Power Train Problems of Nissan Pathfinder - part 1

Starts with juddering, loss of power. While driving you can experience a total complete loss of power which deceleration quickly which can cause other vehicles to hit you from behind. End result, shifter moves but doesnt engage gears, like you're in neutral. Engine rev's but you're getting nowhere. You're lucky to maneuver off the highway. Requires a tow and a transmission replacement without warning.

See all problems of the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

Vehicle information •make: Nissan •model: Pathfinder •year: 2025 •mileage at incident: less than 2,800 miles •purchase date: may 2025 summary of problem: since purchase, the vehicle has had repeated brake failures, unintended acceleration, lighting malfunctions, and electronic system defects. Problems are intermittent but worsening, creating a serious safety risk. Details of incidents: 1. Steering / handling: •since day one, steering feels loose and “floating” at highway speeds. 2. Parking assist & braking: •parking assist randomly activates upon startup with all sensors lit and beeping, requiring a restart to clear. •in garage, parking assist sometimes locks brakes, then suddenly accelerates toward wall. 3. Braking / acceleration failures (sept. 3-4 2025): •while driving brakes did not slow vehicle despite increased pedal pressure; required slamming pedal to lock brakes. •on highway 65–70 mph, while pressing brake to slow for exit, vehicle accelerated past 73 mph before decelerating. 4. Lighting failure: •twice, headlights failed to activate in auto mode. First incident resulted in driver being pulled over; restarting car restored lights. Second incident at dusk—only high beams worked; no low beams despite auto mode being on. 5. Other electrical / mechanical defects: •passenger mirror sometimes stuck in folded position; driver mirror opens slowly. •front windows occasionally fail to open/close or move very slowly. •apple carplay forces return to carplay screen, won’t allow switching to other apps; defaults to am/fm radio at startup. •clicking sound from dashboard when ac is running. •ac intermittently blows hot air instead of cold. •auto start/stop feature reactivates itself after being manually turned off. •vehicle shakes noticeably when idling or starting, worsening. Frequency: since vehicle purchase in may 2025. Braking/acceleration failures happened multiple times. Safety risk: loss of braking, unintended acceleration, &lighting failures present a serious risk.

The transmission appears to be failing. When accelerating, the rpm increases but the vehicle speed does not respond immediately, creating a slipping and jerking effect. The vehicle is available for inspection if requested. The vehicle hesitates and jerks when accelerating, especially when merging into traffic or driving at highway speeds, which creates a risk of collision due to the loss of proper acceleration. The front tires also shake unexpectedly, making it difficult to maintain control of the vehicle. The issue is known and widely reported for this model year. Similar symptoms have been documented as transmission failures in 2013 Nissan Pathfinders. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by Nissan for this issue. No warning lights appeared. The symptoms started gradually with hesitation when accelerating and have worsened over time to frequent slipping, jerking, and tire shaking while driving.

Incident 1: rear brakes needing replaced within 30,000 miles. Rear brakes at that mileage is unheard of. Incident 2: coil packs failing and leaving me stranded. 34,000 miles incident 3: most recent at 44,000 the flex plate is now broken. With a simple internet search the flex plate is a reoccurring issue that a lot of motorist are experiencing.

See all problems of the 2023 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

Transmission is making a noise after acceleration once the car gets to 40 miles an hour it starts jerking. Just purchased the car and has not even been 30 days. I first noticed this a week after purchasing.

1. 1st week having car was leaving to go on a trip, I pulled into a gas station. A driver pulled up next to us and told us we had no break lights. ( it was still dark outsid!) I got out of my car and have my wife step on the breaks, and sure enough no break lights. It was set on standard head lights on! we found that putting it into the auto light setting that we then had break lights. (break lights should never be discounted)! 2. 2nd problem my wife & I have had when going into traffic on the interstate, is the car locks into low gear and will not shift!!! major safty issure!!!! this has happen 6 times in the last 2. 5 months. Almost cause a car slaming into us twice.

