product on a well used transmission? Why not replace it under warranty? The reply I got was that it could be about $4,000 to repair it. I said it should be under warranty shouldn't it? They said no, but if it was, it would only cost me $100 dollars.

I feel as though they are trying to put a temporary fix on something that is already on its way out. What I'd like to know is how long has this been an ongoing problem that finally showed up? This is an unacceptable option. I'm not going to drive the vehicle until they put a new tranny in it. The point of a warranty is to cover the consumer and not themselves. This vehicle needs to have a new transmission installed and I wont except anything less. I know that I drive a lot but this is a testament to this vehicle being dependable. In the last 4,000 miles it has been in the shop for different reasons:

1. Cylinders 1 and 2 failed and parts were replaced 2. The CVT had over heated and they put a band aid on it.

- Anthony T., San Jose, CA, US

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