CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2011 Nissan Maxima is a good reliable vehicle overall. There's a slight trend of transmission failure just before 100,000 miles, but not widespread enough to be a major concern. Beware of Maximas from 2009-2010, and 2004-2006 though.
The 2009-2010 Maxima has an expensive problem where the steering lock prevents the car from starting, & costs upwards of $1,000 to fix.
Nissan Maximas from 2004-2006 have a widespread transmission defect, but judging from our complaint data, Nissan fixed the transmission problem starting with the 2007 model.
2.3
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
66,010 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.
Transmission failed on my vehicle at 40,000 miles while I was in the middle of traffic. My car stopped accelerating without warning and I nearly got into an accident
My car is very reliable until now with only 105,000 miles" my problem started about September 2020 when I started to hear my car make a rough sound suddenly, like a winding noise when I accelerate and when I let off the gas as well. I didn't think much of it until I took it to a Nissan dealer to have them check it out. They called me the next day tell me I need a new transmission and its going to be around $5,500. Which I don't have especially in this pandemic. Also they told me if I get the new transmission it only comes with 1 year warranty. Nissan only covers it until 60,000 miles which I don't believe people buying a new Nissan expect it to go further then that! my issue is that Nissan is putting in these faulty transmissions knowing that it will fail soon and only give you 1 year warranty if you do replace it after pay 5,500"
On the night of February 16, my teenage daughter was driving my 2011 Nissan Maxima when she came to a stop at a traffic light. When the light turned green, she moved her foot off the brake and began to accelerate when the vehicle all of a sudden would not move. She applied her foot to the accelerator several times but the vehicle still would not move. After several more attempts, the vehicle jerked forward in a violent manner but luckily, there was no other car ahead of her or I'm afraid a more serious event would have occurred. This all happened rather abruptly, without any advance warning or indication of a potential problem. The next day I took the vehicle to my local Nissan service center to have it diagnosed. The technician informed me a code indicated 'transmission fluid pressure low' (even though it contained plenty of fluid) and advised a complete transmission replacement was needed at a cost of $7,138. This was the diagnosis despite no dashboard warning or service engine light indicator, as I indicated above. Upon returning home and researching the issue online, I discovered that this problem seems to be very common. I learned that Nissan has had major issues with the continuously variable transmission (cvt), including several class action lawsuits and other legal matters which subsequently resulted in Nissan extending the powertrain warranty on 2003-2010 Nissan vehicles and settling other lawsuits for newer model vehicles. However, model years 2011 and 2012 were not covered under these settlements despite having the same exact cvt. I have reached out to Nissan North America but they have not acknowledged liability or responsibility. Such a shame because the vehicle has not had any issues until this incident. It only has 106,000 miles but now I'm worried about what might happen if it is being driven.
The contact owns a 2011 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle shut down and the service engine light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the landera Nissan dealer, located at: 371 E. goodman rd, South haven, ms 38671 where the transmission was replaced. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken to the cannon Nissan of blytheville dealer, located at: 305 N service rd, blytheville, ar 72315, where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that nothing could be done. The failure mileage was unknown.
- Osceola, AR, USA
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While driving on the interstate, my transmission suddenly started slipping out of gear. This caused the car to suddenly slow, almost being rear ended by the car behind me. Nissan knows about these problems, but refuses to fix all of them. They have settled thousands of claims out of court for this problem. They still claim their cvts transmission is not defective.
Brought vehicle to repair shop because of noise. Repair shop informed me that noise comes from transmission. Did some investigation and found that Nissan has had issues with these cvt transmissions. Nissan had a recall for all years until 2010 including 2010. Not 2011. This is the same transmission that fails prematurely. I called the dealer $145 diagnostic. No guarantees that Nissan will provide "goodwill assistance". why did recall stop in 2010?