I bought a new transmission from Nissan 2 years and couple of months ago, about 3 weeks ago car started jerking and engine light lit up. I took my car to my mechanic and he told me that it was cvt transmission problem, to take it to Nissan that it should be under warranty. Nissan had the vehicle for about two weeks and informed me that indeed it was the transmission but that it was not covered because I had an implied warranty. I called Nissan consumer affairs that informed me that the service department was wrong and a decision was not made yet. I was treated like trash by Nissan and was thrown out of the premises because I was asking questions she did not like. She accused me of calling names, which I never did and refused to let me take pictures of the VIN# from inside the door. She did allow me to take pictures of my vehicle and told to that she was calling the police which was uncalled for. I went and spoke to Nissan managers, alphonse and igor about my situation at the service center and that the refused to to let me take a picture and I missed an appointment that I had on with one main financial at 3:00pm. Alphonse came with me to service center and I was able to get my keys and that the manager was lying because I showed him the video that I did. Very disappointed that it went this far, I might be suing Nissan. Because the Nissan supervisor that came with me noticed that the service center manager was lying he did not charge me for the diagnostic done.

See all problems of the 2014 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

5x my SUV in drive popped either out of gear or just would not shift into the next gear. My main concern is I was coming up a hill into a 4 land highway (route 6 and my car would not shift the transmission was whining loud?. I had to shut my car off in the middle of 4 lanes with oncoming traffic to put it in park to get it to shift back into drive to get out of harms way. This happened 4 more times where I had to just stop where I was to put car in park and try it again in drive, which usually fixes it except for 1x would not take off at all. When whines its almost as if the car transmission would blow. No one can recreate this issue so I am stuck with the car that does it randomly. Example bought it new Feb 2025 it is now August & happened 5 times. Hoping they do a recall or sometype of fix I do like my SUV & would like to keep it.

See all problems of the 2024 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

My 2018 Nissan Pathfinder sl has had to have the engine replaced once due to the cvp issues with the transmission causes in the engine to fail. It was replaced not even two years ago and now the issue has presented itself yet again and the engine has failed once again. I believe that this vehicle should be issued for recall because this is an issue that has happened twice engine has failed twice car will not run. Will not turn over vehicle is at a standstill. I want somebody to contact me regarding this because this is not acceptable.

See all problems of the 2018 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

I was driving on a busy highway and when I went to accelerate after slowing down in traffic my Pathfinder started to shake and shudder and would not accelerate forward. I not only almost got rear ended but I almost got into a head on collision because I was at an intersection. The car just lost all power all of a sudden. My car has been maintained properly with routine oil changes, transmission fluid changes, it has four brand new tires on it just purchased six months ago. So now I find out that I am one of the "victims of the bad cvt transmissions that Nissan put into these vehicles and they knew it!!" I call Nissan support and they tell me basically "too bad the warranty was extended but it ended in 2022 and at 84,000 miles. It's now 2025 and you're at 105,000 miles. I am "disabled for life and on a fixed income" I don't have the money to fix the car. I have like two payments left and it's finally paid off!!! they should've done a recall on these transmissions and they didn't!! they are death traps and now I see they are giving $5000. 00 to murano and maxima owners for bad cvt transmissions!! but all of us Pathfinders, rogue and infinity owners whose transmissions didn't go bad before 2022 or 84,000. 00 mike's are just screwed!! this is not fair at all. What kind of compensation is this?? this class action law suit settlement is a joke. I'm contacting a lawyer. I need help here. I need a car. Seven years of paying for this vehicle and now this??!! they won't even help at all. Nissan should be ashamed of themselves!! they are a horrible company don't ever buy from them!!.

See all problems of the 2015 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

I bought a vehicle from woods Nissan in lees summit, mo, on 05/10/2025, and in a week I went back for details, and the car would not start. They checked and claimed nothing was wrong, and I took their word for it. I took the car to kc auto clinic in independence, mo, and they found it was the judder system, which they said was an issue they were seeing in many Nissan vehicles. To me, there should be a recall on this, as it can simply shut off and cause a huge accident. Don't let this happen and wait for an accident to happen, as this can happen to anyone, driving or possibly getting into an accident with a vehicle like mine.

Idle needle jumping when turning the car on. Delay in shifting gears and throttle response. Forward collision warning goes off at random times even when no cars are present.

See all problems of the 2019 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jolted while upshifting and accelerating. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, and transmission fluid was added; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to another local dealer, where it was determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 177,000.

