I was driving home from a weekend shore vacation with 2 of my children in my 2006 Nissan Pathfinder. Approximately 45 minutes into the drive on Route 1 in DE, the vehicle abruptly 'jumped' and then slipped out of gear. I was on a highway at this time. Luckily, I was able to coast into the right lane and then pull to the side of the road. If not, we could have been hist by any of the vehicles that were behind us. For a brief time, I was able to get the vehicle to slowly drive in 1st gear and then pulled into a parking lot of a gas station/convenience store. I couldn't get it to go back into drive after that point. We then had to wait 2 1/2 hours to be picked up by my husband. The car was towed to a local shop and diagnosed as needing a new transmission. The repair quite was extremely high, so we opted to have the vehicle towed back to our town of residence to a local transmission shop. The shop indicated that they have seen this problem many times in 2005-2007 Nissan Pathfinders. The radiator cracks, and the coolant leaks into the transmission, which ends up destroying the transmission. This appears to be a known defect. $6000 later, I now have a repaired vehicle. Nissan needs to issue a recall and fix these known issues. They also need to reimburse customers who have experienced these issues and have had to pay for the repairs out of pocket

Just want to say that this is a really horrible situation. We just noticed the milky fluids in the radiator a short while ago, since then, the tranny fluid is now milky as well and the transmission is beginning to shift hard. The car is completely shutting off while in Drive, and it shakes violently like you are running over bump strips on the side of the highway. The dealership (Gates Nissan) acted as though there were no known problems with the cooling unit in the radiator. I got online directly after that and saw that other people have had this same problem for a long time. I find it hard to believe that they had no knowledge of the faulty parts. We have contacted Nissan, but I have doubts as to whether they will do anything for us. The cost of replacing the transmission and radiator was quoted to us yesterday as $8,000. This is just horrible.

Purchased vehicle with 79000 miles was never told about 80000 mile warranty 83000 noticed jerking while driving over 60 mph researched cause sure enough antifreeze in transmission $700 dollars later for transmission flush and new radiator. Transmission failure 100 miles later. Nissan has no interest with helping out or solving this problem they acted like I was the first one to have this problem and told me there was nothing they could do but fix the old transmission for another $5500. THEY SEEM to have a nice scam going sell you a defective product and charge you up the @$$ to fix it!

My car was running fairly well,seemed to be going along well,like most Japanese cars,or Jeeps I have had in the past ! I kept regular oil changes on the car,and out of he 5 years I have had the car, I HAVE HAD LIMITED problems with the car beyond brake and a tuneup ! This time, I was going to pickup my daughter and her friends at 6 flaggs amusement park in Atlanta ! While in route,I had picked up speed to about 75 miles an hour,and the car light came on stating the words slip slip,and cutoff on a major highway ! I was able to get over to the side of the road without anybody hittin g my car ! I attempted to start the car again,and it did start right up ! I was able to pickup my daughter,and her frends,but I could only travel no faster than 60 miles an hour ! The next day it drove fne,however when I took my car to a repair shop,the mechanic stated that I do have a tansmission problem,that has to be addressed ! I have never had a problem with anyother Japanese car I hAave had,which spans a priod of 30 or more years ! In this economy,who has 3 to 5 thousand $ to come out with for a car repair ! Please let me know !

Monday July 23rd evening while shopping with the kids to go back to school, my Nissan Pathfinder started acting up, it felt like the transmission was slipping. I turned the car off and on and that felt to have resolved the problem momentarily. While crossing a busy intersection in Orlando, the car failed and it woudn't move. Needless to say, this was very scary due to upcoming traffic and I'm stuck in the middle of the intersection and my two kids in the car....

The vehicle finally moved,

the very next morning, I bring it to the shop and the technician at the Nissan dealer said that there is coolant in the transmission and it has caused a complete transmission failure. The vehicle requires a new transmission and radiator, and perhaps other parts that could have been damaged by the coolant. Estimated cost $8500.00.

I bought the car brand new in 2006, paid cash for it with an extended warranty up to 100,000 miles with the intention to keep this vehicle for at least 10 years. I have every record of the maintenance I am very upset to hear how many people have had this issue and that Nissan have done nothing about it.

I found the following website about a class action lawsuit against Nissan on this same defect, I hope those of you who are experiencing the same issue, visit the website and add your information, so this problem doesn't go unresolved by such a big corporation.

http://www.transmission-lawsuit.com/

NISSAN SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR KNOWING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM WITH THE RADIATOR GOING BAD WHICH MAKES THE TRANSMISSION BAD. THE REASON IS COOLANT LEAKS FROM INSIDE THE RADIATOR TO YOUR COOLER LINES THAT KEEP YOUR TRANSMISSION FLUID COOL. COOLANT GOES INSIDE YOUR TRANSMISSION AND MIXES WITH TRANSMISSION FLUID CAUSING TRANSMISSION SLIPAGE. NOW YOU NEED TO REPLACE YOUR RADIATOR AND YOUR TRANSMISSION. $4,000.00 LATER. ALL NISSAN HAD TO DO IS SEND EVERYBODY A LETTER SAYING WE KNOW THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE RADIATOR WHICH WILL LEAD TO A TRANSMISSION FAILURE. PLEASE REPLACE YOUR RADIATOR BEFORE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR TRANSMISSION. ITS THAT EASY BUT NO WE ARE STUCK PAYING FOR A NEW RADIATOR AND A REBUILD TRANSMISSION. THAT BULL SH T

APPARENTLY THIS IS A COMMON ISSUE AND THERE'S A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT AGAINST NISSAN. WHAT'S SAD IS I'VE HAD 9 NISSAN'S IN MY LIFE AND WAS (UNDERSCORE) WAS A DEVOTE NISSAN FAN. THEIR HANDLING OF THIS MATTER IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION WHEN ALL THEY NEEDED TO DO WAS FIX THE PROBLEM AT SOME SORT OF DISCOUNT. I'LL PROBABLY NEVER BUY ANOTHER NISSAN. SAD AS THE OTHERS WERE GOOD BUT IT ONLY TAKES ONE BAD (UNDERSCORE) BAD APPLE TO RUIN THE BUNCH. PERHAPS SOMEONE AT NISSAN SHOULD READ THEIR REPUTATION IS BEING DESTROYED. BUY FORD NEXT TIME.!!!!!

I recently purchased a used 2006 Nissan Pathfinder, I usually would not have purchased a foreign vehicle but a lot of people I know were saying what a great product Nissan had. But to my dismay I have found it to be a very expensive piece of junk. I have had the vehicle for 3 months, I paid $16,877.00 for it, it had 91,545 miles on it when I purchased it and I travel 130 miles a day to and from work. I had mentioned to the dealer that I thought that that may be too many miles, he said oh no! Nissans are known to go 250,000 miles or better. I have taken very good care of my vehicles as they are my main mode of transportation. Last week end I was on my way home from CT to MA when all of a sudden I experienced an awful vibration while driving down the interstate, I pulled over and shut the vehicle off and then started it back up again, it seem to be running fine until I tried to move it, it then started to vibrate and shake again. I called my brother who is a mechanic and he came and picked me up and towed the vehicle back to his place on a car trailer. He jacked the vehicle up and saw that the transmission appears to be wet. He then opened the dip stick tube to check the fluid and found the transmission to be full of anti-freeze. I called the dealer and they said they could not do anything because a used car warranty is 1200 miles or 1 month. I was really getting aggravated so I started to search the symptoms on the web, only to find that I am not the only one with this issue, it appears to be a design flaw with the 2006 Nissan Pathfinders and Nissan has not done a recall on them, although they did extend the warranty for the radiator assembly and transmission from 36 months/36,000 miles to 96 months/80,000 miles, including damage, repairs, replacement, and related towing resulting from this issue if you purchase the vehicle new. So this reinforces that they are aware of the issue and that they should recall or make good for the problem.

I contacted Nissan Assist and they informed me that there was an issue and that they were aware, I explained that I purchased the vehicle from a dealer and that it was over the warranty mileage and they stated that Nissan may assist me anyways where I had just purchased the vehicle, and that I needed to get the problem diagnosed by a Nissan dealer and the call consumer affairs with the estimate, and they gave me a case number of 7180191. So I did as I was told hoping that Nissan would stand behind their product and assist me. I towed the vehicle to Bertera Nissan in Auburn, Ma. Where they gave me an estimate of $6360.58 to do the repairs, the service person said that this was a common problem and that they would be replacing the transmission and the radiator. I called consumer affairs and gave them the estimate and they said that a regional specialist would contact me within a day; she called me today and said that they would not do anything and that I would have to figure out how to get it repaired on my own.

I think that this is very bad PR on Nissan’s part, I know that I would not by your product ever again after only owning one of your vehicles for only 3 months.

Like many others I experienced the same transmission failure due to the faulty radiator problem that has been reported previously. The local Nissan Dealer estimated the cost to be approximately $7,000 NZ Dollars. When the vehicle was dismantled they found that transmission oil had contaminated all engine hoses, which included radiator and other auxiliary hoses. His advice was it would be necessary to replace all rubber units. Had I been advised of this radiator problem it would have been sensible to retrofit an independent transmission cooling system at an approximately cost of $500 NZ Dollars. To be advised of the problem by Nissan they would have saved me a great amount of money. I have owned Nissan Vehicles since mid 1960's and have in fact had approximately 12 units. I am going to approach Nissan NZ and trust that they will understand my complaint and be forthcoming with some compensation for this rather large expense on what is supposed to be a premier type vehicle. Total cost of repairs in NZ Dollars was $13,837.05 this did include a 15% TAX

