CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima has widespread transmission problems. It starts with the vehicle jerking when shifting, & progresses to full-blown transmission failure.
Maxima owners report spending $3,000 to replace the transmission, typically around when the odometer hits 100,000 miles.
There's a class action lawsuit filed in late 2011, & it is still in the "discovery" stage. Apparently, these things take time ... far too much time.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
9 / 0
Average Mileage:
86,782 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 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated while driving, the vehicle would shift between gears and she was unable to downshift when it was necessary. The dealers diagnosis confirmed that the transmission was faulty. The manufacturer was aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The current mileage was 79,503. The approximate failure mileage was 79,000.
We purchased a Nissan Maxima 2005, for my mother a year or 2 ago. It reaches 80,000 plus miles and the transmission starts clunking, takes a while for it to shift from 2nd to 3rd. I called the dealership and got a price of $1100 for a valvebody. I asked if there was a recall, the employee stated there wasn't but was aware of the problem. Even said that after changing the valvebody it would still do it, to "pony up" and switch the whole transmission that comes with the valvebody. Now I have seen plenty complaints about this very issue, it just appears like these are forums to vent and complain. Because I can't believe that after so many people with the same experience nothing has been done about this yet.
I took my car to a local dealership for transmission failure. They told me that it needed to have a transmission flush which I did and it did not solve the problem. The transmission slips when speeding up from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd which makes the RPM's go very high. And when slowing down it suddenly jerks hard when downshifting. I takes a few seconds after putting it in drive or reverse and then it jerks hard. Also when stopping from a moderate speed, the car sometimes does not shift down to first gear and the only way to go is to press the gas pedal or shutting the car off and turning it back on. I believe that this is a safety issue in which after you are stopped and you are unaware that the car did not downshift back to 1st and then you try to take off and the car takes off very slowly. This is when it can became a safety issue because what if there is a car coming and you cannot speed up. The oncoming car can easily Ram your car.
My Maxima has transmission problems. Nothing wrong when you first drive it but when it gets warmed up the transmission clunks when it hit 2nd gear upshifting and downshifting. When you put it reverse, it takes 5 seconds to be in gear but it comes with a loud thud. A lot of times it even goes out of gear while you're driving then a tremendous thud when it gets back in gear. When it gets hot, it really gets bad. So bad that the tranny slips in and out of gear until it get in gear then a thud. So basically when I'm driving, I'm in tranny hell. Please help! I just paid off this expensive car to have an expensive problem that the manufacturer knows exist.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that when shifting from first to second gear, the vehicle would jerk. The vehicle would also jerk when accelerating to higher speeds. The vehicle had not been inspected by a dealer or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000. The VIN was unavailable.
- Whitleyville, TN, USA
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Transmission shifts hard. When in park to drive hesitates a few seconds than roughly shifts to drive. Hesitates when car is driven for long periods of time. Sporadically has issues that appears to be the transmission. Have gone to several shops and have been told many things. Reading all the forums this is a factory defect that should be recalled. I have only had the car for over a year. The manufacturer should be liable!!!!
The transmission operation on this vehicle is slowly deteriorating. It started this past winter. I was driving around 10 mph and as I accelerated slightly the engine began to race. I thought I had hit an ice patch and the tires lost grip. Then it started happening more regularly. When shifting from first to second the engine would race with no increase in speed. The shift from second to third also began to act funny. Then occasionally a slight jolt began to accompany these gear changes. The jolts also began when shifting to and from reverse. These jolts at this point in time are occasional but they can be somewhat violent. The transmission has been serviced twice in the last six months. The most recent service only helped for a day or two.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated while driving 50 to 60 mph the vehicle lunged forward and the gear would not shift into park or reverse. The vehicles gear shift was replaced but did not correct the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who performed a diagnostic that located the failure in the transmission divided assembly trac. The dealer stated they were not sure if the transmission divided assembly trac was replaced that the failure would be corrected. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 92,000. Updated 08/31/2011
When the vehicle is shifting from 1st to 2nd, it feels like I am being kicked in the back or rear ended. Was informed by one of the service managers at the dealership that the vehicle doesn't have a cooling system for the transmission and that I could get it replaced or repaired but down the line, the same thing is going to happen since there is no way to cool the transmission fluids.