Nissan Pathfinder vehicles to repair the cvt transmission fluid cooler hose (inter-cooler). The internal fluid cooler (itoc) hose may detach from the cooler due to inadequate clamping force. Inter-coolers may overheat, fail operation causing leaks and possible fires. If this occurs, the cvt transmission fluid will begin to slowly leak and the malfunction indicator lamp (mil) will illuminate on the instrument panel. If the mil is ignored, the cvt transmission fluid will drain further, resulting in noise, vibration and possible fire. If this is ignored, eventually the cvt transmission will no longer operate properly and the the vehicle will stop accelerating, which could increase the risk of a crash and endangerment. Rear hatch on some 2017 Nissan Pathfinders. Specifically, some brackets used to attach the gas struts to the rear door (hatch) may be improperly made, potentially causing the struts to detach from the brackets when opening or closing the door. This could cause the hatch to fall rapidly, potentially striking someone. Identified as 18v-601, that includes the 2017 Nissan Pathfinder for a potential issue where the lift-gate (back hatch) may not lock properly, this will allow lift-gate to open while driving, not lock securely, potentially allowing someone to fall out of moving vehicle.

See all problems of the 2017 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

I bought my 2014 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 sv a couple months ago and it’s always had when starting where the rpms will constantly jump while driving, I took the car in to Nissan dealership in tridelphia wv multiple times, after buying to have recalls done that needed to be done and they said it was fine no previous codes or anything. Then driving home from work [xxx] the check engine light came on and codes were cvt judder, bank 1 low catalytic converter, driver tpms sensors bad. And then after couple days the check engine light went off. Car has a loud humming noise prior to light coming on and still. Rpms still jump but now the speedometer does it as well. This can’t be safe and there’s been multiple accidents/complaints about the cvt death judder in these suvs and for what we pay for them it should be fixed before someone dies. They need to be recalled ASAP!!! information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I have had my 2025 Pathfinder act up over the last two months. It acts up at the most inconvenient time. I have notice that it kicks into low gear when I am pulling out into traffic. It will not disengage at all during this time. The only way that I can get out of low gear, is to pull over and stop, turn off the engine and then turn it back on. After turning off the engine and restarting it goes back to driving normal. This has happen on and off over the past two months. It has been reported to clark Nissan in abilene, texas. They have not been able to have the problem appear and no engine faults are showing. I am now driving the car and if it happens again hope to video what is happening. Twice this has happen pulling into the [xxx] and have had cars come close to colliding into the back of my car. It this time I am working with the dealership and will try to record this when it happens again. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The cvt in my 2014 Nissan Pathfinder is experiencing judder and hesitation due to internal failure (code p17f0), which affects drivability and acceleration from a stop. This creates a safety risk in traffic, intersections, and merging. Nissan acknowledged similar issues in other models with extended warranties, but not in this model despite identical symptoms.

The transmission shudders. Causes jerking and hard shifts that makes the car move in unwanted ways. Car may shut off if shutter gets too hard. It’s pretty bad , even the repairs do not fix the issue. This definitely needs to be a recall for Nissan to take a look at.

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle and depressing the accelerator pedal, there was a significant delay in the vehicle response. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle overheated, the transmission was slipping, and the vehicle hesitated to shift into the intended gear. The contact stated that the vehicle had overheated while driving and had failed to shift beyond first or second gear on some occasions. The contact stated that the vehicle had overheated and had stalled on other occasions, and the vehicle would become drivable after half an hour. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. An unknown dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 158,000.

The Nissan cvt transmission on my low mileage Nissan Pathfinder 2017 with 90k miles is showing that there is an issue with transmission. It can stop working while driving and it can be an issue with safety if you are driving anywhere. It can potentially cause loss of life of my family or others.

My transmission just went bad on me and the car only has 124,000 miles, causing a safety issue while I was driving on the highway.

Cvt judder I was driving and then all of a sudden the car just stopped driving in the middle of the intersection. I was lucky enough to coast off the road into a parking lot safely but still a scary moment.

Transmission started slipping when I was getting on the interstate. It was revving very loud but car would not move. I almost got hit from behind. This car is not even 3 years old. I am very concerned for my safety. I should still be in warranty for this issue.

See all problems of the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder 🔎.

While driving at highway speeds, when attempting to accelerate when passing another vehicle or changing lanes, the vehicle has lost acceleration on more than 1 occasion. I could not accelerate even with the gas pedal all the way down. The car just rolled slowly for about 10 seconds before it began accelerating and jerked forward. Nissan not providing a solution because they “cannot duplicate the issue”.

