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 $3,000 to replace the transmission, typically around when the odometer hits 100,000 miles.
There's a class action lawsuit filed in late 2011, & it is still in the "discovery" stage. Apparently, these things take time ... far too much time.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
9 / 0
Average Mileage:
86,782 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Transmission started jerking in the freeway jumping speed and coming down on speed when I took it to the dealership to get a check he told me the transmission went off which broke my transmission mounts and coil car had all maintenance done regularly and never was mentioned about the issue or engine light never went
Nissan asked me to pay a diagnostic fee of 190$ and then they say entire transmission to be replaced Nissan Consumer Affairs is not helpful as well worst company
Transmission failure at 60K miles. Stuck in 5th gear. Slamming, jerking, hard downshifts. No reverse power. Very hard shifting between gears. Also paint peeling off entire car. Car purchased for over 30K. Vehicle was stationary and on street. Problem is constant upon car reaching operating temp.
Just a month after buying this car, I took it through inspection. I drove the car, which was operating perfectly, directly to the inspection station which is approximately 15 miles from home. On the way home, it started to downshift hard, specifically when close to first gear. It then started to happen periodically. It is now to the point that it happens every time you slow down. And now, it sometimes bucks when accelerating. Forget about taking your foot off of the gas to slow down; this causes the car to buck so badly that it feels as though you have been rear-ended. I took my car to a transmission specialist who stated that he could not find anything wrong with the transmission, even when hooking it up to an electronic computer to find a code. Upon researching, I found that this is a common problem with 2004-2006 Nissan Maximas and that Nissan knows about it but refused to do anything about it. Sounds to me like Nissan needs to do a recall to correct this problem! when calling Nissan, they want you to take your car in for them to diagnose it, which would be at my cost, of course. And then they would just tell me what I can pay for them to do to fix it.
- Bridgeton, NJ, USA
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Transmission violently jerks when going 1st to 2nd gear and while driving at any speed. I was teaching my grandaughter to drive and it scared jer to death when it happened to her while driving. There has been hundreds, if not thousands of transmission complaints with this car online and issue has not been addressed by manufacturer or NHTSA. This car only has 80,000 miles, will never buy a Nissan again.
I was complaining of the car jumping when changing gears, mechanic found that the motor mount was cracked. Replaced it, some improvement for short period but now car is jumping, hesitation between gears, rough shifting, and diminished acceleration. I did not go to the dealer as my warranty is expired. This is my first Maxima and I will never purchase another. Now told that I'll need a new transmission. Not happy.
Transmission hesitates when shifting from reverse to drive, also between shifts in drive engine revs up then trans slams into gear causing a harsh jolt forward.
Nissan Maxima 2005 automatic transmission is suffering and will and could cause an deadly accident. After initial start up the car drives fine then a few minute down the road the transmission drives as if it is stuck in a tall gear. If you place into lower gear the gear violently shifts. Also the car shuts off while lights and other electronic components are operational while normally driving without warning.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that the transmission hesitated to switch gears. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. It was unknown if the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
The transmission is slipping and jerking when accelerating or stopping. The car only has 84000 miles on it. This began arounds 70000. The jerking is so bad I am afraid my little kids will get whip lash. This is a known problem on many forums and Nissan refuses to take car of the defective transmissions. This issue almost got my family into an aident as trying to go onto the highway on the on ramp the car began to slip during acceleration cause me to almost be rearended.
For months now, our 2005 Nissan Maxima has experienced a transmission problem. It shifts roughly in low gears (while the vehicle is in motion), both when accelerating and decelerating. It also shifts roughly when moving from park to either drive or reverse, and from drive/reverse to park. A specific incident happened when we were driving down a slight decline, and the vehicle downshifted roughly. This caused us to momentarily lose control of the Maxima and it bumped into a concrete barrier that had yellow paint on it. This paint is now scraped across the bottom ground effects molding on our vehicle. Had the barrier not been there, we would have drifted across the road into oncoming traffic. In researching transmission problems for the 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima model years, it's apparent that many owners are experiencing the same type of problems with the transmission on their 2004-2006 Nissan Maximas, and the widespread nature of these issues warrants further investigation and possible recall.
Taking off car jerks real bad between 1st & 2nd gear, then when I push down on gas sometimes it doesn't want to move. Slowing down car kicks & jerks when down shifting. Now it's at the point where the car stalls when switching gears. Putting the car from park to drive it hesitates about 5 to 7 sec and makes a loud sound when it jerks. Transmission slips out of gear under 20M.P.H. causing engine to rev up to 4rpm and sometimes 5rpm. This issue is happening whether I in motion on a street or highway, stationary getting ready to put the car in gear, etc. I am really afraid that I am going to have an accident or something. I took the car to a mechanic and he says I need a new transmission.
Got the car a year ago from carmax. Had the car for less than 30 days before the transmission gave out. The mileage was right around 52,000 miles. They took it back, fixed it and it was fine. Now here I am again less than a year later I'm having the same exact issue. Jerking really hard in between gears, RPM would red line before it would finally switch gears. Now this time the transmission completely gave out on me in the middle of a busy intersection! when I stepped on the gas, the car made a noise as if the power was failing, and sure enough it did. The car cut off on me. Contacted carmax again to see if I had an extended warranty. But this will be the second time I've got the car fixed for the same issue. Now I have around 80,000 miles on this car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Whitwell, TN, USA