I bought the car in Feb of this yr, fell in love with the car the first time I saw it and decided I had to have it. Initially the car was great, drove great, had great pick up, no problems with the transmission at all. By August it started the jerking, only sometimes, not a continuous thing, then with in a couple of weeks it gradually got worse. From park to drive or reverse to drive it hesitated and then would jerk to the point of whiplash. Now it does it while driving, if I let off the gas and then hit the gas again, it will downshift while driving, and then sometimes not move at all. If there are so many problems with this yr Maxima why is nothing being done?

This is not an inexpensive car to purchase, nor is it an inexpensive car to repair. This issue should be a recall and the owners should not be responsible for a manufacturer problem. Does Nissan not realize they will lose potential long term customers by refusing to fix a problem that is clearly a manufacturing error.

A family friend has a bronze Nissan Maxima exactly the same as mine. He had to make repairs to his Maxima $3000.00 worth.The car jerks during acceleration and hesitates to change. The car is fine whenever your driving straight but short stops are very awful sometimes. I prayed that I wouldn't have this same problem. Guess what I do. He advised me that all 05 Nissan Maximas are doing the same thing. I am going to get it repaired but not by Nissan of course the car is out of warranty by now.This should definitely be considered a recall with everyone having the same exact problems.Please keep me posted once something prosperous is done about this injustice. Thanks!

Update from Feb 22, 2012: Well needless to say I had to replace my transmission and my car now runs great. I did not go to the Nissan dealership. A class mate has his own shop. He use to work for Nissan and does repairs on them perfectly well. Will Nissan ever pay us back for this? They suck so bad!

I purchased this 2005 Maxima for $8000.00 with no warranty. I paid this price because it had a good report from CarFax,It looks like new,and I road tested it.The problem is that unless the car runs long enough to really get warmed up,the transmission does good enough that you don't notice it.But after purchasing it AS-IS and driving twenty minutes home, it felt and sound like the transmission was coming out! I took it to a Nissan dealer only to be told that the repairs would be about $3600.00.I talked with a Nissan trans.technician that I know very well,and was told that they were having big problems with transmissions in 2004-2006 Maxima's and the 2004-2006 Altima 3.5 .

Nissan knows they have a defective Valve Body in these vehicles and should offer some help to those of us who support them! This is the six'h Nissan I have owned.

I also had problem with nissan maxima transmission, at first after calling 1800nissan I was told nissan would help me since my car was just out of warranty. Three weeks later after not hearing from anybody I called nissan and was told person handling case was out of office indefinitely! One week later was called by nissan agent that said they could not help me even though they were aware of numerous cases of transmission problems, I told agent that I would never buy another Nissan product again as long as live, she said "I don't blame you" then said sorry and hung up! I than PURCHASED AN EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR $ 2700.00 had transmission repaired, rides good now but still not as good when first purchased. I have contacted lawyer in Pennsylvania who is handling class action lawsuit against Nissan North America if anyone interested his number is (610)642-8500 just called today and left my info hopefully Nissan will be brought to justice for not recalling this negligent transmission costing many people to be stuck with payments trans bills on top of this! Nissan if this is how you treat your customers, I hope u go out of business!

Re: 2005 Nissan Maxima transmission: On or around May 2011, my vehicle started to exhibit a bit of "surging" while traveling in freeway stop-and-go traffic. Recently, the surging has been replaced with hard shifting and slipping. The trans seems to be searching for the correct gear to shift into whether it was shifting up or shifting down, but at high cruising speeds, the transmission runs just fine. In reading the comments of so many other victims of the same problem, I realize that I too, am stuck with this problem. Nissan, "man-up and take care of your customers!!" Don't jerk us around like Toyota initially did with their acceleration problems. Look what happened to them! Are you going to let the Korean manufacturers (Hyundai and KIA) grab your market share that you are about to lose? They are poised to do just that with pretty nice looking cars that are reasonable and come with a 10 yr./100,000 mi. warranty. It would be a shame if they came along and kicked your ass just because you fail to realize the value in your customers. After all, we all bought Nissans for a good reason didn'tt we?

Nissan dealership did not diagnose the car correctly. Said nothing was wrong with the car. Took it back multiple times and finally they said the transmission was bad. Wanted to charge me $3,500 to repair. I took the car to a NON Nissan transmission repair shop and they said they have seen many Nissan's with the same erratic shifting issue. Said its a defective valve body. Cost me $1,400 instead of the cost Nissan wanted to charge ($3,500). Totally a rip off by Nissan. I filed a complaint with Nissan Consumer Affairs. They said they would give me $500 towards a refurbished tranny. What a joke. The transmissions are defective! They need to recall and own up to the problem instead of treating their customers like crap!

