10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
8 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
58,092 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2013 Nissan Altima:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #272

Apr 252018

Altima

  • 45,000 miles
I am experiencing intermittent cvt failures at mileage: 45000. Once I was stationary and in the other instance I was on the city street, when I experienced sudden power loss, all warning light came on. Whenever I started my car and put it in reverse or drive it just turned off. After 4 to 5 tries car started. I looked up online and it had symptoms similar to the cvt failure. I went to Nissan service centre twice for the same issue but they did not find anything and said everything is in perfect condition.

- Nashville, TN, USA

problem #271

Aug 242018

Altima

  • 109,000 miles
07/09/2013 took car in for a cvt reprogram, I noticed the changes in shifting but thought it was due to the software reprogram, on 08/23/2018 while driving the car engine shuts off, manage to start it up and drove home, later on that evening I tried to start the car and when I shift to reverse or drive the car will cut off, 08/30/2018 towed my car to the Nissan dealership, they ran a diagnostic and I need a new transmission, Nissan needs to take care of this cvt I just don't have the money for a transmission.

- Stockton, CA, USA

problem #270

Aug 312018

Altima 4-cyl

  • miles
2013 Nissan Altima. Consumer writes in regards to transmission safety recall. The consumer stated while driving using cruise control the vehicle dropped from 75 mph to 40 mph. The rpms jumped between 4-5 and losing power. The transmission was reprogrammed, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified, but did not offer any assistance due to the mileage. The transmission needed to be repaired.

- Davenport, IA, USA

problem #269

Aug 292018

Altima

  • 100,213 miles
Driving and a weird humming sound happened and the car lost power would not go over 35 mph the RPM went to 5000 I got pulled over lost all power so I turned car off for appx 15-20 min and car drove fine. Again today driving to work and car lost all power and a humming sound acted like wouldn't go into gear pulled over this time took sitting appx 1 hour then started and was ok to get back home and I parked

- Parker, CO, USA

problem #268

Aug 122018

Altima

  • 48,000 miles
Car would turn off when slowing down or idle. Would start back up, but turn back off when put in drive. The worst time this was experienced was during an on ramp merger on the highway.

- Orlando, FL, USA

problem #267

Aug 202018

Altima

  • 74,382 miles
Transmission whining loosing power on the highway very dangerous

- Murfreesboro, TN, USA

problem #266

Aug 152018

Altima

  • 76,301 miles
Cvt trasmission has failed after 76000 miles. Causes car to die while driving, and while coming to a complete stop.

- Douglasville, GA, USA

problem #265

Aug 132018

Altima

  • 72,000 miles
My Nissan Altima starting bumping when driving. I took it to the Nissan dealership and was told the cvt transmission was going bad. Nissan will not cover the transmission even though they know cvt goes bad in all of their models after 60,000 which is when the warranty runs out!

- Newport, OH, USA

problem #264

Jul 282018

Altima

  • 66,000 miles
2013 Nissan Altima sl with 66K. Transmission needed replaced at 66K miles. Nissan diagnosed the issue. After hearing it would cost me over 3700 to replace I began doing research on these cvt transmission. It's a known issue with these cvts. So with all of the bad reviews on the internet, I inquired with Nissan Consumer Affairs with assistance in this cost. I waited a week for them to tell me they will not assist me in this repair. Nissan has recalled a number of years and extended the warranty from 60K to 120K. They obviously have not fixed the problem with these transmissions. There is no reason a transmission is needing replaced at 60K. I bought this vehicle because Nissan is very known for the reliability and their cars are suppose to last. After having this issue and hearing Nissan will not take responsibility for this issue is very frustrating. This is deff a danger issue. My vehicle gave me no indication or lights that there was an issue until I was on the highway with my 4 children when it went from 80 to 50 mph I'm cruise. And then hesitating to go and I was an hour away from home. Something needs to be done on thee transmission.

- Davenport, IA, USA

problem #263

Aug 042018

Altima

  • 87,000 miles
The problem with the 2013 Nissan alima cvt 2.5 model. The car stops when ideling which creates a dangerous situation on the road. The RPM will fluctuate without warning and gears slipping at road speeds. Similar cases have been discussed in various forum and Nissan is not willing to take this as there responsibilty of creating an inferior quality product. It is time Nissan owns up to

- Carrollton, TX, USA

problem #262

Aug 012018

Altima

  • 83,000 miles
I was driving on the highway, the car started making a strange noise, shifting hard and the check engine light came on...I decided to leave the highway as the car was losing speed. At the first light, the car stalled in the middle of the road... the trouble is that I did not realize until the light turned green and cars in from of me started moving and I couldn't almost got hit from behind by incoming cars. Ended up moving slowly to the side. Got the car towed to a Nissan dealer that advised that it a cvt failure. My car has 83K miles, Nissan is not willing to help.

- Fridley, MN, USA

problem #261

Jun 202018

Altima

  • 105,000 miles
My car recently today stated to lock the dear shift when I park it started this morning and has continued every time I turn off my car. Previous issue I took it in to Nissan tynans on havana in Aurora co (never go there) because it is sputtering any time I accelerate at any speed on any road right before it would what you call back in the day shift into another gear. Tynans first said it was a battery cable and when it wasnt fixed they are say there isnt anything wrong with the car. I believe the cvt is causing it to sputter I told tynans I thought it was a transmission issue to begin with. Needless to say my car is not fixed and is still sputtering and just bought it owe about $14000 still!

