CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2012 Nissan Quest is great in terms of low complaints, but it also has an abysmal crash test rating for one very common type of impact.
The IIHS' "small overlap" crash test rates the vehicle's ability to protect front seat passengers when the car is impacted across 1/4th of the front bumper.
This mimics hitting a pole, or an off-center crash into another car — more common in the real world than a full frontal head-on crash.
See our crash test page for the detailed results — As you can see from the IIHS' crash test video, the Nissan Quest does not protect intrusion into the passenger space & major injury to the front seat passengers is likely.
I bought my 2012 Nissan Quest LE used from a private party who took great care of his home and vehicles. It had 49,000 miles on it when purchased. I did notice however that only 12,000 miles into owning it, I periodically felt a kickback. Being a very busy single mother, I ignored the issue until I couldn't ignore it any longer at around 84,000 miles when it completely stalled on the highway after coming to a stop at a red light. I tried getting the transmission fluid changed, and that seemed to help slightly. However after two more months and a few more thousand miles, it stalled on me again with a car full of kids. It turned out that I had to replace the transmission, and at the time I still owed over $12,000 on it, and it was worth $500 with a failed transmission.
What could I do? The cheapest option was to replace it. I was nervous to do that because I was told that I could replace it, and the new one could fail again if the transmissions are known to be faulty. They are, but the cheapest option at the time was for me to replace it. The second transmission did last another 110,000 miles, but it is slipping again. It is a shame because this is the best vehicle to travel in and transport kids, etc, but IT IS A MONEY PIT.
First time bought a Nissan vehicle. Last year Compressor failed and had to install a new compressor. Last week, CVT transmission failed while returning from a trip. It happened when travelling back home and had to tow it to Aamco Boardman, OH to get the new transmission installed which costs me $7525 and had to stay couple of days in the motel. Very dissatisfied with purchasing 2012 Nissan Quest. Not sure what will fail next.
I bought a used 2012 Nissan Quest that had a new transmission installed on Jan 10th, 2022 with 170,428 miles. I bought it Summer of 2022 with confidence I wouldn't have any transmissions issues but during November 2022, it jerk once while putting it into reverse. It was during the holidays and been busy/traveling etc. Yesterday I drove it on the interstate for first time since July 2022 and driving at 70-80 MPH, the transmission went into limp mode to prevent more damage to transmission/Motor. It started back up fine but as I continued my trip at 60-70 MPH it went into Limp mode again.
I can't believe new transmission that was installed just 14 months ago now needs replacing again at 181,000 miles (11,000 miles on this transmission) and the warranty was only for 1 year or 12,000 miles (warranty ended Jan 10th, 2023). Nissan needs to recall all these defective CVT transmissions and stop using them in the future.
2012 Quest is my 4th Nissan and it will be my last. I'm a mom of 3 young kids who needs a safe and reliable vehicle. Van shudders, shakes, stalls, doesn't accelerate, goes into limp mode, etc. I can't afford to replace transmission. Contacted Nissan. They won't assist customers unless it involves a class action settlement.
Nissan needs to be held accountable for knowingly manufacturing vehicles with defective parts. Filed a complaint with NHTSA. Contacted class action.org. Maybe if they receive enough complaints from Quest owners we can get a resolution.
Van is unsafe. Contacted Nissan and they won't do anything. Nissan has known since 2003 their CVT transmissions had problems yet they continued manufacturing vehicles. Trying to get a class action filed against Nissan for Quest models. Classaction.org
Update from Jun 12, 2022: I wrote to the NHTSA. Hoping others with vehicles that have transmission issues will do the same. The more the better so we can get a resolution.
- Li N.,
Manassas, US
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2012 Nissan Quest - it’s the worst vehicle that I have owned in my entire life. Please people - don’t buy Nissan Vehicles. It’s unbelievable that a vehicle with 97,000 miles that I still owe money is just parked on my driveway doing anything.
I'm replacing the transmission - $4600 for a 2012 Quest which only has 100,100 miles. I drive it at the speed limit and service it as it should be. Seems like the Nissan company could pay for this, since it is problem with the auto.