I'll never buy another Nissan product...PERIOD!

I purchased a 2005 Nissan Maxima SE new in February 2005. In 2010 my Maxima began having stalling and jerking problems. I am convinced that this is a problem in Nissans manufacturing of this transmission, I have owned other Nissans and have not had this issue. When driving my Maxima, during acceleration, my car stalls and then jerks as it changes gears, sometimes the jerks are mild but often it is extreme and hurts, my 3 yr old often ask me why my car is doing that. I am fearful that my car will stall or jerk and it will cause an auto accident. I believe there has been enough incidents of this same issue that Nissan should take this problem seriously.

I have never had a problem with my first Maxima I owned in the 90's so was comfortable paying CASH for a used 2005. When the problem started I researched the car on the internet. Contacted everyone and their momma but no help from Nissan. WOW I am dumbfounded that transmission was not recalled!! Nissan you should be ashamed of yourself for making us hard working "customers" pay to fix your mistake!!! $3000.00 later and a complaint to the BBB, hopefully I can get some relief!

People FILE TO THE BBB, SO WE CAN BE HEARD!! THIS IS DEFINITELY A LEMON!!!

The transmission operation on this vehicle is slowly deteriorating. It started this past winter. I was driving around 10 mph and as I accelerated slightly the engine began to race. I thought I had hit an ice patch and the tires lost grip. Then it started happening more regularly. When shifting from first to second the engine would race with no increase in speed. The shift from second to third also began to act funny. Then occasionally a slight jolt began to accompany these gear changes. The jolts also began when shifting to and from reverse. These jolts at this point in time are occasional but they can be somewhat violent. The transmission has been serviced twice in the last six months. The most recent service only helped for a day or two.

My car has 48,500 miles and bought it brand new,when had 45,000 I start noticing the jerking between 1st gear and 2nd,my mechanic told me that was a lots of problems with the trans. and I should take it to the dealer because they want a happy customer,well the first thing that I did was call nissan usa and explain to them,the first thing that they told me that I have to take the car to an authorized dealer for them to file a complaint,well I took it to the dealer and paid 105.00 to tell me what I knew that I have a trans. problem.I call back and file a complaint and after an investigation and the dealer saying that I need a new trans.for $4,200.00 they said that it's nothing they can do because my warranty expired. I kept using the car and the jerking was getting worse until last week that the engine light came on. After my mechanic diagnosed with the computer that I need to replace a solenoid and reprogram the trans.To replace the solenoid was $1450.00 plus I had to replace two engine mounts because of the jerking and the total was $1950.00. I love my car and had not replace the factory tires yet but I had to spend almost 2000.00 to have my car running well. It's only been couple days but the car it's running well. I know that is a lots of complaints about this and I will try to pursue this so I may get my money back since I had to repair it and selling it wasn't an option,one thing that I assure you I won't own another nissan.

I just purchased an 05 nissan maxima sl. First of all, the next day after the purchase I noticed the transmission was jerking bad and revving between 3rd and 4th gears. I love the car but I started looking up this online and found this page. It looks like others have the same problem as me. Its a shame I didn't look this car up before purchase and did my research. But oh well, I got it now. I'm hoping my extended warranty will cover this. It sucks my car is only about a week old since purchase and already problems. I'm sure the previous owner traded it in cause of this problem and now Im stuck with it. And also in debt up to my neck with a lemon car. NISSAN should be ashamed of this and step up to the plate and take care of maxima car owners. But that's my two cents. Best just to laugh it off - what goes around comes around ha ha ha ha...

I am so disappointed to find out that I have to replace my transmission when there are thousands of complaints about the 2004 and 2005 Nissan Maximas with transmission problems AND Nissan Motor Manufacturing will not do anything about it or place a recall. With the economy as bad as it is, Nissan needs to step up and do the right thing. Mine has gotten so bad it is stalling, and I am afraid that I will have an accident. The transmission keeps stalling and jerking really hard while shifting between 2nd and 3rd and again while slowing down. It scares me to drive it, but can't afford to get it fixed. Been a Nissan owner since 1996 but will change to a different company soon.