CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005-2007 Xterra 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.
The same defect exists in the Pathfinder & Frontier as well. And according to the New York Times & a class action lawsuit, the defect actually extends through 2010 model year. More info here.
1.7
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
96,292 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.
I was entering the 101 from broadway road in mesa. There was a car 2 seconds behind me. I was changing lanes going to the left and the car aggressively accelerated with the intent to pass me and nearly hit me. I had to swerve back to my original lane. I then changed lanes and was trying to change lanes going left and the same car attempted to aggressively pass me after I had already began changing lanes. I had to swerve to the right again to avoid an accident. I let this Mazda car pass and then changed lanes going left. At that point the car abruptly slowed down from going 75 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour. This nearly caused another accident as it was obvious the car was trying to annoy and frustrate me for no reason. He continued this speed for about half a mile before changing lanes. He nearly caused 4 separate accidents with his aggressive driving.
In 2019 got an incident with my Nissan Xterra's transmission. Something failed in the transmission that when I was driving it all of the sudden started to slowdown so I park and it got towed and took it to the mechanic. They charged me 2000 to fix it. And since then the engine light comes on. So after months I took it to a mechanic again and the guy said the radiation is sending water into the transmission that's why the transmission was failing
According to your recalls and my VIN# my new used vehicle has not been maintenance for the recall. There is distinct play in the steering and the vehicle is bouncy. I need to know where to take my Xterra to have it fixed asap if possible. Recall campaign numbers are 10E019000 & 10V208000
I was driving from Pennsylvania to suffern NY and when I took the exit to suffern the car lost power with preview sign that was going to happen. When I try to get to a shop to check it out it was smoking and I saw liquid under. The car will start but cannot move anymore or move slowly. I have to leave it in someone's house.
- Temple, PA, USA
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My wife's 05 Nissan Xterra started having problems when driving with shuttering, and rumble strip noises.started noticing the heater would not blow hot when stationary.took to transmission shop and my worst fear came true.water in transmission I been hearing about.to top it off had rear end replaced six months ago cause the owner guaranteed me that was where the shuddering was coming from.that was a 2000 dollar repair. Needless to say it was not the [xxx] rear end.will never ever buy Nissan again! they know all about this huge problem.people are hurting from this mess!the latest repair shop won't 4600 hundred for replacement of transmission &a radiator.do not know what to do because U hear and read the about the engine could be corroded.of course Nissan doing nora! parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The vehicle has 109,000 miles. Has started terrible vibation at between 40 - 60 mph and worse on acceleration. Have read complaints on antifreeze leaking into transmission causing this problem. Three years ago I was driving in winter and heater was not working. Went to mechanic and there was no atifreeze and no visible leak. Am a widow of 2 1/2 years and this is my main vehicle.
Cross contamination of radiator and transmission fluids due to faulty design. Vehicle has 102K miles on it and can't be driven. We purchased the vehicle used with 86K miles and were never informed of any recall or lawsuit. This is the second transmission problem I have had with a Nissan I lost thousand trading in a almost new Nissan ultima 2007 previously due to constant transmission problems now this transmission has seized up and the radiator is full of gunk. This should be a full recall and repair on the part of Nissan they know their design caused the problem. We still owe $$$ on this car and will ruin our credit by turning it in and cannot afford the $6K cost to repair this. The deal they did still left the consumer holding the bag for their bad design.
Transmission has been slipping. I heard of a recall on this problem and I called Nissan and was told I missed extended warranty buy 8 days, they admitted that they did have problems with this vehicles transmission.but refuse to do anything about it, also very hard to put gas in,
My son was driving the car on a local road near home at night. He was accelerating up a small grade, when he said the car acted as if it had popped out of gear. It began to rev higher and made a higher pitched sound. He tried changing from being in "drive" to a lower gear, but it still did not engage the transmission. He had enough momentum to be able to coast onto our side street and park the car. Luckily there was no accident, but he was almost rear-ended as his car slowed suddenly and traffic ran up on him. The car would not start, nor turn over at that point. I had the car towed to the local Nissan dealer. They mentioned it was a known issue with the transmission and radiator and it would cost over 5K for just a new transmission, not including a new radiator or labor to install both. I was able to find another mechanic that purchased a rebuilt transmission, but the whole thing still cost over 5K to have the rebuilt transmission and radiator installed with no assurance that it would not happen again. This is a well documented issue with these vehicles and continues to cost people thousands of dollars for a very poor and dangerous design.