On my way to work as I was driving down the highway my 2011 Nissan Maxima all of the sudden would no longer speed up. The vehicle was on and as I tried to accelerate while driving down the highway the speedometer went to 0 mph but the RPM would climb. I luckily was able to steer the car into an empty parking lot. My car had no check engine/service engine lights on. There were no warnings. I thought it was the speed sensor due to the original diagnostic code of P0500 and tried replacement but that did not solve the issue. My vehicle was towed to a Nissan dealership who said it was showing 'pages full of codes' and they told me that my transmission needed to be completely replaced and that 'it just happens.' Prior to this total failure I experienced absolutely zero signs of transmission failure. There were no warning lights (check engine/service engine soon), no slipping/jerking, leaking, nothing at all. After researching the potential cause of transmission failure in my make/model/year vehicle I found there were many 2011 owners who were experiencing the same issue, total transmission failure without warning.
Takata recall. After being told a part on my transmission was broken I immediately got it fixed. When on the highway the car would rev to high RPM on its own. I immediately took it back to the mechanic. They told me I needed a whole new transmission that is on back order by Nissan. It's been a month without my car and transmission isn't recalled even after being on back order. My Maxima has only 90000 miles and this shouldn't be an issue for a newer 2011 Maxima. I just want to prevent anyone else from being tricked into purchasing a car with a faulty transmission without knowing it's issues. Needs to be recalled!
Takata recall. At 80K miles my vehicle is idling while in park and also while accelerating its doing a jerk and feels as if it doesn't want to go into gear to reach higher speed. I checked the code and it read as a air mass flow sensor, catalyst converter, and O2 sensor. The car turned off on me while on, jump started it and turned back on. I changed the mass air flow sensor and its still doing the same thing. I took it to the mechanic and the mechanic said the code says battery and other things. Reccommended we start cheap by changing the battery and going from there. I changed the battery and the computer now says O2 sensor. I keep dumping alot of money into this vehicle and to me it seems that this issue is also happening many others including my close friend who owns the same vehicle.
The check engine light came on in my Maxima a number of months back when the vehicle had close to approximately 64K miles. The codes that tripped were P0011 and P0021, bank 1 and bank 2 cam sensors. Upon bringing it to garden city Nissan, I was informed the front and rear covers needed to be replaced and the cost was expected to be $2,400. The repair was performed and the bill was paid. According to the rep. At the dealership, this type of repair is performed on this car twice a month. The gasket in the motor mount is cardboard and needs to be replaced with a silicone based gasket. The cardboard gasket breaks apart and will cause problems with the engine performance by lowering the oil pressure, which will eventually seize the engine. The car was only 4K miles out of the powertrain warranty and Nissan would not provide any assistance with the repair. During the life of the vehicle, I regularly performed oil changes, for which I have all receipts. Although this is more of an engine performance issue than a safety issue, this should be reviewed by the NHTSA as manufacturers defect that costs consumers a lot of money to repair. This is a hardship for me as I'm sure it is for many consumers. Some may not be able to afford this type of a repair and will not have the service done. I am not sure what would happen over time if this repair is not performed something of this magnitude should not happen on a car of this age. I appealed to Nissan both verbally and in writing with no luck. I would hope that the NHTSA would look into this and possible apply some pressure to Nissan to initiate a recall. Thank you for your time. Attached is the claim appeal I sent to Nissan as well as the repair bill. Any assistance with issue would be appreciated.
Vehicle was in motion on the highway and I was in heavy traffic. Attempted to accelerate and the car did not respond. I coasted to the emergency lane. My cars transmission would not engage. I was stranded on the side of the freeway for two hours, until the tow truck arrived. Upon further investigation I found that Nissan Maxima's were recalled from 2003-2010 for cvt transmission failures. Nissan doubled the warranty (10 years, 120,000 miles). My vehicle had the same cvt transmission issue and I had 110,000 miles when the incident occurred. Nissan put the same faulty cvt transmission in my car as they did the previous years. I am requesting a refund for repairs and car rental (cvt transmission $2,443.87, car rental $550.04). Upon request I can provide receipts. This is a serious safety issue and I could have been in an accident on the highway and been injured or injured someone else.
