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 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
71,392 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 have a 2005 Nissan Maxima slipping gears when ever you give it gas. It does it all the time and almost caused me to get in a wreck. I have it in the shop now and they are telling me I need a new transmission and valve body. The car only has 77,000 miles and Nissan will not do anything. Please help thousands of people online complaining about the same issue it is going to get someone killed!!
I notified nissian headquarters that I have a problem with my transmission. The regional representives for nissian headquaters indicated to me that I need to take my 2005 Nissan Maxima to a Nissan dealership to have it place on the dignostic machine which cost me $95. Nissan dearlership results was a bad transmission. The regional representive gave me a file number(6763040). I indicate to the regional representive that my car jerks in 1st and 2nd gear. The RPM goes up with a hard thump sound. On 2-9-2010, I picked up my daughter from daycare and was turning in heavy traffic and a big truck almost hit my car because of the car hesitate to go into 2nd gear causing it to slow down while I turning into on going traffic. This is a safety issue and Nissan headquaters knows it. The result from headquaters came back from the regional representive and she indicate no, we will not fix your car, I explain to her that I know my car has 90,000 miles but it is a Nissan and these cars suppose to be well built. I ask her for a good will fix and she still indicate no we will not fix your car. The regional representiative quoted, that we will only fix cars on a case-by-case base. I told them that they need to fix all the cars because they know many people are having problems with that particalr year nissian Maxima. Regional rep said we will trade your car for a new and take 4% off and I told them I cannot afford a new car. Nissan company know there is something wrong with the transmission but they are trying to get consumer to buy a new car to make profit of the consumer, instead of fixing the problem that they know occurs. I do not trust any more Nissan cars so why are they forcing me to buy another. This is unconstitional!
2005 Nissan Maxima started having a delay in going from reverse to drive and also jerking into gears. Emailed Nissan and was told to take to Nissan to have checked. Called Nissan service dept and was advised that it's not worth bringing in and paying to have checked when you already know there is a transmission problem. Was advised it's around $4700 to replace.
2005 Nissan Maxima transmission problem. Transmission jerks when shifting in low gears or going from reverse to first gear. Engine revs high and then the car slams into gear, this happens when driving at low speeds including on the highway. This problem causes the car to surge forward when it occurs. This problem started around 75K miles on the car. Reports from several transmission shops indicate this is a recurring problem with the 04 and 05 Maximas. I have logged a complaint with Nissan Consumer Affairs with no resolutin at this point.
- Allen, TX, USA
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I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima. It has been jerking between 1st and 2nd gear shifting. Dealer suggested motor mounts replacement. This was done. Problem still persist. Jerking got worse and got engine code. Took to dealer and now they are saying the transmission is bad. It seems tons of folks are having the same issue.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. While driving 25 mph when the vehicle jerked and slammed into gear on its own. The driver pressed on the accelerator pedal and the vehicle continued to travel. The vehicle had not repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 85000. The current mileage was 90000. Updated 05/11/10.
I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima that is having transmission problems. I purchased the car with 97,000 miles a year ago. Since then I have been having problems with hard shifts- shifting from 1st to 2nd gear as well as a hard banging sound when it finds the right gear. I have changed the transmission and several other parts, only to encounter the same problems. There seems to be a big problem with the transmission in these cars. Research on-line showed that a lot of people are having the same problem.
We bought a 2005 Nissan Maxima brand new. Last year 2009 the transmission began to slip and the air conditioner went out. The dealership said the air would be $1400 so when the tranny was a problem I knew not to go to the dealership. The car would jerk and slam into gear. I had my 2 children in the car and it completely stopped in the middle of traffic. It had to be towed to a local transmission place and was told I would need a new transmission for $3000. The car has been babied and should not have any issues. It is garaged kept and all maintenance done. The car was less than 4 years old when all these problems started. After seeing all the complaints I believe Nissan should recall and refund this particular transmission. My mechanic cannot get any help from Nissan and it still has issues. My children and I could have been killed the way the car lost all gears in the middle of traffic. I did not have enough time to pull over. There are more complaints about the 2005 Nissan Maxima transmission than Toyota and look what they are doing. Do people have to die for Nissan to take responsibility? I want to be included in any and all class action lawsuits that pertain to this issue. I still own money on this lemon.
I recently purchased a 2005 Nissan Maxima from a dealership not affiliated with Nissan. The is not 30 days old and it jerks from 1st to 3rd as if I have a stiff shift, the engine will rev up while going 30-40mph and jerk forward almost causing me to almost rear end another vehicle. And afterwards I can smell this metal/chemical odor accumulating in the vehicle. This vehicle has severe shifting problems.
My 2005 Nissan Maxima has 63000 miles and has started showing signs of what may be serious transmission problems. Random symptoms that include: * very hard jerky shifts between 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 1st and accompanied by loud clunking noise.
While driving my vehicle I noticed jerking and car was not shifting gears. I then thought to have the car serviced so I did. They advised getting a transmission motor mount, but that didn't work and it sure wasn't the problem. Then I decided to have it check by two transmission specialist. They told me that this incident was very rare to happen to Nissan with the amount of miles it has. The car has approx. 79,000 miles on it. Who would have thought of buying a newer car if such a problem would occur so soon. I thought I was the only person suffering but I wasn't. so I went on had it looked at the 2nd time and they told me the car was slipping on the 2nd gear and falling out of 2nd and 3rd gear. It was said that they would have to rebuild the transmission and that hard parts weren't even covered under the estimate of a couple thousand dollars. So, I needed a second opinion and I went to another specialist and they said it was the same exact reason and the rings in the transmission could have gone bad. So where was supposed to start........I feel very much so that this a manufactures error and it needs to be corrected on that end. I've heard alot of good things about Nissan but, there's a lot of doubt about the products they sell to consumers that could endanger someone or something.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that the vehicle would not shift gears without hesitation and it would also slip out of gear. The failure occurred 30% of the time while driving 40 mph. She took the vehicle to the dealer and they replaced the motor mounts; however, the transmission continued to malfunction. The vehicle was taken to a transmission specialist who stated that the transmission needed to be rebuilt. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The current mileage was approximately 9,000 and the failure mileage was approximately 78,700.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Maxima. While driving 40 mph he could feel the vehicle lunge forward whenever he was down shifting and going over 40 mph. When he slowed the vehicle down the rpms increased. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the motor mount may have caused the failure to occur. He then took it to another dealer who stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. No repairs were made to the vehicle. The failure mileage was 82,000 and the current mileage was 88,000.
I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima and I've been having problems with the transmission. There is a severe jerking from the transmission when going into to gear or when shifting gears while driving.
My 2005 Nissan Maxima has a transmission problem at only 85000 miles. When I am driving the car has problem shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Also the car when it is parked and I put it on drive it will give a quick jolt forwards. There are thousands of people with this problem. I have been reading thousands and thousands of posts online with people having the same problem. I took the car to a mechanic and they say I need a new transmission which will cost around 4000! it is very dangerous to drive a car like this because you don't know what to expect.
I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima SE, and like all the other complaints, I'm having the same problems in the shifting from second to third gear, and a thump when putting it in reverse or drive. The thump is so hard, it makes the car shake.
1. car started jerking into gear and slipping out of gear at 70K miles. 2. starting happening with more regularity making driving the vehicle dangerous when acceleration was needed 3. had to change the valve body and seals in the transmission. After problem persisted the computer was flashed and then the problem went away. From what I've read. The 04-06 Nissan Maxima's have all had this problem with the transmission and the problem tends to re-appear. Now I'm out $2,000 and may have to fix again in 50K miles.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Slidell, LA, USA