10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 3 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 4 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 90,422 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.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
My 2004 Nissan jerks at shifting speed of 15-23 mile per hr.
- Federal Way, WA, USA
Transmission failure - I was driving my vehicle on the highway with my 1 year old child when all of a sudden the transmission slipped and failed. I went from doing 50 to 5 on the highway in front of an 18 wheeler. Luckily I am a good driver and used my senses to pull over as quickly and safely as possible.
- Clinton, MD, USA
Transmission slips then bangs hard into gear. Also transmission get stuck in high gear. Just prior to the car getting stuck in high gear, the car stalls no matter what speed your going. When you restart the car, you are stuck in high gear. No other gears work.
- Kings Park, NY, USA
About 2 years ago while driving the transmission would down shift to second or first gear, which would rev out the motor. Sometimes it would jerk harshly back into gear. I replaced a sensor on the transmission and somewhat solved the problem. Now its worst than it was before, I basically drove 10 minutes at 20 mph on first gear. I hope it can be fixed this time.
- Pemberton, NJ, USA
Car have a hard jerk when shifting. Also when slowing down and trying to accelerate my car jerk real hard like someone kicked me from behind.
- Oklahoma City, OK, USA
The 2004 Nissan Maxima suffers from a common issue within the transmission. The valve body causes premature transmission failure within these cars. This results in sudden hard jerking / delayed shifting when changing gears in their automatic transmission. This means loss of control occurs when the transmission finally catches itself since the car will continue to rev higher than normal. Overtime the car will experience slow acceleration, due to the car being thrown into a safety mode unexpectedly which keeps the car in a "5th" gear state. Also, because of the codes this faulty part will throw, a vehicle with this transmission will not pass certain state emissions. Repairs are upwards to thousands of dollars, and unfortunately replacing it with the same part will only be a temporary fix. This is a major safety concern because it dramatically reduces the response time, and puts the driver at serious risk.
- Gilbert, AZ, USA
Transmission problems causes car to jerk very badly, acts as tho it does not want to go. Pulling off you will have to make sure no cars are coming at all because if you just go, you're likely to be hit.
- Montgomery, AL, USA
Transmission slipping almost ran into another car. This is a major problem I see after doing online research.
- London, OH, USA
I am the owner of a 2004 Nissan Maxima w/124,000 miles. I have been experiencing transmission problems since around 115,000 mile. It seems liken there has been a plethora of the same complaints with these transmissions. Can someone please explain to me why there has not been a recall on the vehicles?
- Virginia Beach, VA, USA
The car is jerking is while driving. It is also revving while driving.
- Sicklerville, NJ, USA
Car jerks when going from first to second gear. Sometimes it won't go at all. Accident waiting to happen.
- Cumberland , MD, USA
As I was driving my 2004 Nissan Maxima the car started to jerk. I would be driving and when I come to a stop and start again the car would jerk really hard. I have taken the car for repair and I was told that it is a problem with the transmission. This jerking is very scary and it's not getting better just worst and now I'm thinking it's time to find a new car. The body of the car and everything is fine but just jerking that I get when I drive the car is really concerning.
- Richmond, VA, USA
The automatic transmission began to slip at about 63,000 miles. It continues to get worse and occasionally delays in engaging in drive especially after shifting out of reverse. From what I have read this is a common problem that Nissan refuses to address and may result in transmission failure.
- Colorado Springs, CO, USA
When driving the car, it slams into 2nd gear and/or hesitates shifting into it. When idle and shifting from reverse to drive or from drive to reverse, there is a 2-3 delay and the car jerks and slams into that gear. The jerk is aggressive and can cause in injury. The car does not shift smoothly and constantly jerks and slams into gear. After having the vehicle diagnosed, they mechanics say it will either need a new valve body or new transmission on a car with 112K miles on it. This is a common issue for 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima owners and is very dangerous and expensive.
- Long Beach, CA, USA
Went to stop at a stop sign car started to pound when I went to leave the stop sign car moved but very hard. The transmission has problems the started out of the blue no warning its even stalled my car and left me stranded. There has been tons of complaints about this. When I called the Nissan company they said take to a Nissan dealer to look at it and let them know. You have to pay for diagnostics then they tell you sorry they cant help this should be a recall because there are so many complaints and its a horrible expense a used rebuilt is 3000 dollars it horrible. So I have this car in beautiful shape that just sits cause I cant pay to fix it.
- Geneva, NY, USA
Whenever I shift to reverse the car pauses and then jerks, same jerk behavior happens whenever I shift from reverse to drive. Sometimes when I am driving I can feel the car hesitating when switching gears. I have been told the transmission is going bad.
- Upper Marlboro, MD, USA
Taking off from intersection car shifts erratically. Sometime it will slip in intersections and cause safety issues. Slips, shifts erratically on highway as well.
- Fredonia, KS, USA
In 2012 my 2004 Nissan Maxima would not change gears properly. It would jerk, idle up, and take a while to change gears. The transmission was replaced by a Nissan dealership in 2012 for $3,725.64. Since having my transmission replaced, I spoke to about 5 owners of a 2004 Nissan Maxima that I met at the gas station or grocery store parking lot who told me they had the same issue and had the transmission replaced. There are tons of complaints on line. Apparently, there is an issue with the Nissan transmission but Nissan is not taking responsibility. Please help us in this effort to investigate and receive reimbursement for the transmission problems. Thank you very much
- Glen Allen, VA, USA
My 2004 Maxima is hesitating to shift an im disable living on 700 dollars a month. My daughter is in college driving this car in traffic an im afraid she is going to get hurt making left turns in this car. There have been close calls with me driving it, but I live in South ga. Where people are more sensible toward others. This is a serious problem an someone is going to get killed from these faulty transmission. I have to get a used transmission under 1500 dollars that I had to borrow to keep my child safe. Nissan should be held countable for this. I paid 19000 dollars for this car and your screw up is costing me to put a 2002-2003 transmission in my car. The transmission shops in albany ga. Are thanking Nissan for their 2500-3000 contributions that the 2004-2005 Maxima owners are spending with them and my transmission owner made this statement to me. Aatco transmission of albany who states he has redone so many valve bodies on these cars. I guess some actions will be taken when people that does not has the fundings to fix this problem themselves. I had to drive my car like this until I found the money an it broke all my motor mounts from the jerking and hard shifting.
- Newton, GA, USA
- Reston, VA, USA