I am tired of going off...it won't get the car fixed....and it does not get Nissan's attention. This is a defective part (latent defect), Nissan knows it. The crazy thing is that when I called Nissan...as soon as I explained the problem (out of warranty), they didn't ask any questions other than to ask how many Nissans had we owned. They sent me on a VIN # chase. I found 5 Nissans in 28 years...(in those years we had a Nissan in the driveway except for 4 1/2 years). My complaint was sent to their corporate office. The verdict was delivered on the 22nd of Aug. Sorry, Nissan is not going to assist! I was told our 'loyalty' was not sufficient, and I was out of warranty. I asked the Nissan regional rep several questions; she would not answer any of them. At the end, she advised two very important bits of info: 1. she was only telling me what she had been directed to say...and 2. The radiator/transmission issue was not a problem that exceeds 'normal' complaints. I kinda feel bad for her...she must hate her job. The other funny thing...on one of my subsequent calls back to her after the initial complaint and the 'verdict' call...I asked if she had worked these specific issues and she advised...she had worked 'several'. A couple days later...she advised (as noted above) that problem does not exceed 'normal' complaints. My of my...how the tide turns.

These people are absolute crooks, if not downright in a conspirator relationship with their subcontractor for accepting the defective parts and then passing the parts off to the public. I will be taking a legal action against Nissan either by myself, or join (what I counted today on the net) to be at least 4 civil suits. Just looking for one in Texas... and ya don't mess with Texas.

.

Update from Sep 1, 2011: Found a new class action suit in Texas......just getting started.

Recently, my 2006 Nissan Pathfinder started to "stutter" or have problems in automatic shifting. I tend to research everything so, I researched the potential problem online to see what it could be to have a ballpark estimate of the unplanned cost to repair. I have only had this vehicle for a little over a year. I quickly learned across many, many forums that other Nissan Pathfinder, Frontier, and Xterra vehicles have also been affected by this stutter. As I researched further, I also quickly learned that Nissan installed a batch of faulty radiators in these vehicles. The model years potentially affected are 2005-2010. Generally, the faulty radiators are found to crack around 85k miles on these vehicles leading to coolant leaking into the transmission fluid. The transmission then quickly fails and the vehicle is extremely damaged and both the radiator and transmission must be replaced.

Nissan is fully aware of the faulty radiators being installed. They have records of the VIN numbers of these vehicles affected. Nissan extended the warranty on the radiator assembly to 96 months/80,000 miles (whichever occurs first) and to date, has done nothing about the transmission damage. If you are under the mileage stated (and not over by even one mile) they will reimburse you (not pay for) the radiator repair. Since those of us that were affected already know that the radiators usually don't crack/leak until around/near 85k miles, this extended warranty does not help most. My husband and spent our 10th wedding anniversary being miserable over this issue with my car. We called Consumer Affairs at Nissan. The first live person we spoke to seemed nice and even stated that we shouldn't have to pay for the repairs of the known faulty radiator or the transmission however, since we are at 89k miles, the Regional Manager at Nissan said that we are on our own with this problem and they are not going to pay. This was AFTER we gave them the requested information like our current miles and our VIN number. They also insisted that we get an estimate for repair from a certified Nissan dealer. We asked about not having any notice on this and why no recall has been issued. The regional manager stated that this issue is not a safety recall, and there are no safety issues relating to the radiator assembly. The more we inquired, the more we were told "I cannot answer that."

We have read numerous forum posts from others stating that their Nissan vehicle was affected and upon driving their vehicle (even on the interstate) that the vehicle just stopped while driving it. A mother spoke of driving hers on the interstate with her children in the vehicle, it had the same issue and just quit while driving it. She was almost rear-ended by a tractor trailer truck. How is that not reason for a safety recall?! I can only assume at this point that someone has to die before this will be seen as a major, major problem.

If Nissan cares about their customers at all, they would recall the radiators and fix the transmissions without an 80k cap. It is not the customer's fault (like us) that the vehicle lasted beyond the 80k miles. Again, they know that the problem usually doesn't arise until around 85k miles. The faulty radiators were installed, they know it, they admitted it, but yet there's a cap on the miles. Some have filed class-action lawsuits and everyone needs to do their part and complain and file suits. We had an estimate on repair at $5,500. Since this is no fault of ours, this is not right. We don't have the financial ability to pay for these repairs that Nissan is responsible for. Nissan, do something for the families affected before someone dies in one of these vehicles! My Pathfinder sits in my driveway while I am making payments on it. Since I have only had it a year, it's almost too much to digest. My husband takes me to work and back because of this. We really need two vehicles! Because of the severity of the problem, we cannot trade it either. We will eventually have to take out a loan to get it repaired. With a large family, that will cause a lasting burden!