- Centennial, CO, USA

problem #260

May 152018

Altima

  • 43,000 miles
Transmission failed at 44K mileage. First the engine shut off while driving without any warning or signs on highway. Then after reprogramming of the transmission by dealer, car runs abnormally. Engine RPM unstable, unpredictable, causing speed changes. No pedal response or slow acceleration. Difficult to accelerate, especially over 40 mph. Gear shifting between D and N very often leave the gear in N for a few seconds.

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #259

Apr 012018

Altima

  • 70,000 miles
The gear shift in my 2013 Nissan Altima stopped working. I looked up the problem on youtube and it said that the brake sensor was not relaying information to the gear shift. The vehicle will not shift into gear. The emergency shift lock must be used to take the car out of park.the problem began gradually, with the gear sift becoming "stuck" when shifting, and in a matter of 2 months, the gear shift has completely stopped working. When the vehicle is going from park to any other gear it will not shift. Once it is taken out of park, it will shift between any gears with no problem, until it is placed back in park.

- Dallas, TX, USA

problem #258

Jun 082018

Altima

  • 90,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. While operating the vehicle, the transmission began to malfunction. The contact stated that the vehicle would not immediately respond when depressing the accelerator pedal and the speed reduced before the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer (germain Nissan of columbus, 4600 morse rd, columbus, oh) was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 90,000.

- Columbus, OH, USA

problem #257

Jun 192018

Altima

  • 100,400 miles
The vehicle began to slow while driving on interstate. As I attempted to accelerate the rpms increased without any increase in speed. As I attempted to exit interstate, the vehicle stalled before exit ramp. Multiple vehicles had to maneuver around me. It would not accelerate. I coasted to the side of the interstate. I put the car in park on shoulder of interstate and let about 5 minutes go by before testing acceleration. Upon testing, it maintained enough speed (25 mph top speed) for me to exit interstate and return to dealership near me. Once I made it to dealership, car shut off. It had just been repaired for some recall centered around transmission.

- Trussville, AL, USA

problem #256

Jun 222018

Altima

  • 81,000 miles
In July/August of 2017, my vehicle was sputtering at lower speeds when accelerating or decelerating and then the vehicle would suddenly turn off. There were several scenarios when this happened during busy traffic. Upon receiving a manufacturer recall, I took the vehicle to the dealership for maintenance on the transmission computer system. All seemed fixed until June of 2018 when the vehicle was having the same issues, again while in the middle of traffic. I took the vehicle into the dealership and the dealership is telling me the transmission torque converter was damaged and I need to replace the entire transmission at a cost of $4,300. Upon internet research, it seems this has been a common problem for Nissan's cvt transmission; in fact, Nissan extended 2012 and previous models transmission warranties to 10 year 120,000 miles. So far, Nissan has offered no assistance or good will in fixing the defected part / issue.

- Elkhorn, NE, USA

problem #255

Jun 052018

Altima

  • 75,447 miles
While driving home from work the car shuttered and cut off after having stopped for a light. This happened when I press the exhilarator to continue on. I put the car in park applied my foot to the break and restarted the car. Every time I would drive to put the car in gear it would cut off. It kept doing this over and over. Local police came and with the help of a good samaritan pushed my car off the road to a safe place. I had to have my car towed to the dealer where they were unable to duplicate the problem and said that the diagnostic computer test did not show any codes for the problem. They ended up updating the transmission module and said they hoped this would fix the problem. The problem continues to occur and I have had to avoid stopping at lights due to the car wanting to cut off. This seems to be a problem that other Nissan car owners are also facing. This is a very dangerous situation to be in due to the fact that you never know when you will be stranded in the middle of a street whether it be interstate stop and go traffic or normal city street traffic. Once the car stalls it's no way to start it and put it in gear to drive without it stalling again and again. Nissan owners need a recall

- Columbiana, AL, USA

problem #254

Jun 042018

Altima

  • 160,000 miles
I bought my car brand new with only 113 miles on it. I have sense put 160K highway miles on it but have had no issues until now because I get it serviced regularly. I was driving to work last week and at 30-45 mph the rpms started jumping between 1K and 2K. Once I got past 60 mph this stopped but eventually my car would stutter and stall at traffic lights making it dangerous if turning in front of traffic or coming through intersections. I took it in immediately for diagnostics and was told I needed a new transmission and since my warranty was out I would need to pay $4500 out of pocket. I got a second opinion and I was told by the dealership I service it at that it was my fault because I didn't have the transmission flushed when they told me to, yet there is nothing in the owners manual stating this is a requirement, only a recommendation by the dealer. As shady as dealerships are these days of course I didn't have it done because I assumed they were charging me for something unnecessarily. I spoke with a mechanic friend of mine and he said the transmission flush would have done nothing to prevent my transmission fail. What is even worse is that no warning lights came on and my dash looked the same as it always does, the only lights that came on were my battery and brake lights when my car shut off at a traffic light, but it started right back up after that. I have asked for assistance from Nissan and have been denied even though I have serviced my car with the dealer even after my warranty expired. There are 4 other people in my family that own Nissan but apparently that means nothing to this company. Needless to say if I can get this thing traded in on a Honda I will never purchase a Nissan again! also, just do a google search of problems with Nissan Altima. The results are staggering.

- Bladenboro, NC, USA

problem #253

Jun 122018

Altima

  • 0 miles
The car shut off when I was driving. Very dangerous because no brakes no sterling.

- West Palm Beach, FL, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »