CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Nissan Altima has multiple problem trends including the CVT transmission, and now that this model is out of warranty, it earns our "Avoid Like The Plague" badge.
Be warned: the 2014 & 2015 Nissan Altima appears to share these same problems.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
8 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
58,689 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.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the transmission warning indicator illuminated and it felt as if the transmission was slipping. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer and dealer were not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 66,000.
My car is a 2013 with less than 40,000 miles. In the matter of 5 days, the transmission has declined significantly. When at a stoplight, my car will shut down completely. I have to park it, turn it off, then crank it back up. When accelerating from a stop, it will stall as if I have it in neutral. Even while driving on the interstate, my RPM will be fluctuating, but my acceleration wouldn't change. It would stall at 40mph, make a jerking motion, then pick up a little speed. Today it barely went past 20mph. Nissan will not take care of this issue, which is clearly their fault! now I have to get a new transmission paid out of my own pocket.
I was abput to make a turn while in middle of busy 4 way intersection when the car turned off and abrubtly stopped in the middle of intersection. I tried to turn car back on but it would not start. Bystanders came and helped move car to safe side of street. Tried to start car after trying to change gears. Then it was moving sluggish. Then it drove again. But then it happened again. Took to Nissan dealer and they said it needed new transmission. This car had only 100,000 miles. I have 4 other Nissan that have lasted over 200,000 miles and never had this transmission issue. I have submitted also to kcc campain complaints website.
My 2013 Nissan Altima's cvt is faulty. The transmission causes the vehicle to shutter at any speed and randomly shuts off. Additionally, at a moments notice it will rev up in rpms and not go anywhere. It stalls in traffic which has caused a significant safety concern. This occurs while driving at all speeds. It has happened on highways, city streets and simply backing out of my driveway.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. While driving approximately 20 mph, the vehicle decelerated and stalled without warning. When the contact shifted into neutral and restarted the vehicle, it resumed normal operation. When the shifter was placed in drive, the vehicle stalled. Also, the transmission made a noise and the vehicle stalled once it was warmed up. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 106,000.
The car has had no previous issues with the transmission - note that the check engine light never came on. I was driving on the highway and my transmission started to stutter and the RPM's would momentarily rev very high. After driving for several minutes of this, the car started to decelerate - eventually getting down to about 25 mph. At this point, the car never regained speed. After getting the car towed to the local dealership, it was found that the transmission was damaged and needed to be replaced.
Randomly my airbag light came on. But no airbags ever deployed. Also I beliveve my years transmission has a recall on it. Every now and again it downshifts while I am accelerating on the highway and it terrifies me. I would appreciate feeling safe in my investment
My 2013 Nissan Altima sv model had the cvt replaced at 41,289 miles in 2017. Two years to the date, at 75,000 miles 2019 my cvt transmission is out again. Nissan via verbal told me that the warranty on the replaced cvt is 15,000 or 1year. My Nissan Altima 2013. As I was driving the vehicle it was loosing motion.when driving and accelerating the car it wouldnt go up the the speedometer speed, it seems like it was stalling. When the vehicle was at the stop light or stop sign and I let go of the break, the car wouldnt go into "gear". I had to press on the gas pedal and suddenly the car will move but with an awful "jerk".that problem was constant. When backing up of my drive way the same thing would happen, I will put it in "gear" and the car wouldn't back-up at all, I had to press the gas after 5 seconds and again suddenly will jerk into reverse. The car actually stopped in different occasions in the middle of the street with heavy traffic in a busy intersection. This is a big safety concern for the driver and passengers inside an unsafe vehicle that just "wont move". another concern would be to "public safety" as other drivers will have to maneuver around the 'stalled" vehicle. I did contacted Nissan usa and they issue a case number on my complain. My vehicle is now at the dealership. I did my research and the same issue has been going on with Nissan cvt transmissions, that in 2010** Nissan extended their cvt ( continuously variable transmission) equipped vehicles ( 2003- 2010) with a 10 year / 120,000 miles limited warranty. Im 100% sure that Nissan will make their 2011 - 2013 Altima part of their commitment to their client base, and add their 10 year / 120,000 miles limited warranty extension to these previous models.
The car will not shift out of "park" without popping the access cover on console & pushing down on the transmission release button with a long screwdriver. Starting happening at approx 35K miles.
The shift gear does not move to drive, reverse or anywhere for that matter once its in park. Someone had to show me how to remove the plastic cap on the shift gear lock & stick my key in there to get the shift gear to move. I have to do this every single time the vehicle is set to park & the vehicle is stationary.
The 7 inch central audio-visual and navigation unit periodically changes radio stations, crashes the navigation display, or crashes entirely going blank, and may or may not ask for sd card upon reboot. On one occasion the accelerator also stuck requiring the car to taken to the side of the road and turned off. Cannot be sure if the two events were related but they happened simultaneously. In the last six months the misbehavior of the central display unit has gotten worse and worse. Nissan dealer and national support are unable to find the problem or being willing to fix it. There is no escalation procedure to factory engineering and maintenance support. They will not take the elementary step to reflash the firmware or being willing to change out the unit. Multiple examples of this problem are reported online in Nissan's owner portal for this model year and the next. Despite being originally told that Nissan is trying to track cars with this known problem that Nissan refuses to address and leaving a potential safety problem unresolved.
The car would not accelerate from a stop light. It would just do low-RPM revs then eventually crawl then rev super high and accelerate super fast. The transmission would take about 10 seconds to engage at every light and once it did it would lurch forward. Stalled 3 times. 2013 Nissan Altima with exactly 85,500 miles. Called Nissan and they said the know of no recalls or issues with the transmission and it is no longer under warranty but to take it to a Nissan dealer to have it looked at. Check engine light finally came on with code P0776, and pending codes of P 0776 P0965 P2813.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Comanche, TX, USA