On 03/25/2025, at 7:20 a. M. , my wife, on the way to drop off the kids at school, called me and said a light came on the dash and the car was stalled on the railroad track, and a train was coming. I could hear the train whistle blowing. The car would not move off the tracks and she didn't know what the light meant. She said she turned off the car and started it again and got it off the tracks before the train could hit her, but the car was still stuck in the road. I looked online and discovered it was the automatic emergency brake system warning. She was able to turn around and get back home safely with the kids. I can't describe how frightening that was and I can't describe my emotions toward the Nissan electrical engineers that would chance killing my family to install some useless unwanted technology!.

Driving on the highway and all of a sudden I my car started making a crazy juddering kind of motion and shut of completely when getting on the on ramp. Had to pull over very fast as there was a line of people behind me. Lost all power to my vehicle. Definitely a safety risk. Nissan has known of these risks and still doesn’t recall or replace these transmissions, quoting over $5,000 to replace is unbelievable. The car has only 99,000 miles on it. No prior warning light.

While entering highway from a start the cvt shook the the car violently. Unable to get up to speed in safe manner. Hit head on river door glass.

Transmission malfunction/failure caused loss of all power and had to coast over 3 lanes to the only available shoulder on the left side of the express lanes. This in and of itself could have been catastrophic due to the speed of the vehicles on the express lanes. Turns out there's a failure point on the flexplate and Nissan techs are aware of the issue. Nissan as a whole should replace them if this is the result.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions at various speeds, the vehicle jerked abnormally. The vehicle was taken to an auto zone, where a handheld diagnostic machine retrieved dtc: p1750. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the same code was retrieved. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 106,000.

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. Additionally, the transmission shuddered, and the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.

The disabled vehicle when delivered by flatbed car hauler unit to the nearest dealership, petro Nissan, 47 miles from the breakdown site would not move at highway speed but only jerked/bucked and crept along at little more than a fast walk. This condition was last experienced when the vehicle had been on a remote undulating interstate for about 2 hours. The check engine light had reappeared after being recently reset and the engine revving and loss of ground speed started causally then increased in frequency and intensity until totally failing to the point of forcing me to creep with emergency flashers in mode on the shoulder to reach an exit two miles ahead. The high rpm revving coupled with the ground speed loss condition initial stages occurred each of the two prior days. Two Nissan na dealerships in those two days had performed diagnostics and service. On each prior day the check engine light, the high revving engine rpm, and the ground speed loss occurred. On each day a potentially serious safety issue arose. Initially an attempt to match speed and merge with traffic at an onramp and again when (using cruise control) during which the vehicle system attempted an automatic acceleration to maintain speed on rolling hills. Both conditions forced me to the shoulder to avoid a potential accident from immediate and drastic ground speed loss and engine revving at or above 4500 rpm after each of these incidents a Nissan na dealership was consulted and services were performed. In each case I postulated to the service advisors that the transmission sounded/felt like it was slipping on acceleration when the vehicle/ transmission had heated up from extended driving. Both days service advisors checked for diagnostic codes of transmission issues but never mentioned emission issues aside from mass air flow sensor or abs sensors apparently either not seeing or not looking beyond transmission related codes. The first dealer, illini Nissan, ran diagnostics on 1/6/25,.

I was driving and all of a sudden my car flipped into neutral mid drive. I couldn’t put it in park. I couldn’t put it in drive and I couldn’t put it in reverse. I had to sit on the road with my foot on the pedal until someone could tow it. My kids and were stuck in the dark on dangerous corner of a windy road. This is a serious safety deficit. We are still covered under warranty. We got it home and turned it off. Then we turned the car back on and we were able to put it in gear and park it, but the check engine light stayed on. The next day when I turned it on to take it to the dealership, the check engine light was off. The technician took it for a test drive and it did the same thing to him. The technician can’t figure out what is wrong or why it’s doing what it is doing, but that it is unsafe to drive.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated the vehicle failed to start. There were no warning lights illuminated prior to the failure. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer for a tune up where it was diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced. There was previously an unknown transmission issue. The transmission was replaced after eight months the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted where a complaint was registered. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000.

The check engine light turned on and took it to dealership on 12/14/24 and they stated that throttle chamber may have issues. Used scanner and code p0101- mass air flow sensor circuit was read on scanner. Vehicle struggles to get air flow into engine causes speed to struggle when trying to accelerate.

Hard time shifting from low gear to high gear when accelerating. Would shudder. In cruise control at 55 or higher would surge faster, slower. Finally, in cruise control, at 70 mph lost high gear, downshifted, rpms went very high. We slowed to a stop pulled over, turned car off. Restarted. No forward gears, only reverse.