The 2005 Maxima motors are known to have timing chains problems give a vehicle a bad rattle noise from the engine some vehicle do it with as low as 15000 miles then they try and charge almost 3000 to fix.
I have been having problems with my 2005 Nissan Maxima transmission jerking really bad around 20 mph when decreasing speed and at 15 mph when accelerating. I have called Nissan numerous times over the past 2 1/2 weeks. I just got a call back from them Monday stating that they could not do anything to help me because the transmission fluid was dark and burnt. I had just had the transmission fluid and filter changed a moth prior to that so know that was not the case. I have not taken my car to Nissan for maintenance because they are too high but have taken it in for service on a regular basis. I am asking for their help with the repairs but they have refused so far. I feel this is an ongoing problem with this model Maxima, and they should cover the cost!
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. While driving approximately 30 to 50 mph, the vehicle would experience rough shifting when accelerating and decelerating. The contact also stated that the vehicle would intermittently surge forward while changing gears. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the transmission fluid was replaced yet the failure persisted. The vehicle was then taken to an independent repair shop where the contact was told that the transmission would need replacing. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 72,000 and the current mileage was 82,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact attempted to accelerate from a stop but the vehicle momentarily hesitated before shifting in gear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the transmission was flushed. The failure continued to recur whenever the contact attempted to accelerate from a stop. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 114,332. Updated 06/17/11 updated 07/08/11
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated while attempting to shift into second or third gear, the gear engaged with violent force, and sometimes the gear will not shift into drive. The failure occurred when the vehicle was driven for over an hour. The vehicle was taken to the local transmission mechanic to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 36,000 and the current mileage was 97,000 miles.
Driving normal, takes about 5 seconds to click into gear after the shift lever is put in "D" 2. very hard jerky shifts between 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 1st and accompanied by loud clunking noise. 3. transmission slips out of gear during regular driving allowing the engine to rev freely then jerking back into gear with a loud clunk, been in shop 2 times and still not fixed, replaced senor in tranny still jerks, happens daily.
Transmission fails to get out of 5th gear and have to start forward movement in 5th gear instead of 1st gear. Hard shifts very solid bump. Transmission was replaced about a year ago and now this one is acting the same way.
I bought my used car from a local Nissan dealership with aprx. 74000 miles on it in Feb 2010. Shortly after I started feeling the transmission shifting roughly in the lower gears. I took it in to a reputable repair shop in June 2010 and they could not find any kind of diagnostic codes in the computer for the transmission, but told me the engine mounts were broken and needed replacing. I replaced the engine mount and also had them flush and put in fresh transmission fluid at that time as well. Again very shortly after I started feeling the transmission shifting roughly and it progressively got worse and even started slipping intermittently!! I took my car back to the repair shop and they could not find any codes again. I did some research online and found that hundreds of 2004 and 2005 Nissan Maxima owners were having the same exact problems!!! I have searched for any recalls, but there are none!! I took the car back to the dealership were I bought it from and spoke with the service manager and he stated that he has dealt with this issue with owners of this make, model, and year!! I filed a complaint with Nissan and spoke with their Consumer Affairs dept, but the are not willing to help in any way. I believe, as well as hundreds of other owners, that Nissan knows about this defect, but is unwilling to issue a recall to the public!!! I think this is completely irresponsible and negligent on Nissan's behalf and has shattered my faith in their company.
This complaint follows along with the many that have been received by the NHTSA about the transmission problems on the Nissan Maxima. The transmission started jerking when shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear. It would also jerk when shifting from park to drive or reverse. Of course the answer is a 4,000 dollar repair for a new transmission, on a car with only 61,000 miles on it. The nature of this problem will only lead to a serious crash or accident in the future. Not sure why the NHTSA has not issued a recall on this yet, especially with all the complaints on their web site, not to mention the large number of complaints that can be found by searching on many other sites. I guess what they say is true, that it will take someone being hurt or killed before something is done. How sad!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Leister, NC, USA