Nissan knows about this issue in fact it involves multiple years and models. The radiator cracks and leaks into the transmission ruining both. They entered into a settlement agreement but set the bar so high that it is impossible to meet. This car technically has low mileage for a 10 year old vehicle yet misses the top parameter by 16,000 miles. This is unacceptable.
On 7/10/15 my husband was checking the radiator and found transmission fluid in it. I immediately called pine belt Nissan of toms river NJ were we purchased this vechicle and 2 others the service department said we would need a transmission and it would be $7,000. It was no longer under warranty it was warrantied to 100,000 when I questioned it because we were 2,000 miles over I was told well the warranty was only to 100,000 when my VIN # was checked. So we checked around for a transmission shop and decided to have it fixed at american transmission in lakewood NJ. He had told us to contact Nissan because there is a problem with the design of the radiator that is bad and causing the transmission problem. We ended up spending $5,069.23 to have it fixed $2000 less than Nissan had quoted. We had it fixed right away because we did not know if this probem would also ruin the engine. I already wrote to Nissan about this problem for a refund and waiting for a response. I had told them we were a loyal customer of Nissan owning 8 of their vehicles.
Driving at 65 miles per hour when my car began to act like the gear was slipping. Then it began to slow down from 40 miles per hour and no matter how hard I pushed on the gas petal, it would not speed up. Then it just would not move after that. Had to call a tow truck to move my car from the road and take it to a transmission specialist who said that the radiator had gone bad and leaked into the transmission.
Driving at 40 miles per hour when my car began to act like the gear was slipping. Then it began to slow down from 40 miles per hour and no matter how hard I pushed on the gas petal, it would not speed up. Then it just would not move after that. Had to call a tow truck to move my car from the road and take it to a transmission specialist who said that the radiator had gone bad and leaked into the transmission.
Confirmed diagnoses of vehicle damage of radiator assembly & transmission are due to Nissan's defective radiator assembly which allows coolant to pass through into the transmission rendering the vehicle unsafe to operate. Nissan is unwilling to assist with the repairs of damage caused by defect. I was not notified of this manufacturing defect. This is a safety issue, a damaged transmission due to coolant entering it has rendered the vehicle unsafe to drive, a known defect, yet the manufacturer will not even compromise to assist with repair of this defect. A manufacturer should assist with repair of any defect that renders the equipment unsafe to operate - no matter when that defect decides to show up! Nissan should assist in all repairs due to their known defect to let the consumer operate the vehicle in safety.
I was starting to drive my Nissan Xterra 2005 and heard a noise like metallic rattling. The mechanic told me the transmission oil is mixed with coland fluid. I was told, to fix will cost $5000 to replace the transmission and the radiator and cooling system. In the internet I found out many complains about Nissan's cars for this catastrophic failure. This is a manufacturer defective product. Damage to the transmission as a result of the defective car. Nccc (North Carolina consumer council) has received a number of complaints from consumers in regards to sudden, catastrophic transmission failures in 2005-2010 Nissan pathfinder, frontier and Xterra vehicles. All of the vehicles experiencing these failures are not within the time period specified by the extended warranty, but are often beyond the mileage limit. So, why should I pay for somebody (Nissan) mistakes and never try to correct them? I never get from Nissan an advise on this potential failure of my car. Nissan has been aware of this problem since 2007 and has undertaken no preventive measures to protect consumers from failure. Nissan didn't warn consumers that the transmission could fail. Any honest company will at least warn consumers of the consequences to the transmission defect. But this rip of company do not care about their products nor their customers. I do not recomend to buy a Nissan car ever !!! Nissan motor corporation is a rip of company that lacks honesty !!!
My car oveheated and began to buck -- mechanic stated transmission and radiator have failed - I still owe 1 year on this car and Nissan wont fix it - can you help in any way published on Apr 18, 2013 video of what happens to the radiator/transmission fluid when the transmission fluid radiator fails and a cross connection happens between the two fluids that don't belong together. Nissan settled a class action lawsuit in January of 2013, but this doesn't mean that you still can't file a complaint with the national transportation safety administration. If you have experienced this problem or no someone that has, file the complaint. Also call the state attorney general and the federal trade commission and file a complaint against Nissan. We bought the car used, but there is no way to check for this problem. If we had known the problem existed, I assure you we would not have purchased the vehicle. If I knew there was a potential problem after we purchased the vehicle, we could have replaced the transmission coolant radiator with the safer replacement type to prevent this from happening. I think it should have been the federal government's responsibility to notify the public of the problem and they should force Nissan to address the issue. They made Toyota step up with recalls and Toyota did to my recollection. Should have purchased a Toyota.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Charlotte, NC, USA