Check engine indicator light has come on intermittently 3 times in the past two months. Upon getting a diagnostic test at a Nissan dealership, the second time the light came on, I was told they needed the car another day, for a longer time to further investigate the two codes that came up during the test. The check engine light went back out a few days later. Now two months later the light is on again and this time as I was leaving a shopping center parking lot, turning onto a main road the car made a jerking/surge-stop motion as if it did not want to accelerate. It continued to do this same motion any time I slowed down or stopped at a light or slowed down to make a turn during my 2.5-3.0 mile trip to my house. I did not drive the car for the next 24-28 hours. Upon driving the car to the dealership to drop off for service I did not experience the jerking/surge-stop motion. After assessing the vehicle today I was informed that the rear timing chain cover has deteriorated causing problems with oil pressure to the engine, code P0011. There were also two other codes for heating system P1217 and transmission fluid pressure P0868. Total cost of repairs $2984. My car is 5 years old, approximately 67,000 miles on it so it is outside of the warranty. After reading others similar complaints about transmission issues just outside of the warranty period, knowing that previous model years had problems that ended up extended warranty it is very disturbing and disappointing to know that Nissan is not further investigating these issues further. Also, other issues I have had tire pressure indicator light coming on intermittently and car not starting but all dash lights staying on had technical bulletins. The latter should be a quick resolve yet I was charged almost $400 for something not mentioned in the related bulletin. Nissan lacks responsible customer service!!!
Car hesitates shifting from 1st to 2nd. At times, there is a loud "clunking" sound when the gas is pressed hard. Then even when the gas is pressed all the way down, car would slowly shift. It takes about 10 to 20 seconds before it would shift normally. This gets worse when driving for about 10 minutes. Error code it returns include P1778 and P0746. Separate issue: The driver seat rocks back and forth when accelerating and stopping.
Intermittent high RPM's with no control of speed. Would happen then not happen for days. Would not go at stop signs/stop lights then surge forward when the transmission (we later learned) finally engaged. On a day it wasn't acting up we took it to where we bought it (dealership) and they immediately notified us that we needed a brand new transmission $5,500. 2,053 miles outside of warranty. We could not believe that when they contacted corporate no consideration for our long-term relationship.never in a million years did we think it was something so serious as a complete transmission failure. This transmission is supposedly the second (improved) transmission type that Nissan has put in the Maxima with the prior generation of transmissions being given a warranty of up to 10 years or 100,000 miles due to all the prior problems that were supposed to have been fixed with this second generation. Now, they won't even honor the transmission issue with a 62,053 mileage. The transmissions aren't fixed! we have 2 small grandchildren we pick up every other week and regularly use the car to pick them up. How scary to have realized we could have been in an accident with the kids in the car because we had no idea that the transmission on a car with only 62,053 miles would be completely shot. Someone please at your organization look into this.
Tsb ntb12-071- factory bearing problems 2009 " 2012 Maxima; engine knock from #1 main bearing 2009 " 2012 Maxima (A35) no.1 main bearing knock noise confirmation use the following criteria and symptoms to confirm the knock noise is coming from the no. 1 crankshaft main bearing. Knock noise from no.1 main bearing is confirmed if all of the following symptoms exist: " not heard at cold start. " can be heard at warm idle (not a cold start condition). " heard best from under the engine with the vehicle lifted. " using stethoscope, the knock can be isolated to the lower front of the engine (near the # 1 or # 2 main bearing). " cannot be heard driving at highway speeds. " cannot be heard sitting in the vehicle with the radio on. Planet Nissan -5850 centennial center blcd- las vegas nv 89149- refused to resolved or fix this problems [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Transmission: The service engine soon indicator was on so I took my car in for service. When I received the diagnosis I was told that my transmission needs to be replaced. My car is just 3yrs old and has 98K miles. I was informed that this is not covered under warranty as the extended warranty expired at 75K miles. The total cost of the re-manufactured 3.5 transmission would be $3589. 2003-2010 models have an extended warranty on the 3.0 transmission because of the same issue. The 2011 and newer models aren't covered citing that it's not the same transmission (3.0 vs 3.5) though the issue with the cvt transmission is the same. Following are the diagnosis codes I received: P0744, P0868 and B2190. Recommend cvt assembly.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brooklyn , NY, USA