There is definitely something defective about this make and model. I, too, own a Nissan Quest. Roughly about two and half years ago, we were having issues with our Van's transmission. It literally broke down on us, and the mileage was roughly about 80, 000 miles. Luckily, the transmission was replaced because my husband had purchased an extended warranty 2 months before it broke down on us. Two and half years later it is happening allover again. We were driving on sunday 4/19/20, we came to a stop and the Van would NOT accelerate. We took it to the shop the following day. Again, we were told that the transmission has broken down. How is this even possible!! Nissan really needs to look into because I strongly believe that there are too many people having the same issues with their vehicles transmissions on this particular year and model. The downside to all of this is that we were told our extended warranty has expired. Which I had not clue, because we were notified in advance that it was going to expire, and to make matters worse, we are still paying a monthly car note fir a vehicle that is no longer working. This is truly frustrating as this is the family vehicle we have. :(
Update from Apr 17, 2021: I just wanted to give everyone an update on our Van issue. So, my husband ended up paying about $4700 to get the transmission fixed, and let me tell y'all, we are still having issues with it! So, apparently where we took it to get repaired, the owner says they replaced it, but continues to break down on us. My kids and I, almost had a car accident on the highway because of this this issue. Honestly, we don't know what else to do here. We've spent $4700 on this stupid vehicle to get it fixed again and still, not working. I've called Nissan and they cannot help at all.This is so very frustrating! Shame on this car company, Nissan!
Bought a Nissan Quest with 50,000 miles (Have a certificate from Nissan showing a new transmission was put in the vehicle before the sale.) Drove the vehicle for 1 year, 30,000 miles. Vehicle would not accelerate. Took to dealer and was told I needed a new transmission. So horrible. Nissan gave us a case number and says they see where a new transmission was put in but can not help us. Can't afford to fix the van and make the payments also. Very bad situation. Never would buy a Nissan again. See lots of complaints and told by many the cvt transmission is major issue. SO HORRIBLE !
The transmission failed at 82,000 miles. This was diagnosed by a Nissan dealership, I forget the actual code but it was reported as a total transmission failure.
HELP!!!! I just finished paying off my 2012 Nissan Quest when the transmission failed. I took it to the dealer and the check engine codes had 3 of the 4 "kill" codes for the CVT transmission. They said a new transmission would run $5000. dollars. My odometer was at 90,000 miles when this occurred. It definitely was a flawed design with the CVT. I believe Nissan should take care of this! I noticed that other people have experienced this problem also.
How can I get Nissan to replace this? I am not happy! What can I do? 5,000 dollars is out of the question for a problem that I did not create.
Transmission gave up and I do not have the money right now to fix it! I would like to know if there are any other people out there with the same issue. :( Not done paying the van yet an transmission already failed! Went to the dealer and they want 5k to fix it. HELP!
Update from Jul 25, 2018: I think I will go to the attorney generals office and see if we can all get help... I was reading through here and it looks like there are quite a few of us going through the same thing.
The acceleration has been very slow for a while and then the gears started slipping a bit. We brought it to the dealership and found that the transmission needs to be completely replaced. We still owe $12,000 on this van and can't afford to go upside-down on it for trading it in. I checked with a couple other transmission places and the CVT transmission can't be repaired. Minimum cost to repair it anywhere was about $3500, which would only cover 1 year or 12,000 miles, for a used transmission.
I've now read a bunch of problems with the CVT transmissions and that they cannot be repaired which raises the cost of replacing it huge! Nissan is yet to do anything about it. So, now I can't afford to replace it or repair it. This especially stinks because I had to replace the A/C last year and just bought new tires.
Finding out that all, or at least most, Nissan's have CVT transmissions, then this is the last time I buy a Nissan.
We thought the 60K warranty on the 2012 Nissan Quest was a little low when we bought it brand new, now we know why.
At ~76,000 miles the van would take a few seconds to "spin up" before accelerating, a few days later it started losing power going uphill. We'd have to floor it to get it to creep up a hill.
We took it to a local shop that diagnosed it with a failed CVT transmission.
Doing some research online I now see MANY other 2012 Quest owners with the same problem which seems to be a widespread Nissan issue.
We called Nissan Consumer Affairs, the person on the phone said our van doesn't fall into the vehicle model/age range for the extended warranty on CVT transmissions.
The guy on the phone recommended we take the van to a Nissan dealership to get it "officially" diagnosed and try to start a warranty claim. He said depending on the caseworker we get, they MIGHT have compassion and cover it.
Van has had issues slipping on hills after stopping with gears grinding and jerking for the past couple months. Brought in to dealership and they could not replicate. I mentioned I thought it might be transmission and how we can do preventive maintenance. They recommended flushing transmission fluid for $125 which I did. Less than month later, slipping still occurred on hills after stops.
On way home this past Saturday, I was going about 30-40 mph when there was a stop light on a slight incline. I slowed down to about 5-10mph when the light turned green. I then pressed the accelerator pedal and the gear grinded and I had no power. As I pressed the gas no power was coming to van and I had to pull over. I had to turn off the vehicle and wait a minute or so and after starting the car, the vehicle seemed normal again. I noticed the check engine light also was now on.
Brought the van in to dealership and after doing a drive test and replicating on a hill, they confirmed the slipping. They also did a diagnostic and confirmed transmission needed to be replaced to tune of $4100. Looking up this issue there appears to be numerous problems with Nissan CVT transmissions. Nissan also provided an extended warranty for prior van models from 2003-2010 to 100k miles. My vehicle is a 2012 Nissan Quest with 81k miles. With all the Nissan's having CVT Transmission issues, it appears there is a pervasive issue that needs to be addressed by Nissan.
The shop doing the repair told me this was the 3rd 2012 Nissan Quest they've replaced the transmission in over the last 3 months. The CVT transmission cannot be rebuilt, but the replacement Nissan provides comes with just a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. Having to replace a transmission with less than 85,000 miles is ridiculous. Getting a new transmission with such a short warranty is ludicrous. Thankfully, the transmission shop has another provider who provides a 3 year/100,000 mile warranty. Needless to say, I'll never buy another Nissan with a CVT transmission!
I BROUGHT THIS PROBLEM TO ONE OF THE NISSAN DEALERS IN VALLEJO, CA AND THEY SAID THAT I HAVE TO PAY TO REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION. THEY SAID THAT THERE'S NO RECALL OR PROBLEM LIKE THIS THAT THEY KNOW OFF EVEN THOUGH I SHOWED AN ARTICLE FROM OTHER OWNERS THAT'S HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM. CALLED NISSAN CORPORATE OFFICE AND THEY WON'T OWN UP TO IT. REALLY FRUSTRATING SINCE THIS IS THE ONLY VAN WE USE FOR MY FAMILY BUT I DON'T WANT TO PAY $4000 FOR A FAULTY TRANSMISSION THAT NISSAN SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR.
We are currently being told by the dealership that the transmission has completely failed. The dealership can not help us and quoted us a $4000.00 estimate to replace it. I have contacted Nissan Consumer Affairs and I am awaiting a call from the regional representative. There are still approx. 14 payments left on it. If Nissan fails to help I will be extremely disappointed.
I was surprised that this transmission had a total failure at 78,000 miles. This vehicle has been maintained only by Nissan, and, we had purchased a Nissan maintenance plan when the vehicle was purchased new. So, the vehicle breaks down late on a Saturday afternoon and I call Nissan Roadside Assistance. They tell me they cannot pickup the car until Monday, so, I had to leave it on the street.
On Monday the car is picked up and taken to the dealer in Bergenfield, NJ. It is diagnosed and I am told it needs a new transmission, which will take a couple of days. The next day, the dealer calls me and tells me there is no transmission locally available and one must be trucked in from Florida. This is not the fault of the dealer. So, I call Nissan customer service and explain that I am severely handicapped and my vehicle is equipped with a special lift that enables me to load and unload a mobility scooter, and, I would like to know if the transmission could be sent by express delivery, flown up, and, I would be willing to pay for that! They refused and told me I would have to wait. So, I stayed with some friends for a week waiting for the transmission. A portion of my extended warranty covers me for additional expenses up to $500 I submitted a claim for $503.00. The sent me a check for $420 with no explanation. I have written to them to ask why I did not receive the full amount and have not yet heard from them.
In conversation with the dealer when my car was ready, the service writer told me that Nissan is having so many problems with the CVT transmissions that they cannot keep enough of them in stock to deal with the problem. However, I was more put out by the attitude of their customer service. This is the 3rd Nissan I have had, and, it may be the last. I am due to replace this car later this year and think I will wait for the new Chrysler Pacifica to come out. Besides, Nissan has not made any significant changes to the Quest in quite a few years.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought my 2012 Nissan Quest LE used from a private party who took great care of his home and vehicles. It had 49,000 miles on it when purchased. I did notice however that only 12,000 miles into owning it, I periodically felt a kickback. Being a very busy single mother, I ignored the issue until I couldn't ignore it any longer at around 84,000 miles when it completely stalled on the highway after coming to a stop at a red light. I tried getting the transmission fluid changed, and that seemed to help slightly. However after two more months and a few more thousand miles, it stalled on me again with a car full of kids. It turned out that I had to replace the transmission, and at the time I still owed over $12,000 on it, and it was worth $500 with a failed transmission.
What could I do? The cheapest option was to replace it. I was nervous to do that because I was told that I could replace it, and the new one could fail again if the transmissions are known to be faulty. They are, but the cheapest option at the time was for me to replace it. The second transmission did last another 110,000 miles, but it is slipping again. It is a shame because this is the best vehicle to travel in and transport kids, etc, but IT IS A MONEY PIT.
- Brandy W., Slidell, LA, US