2015 Nissan Pathfinder Power Train
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a loud sound coming from the front of the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that a family member had driven the vehicle and informed the contact that the vehicle was experiencing a transmission failure. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 81,954.
The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jerked and vibrated, causing the steering wheel to lock up. The contact used force to maneuver the steering wheel. The contact was unsure if any warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. A mobile mechanic arrived at the residence and inspected the vehicle. The contact was informed that the CVT transmission had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred, and the contact parked the vehicle. The vehicle was no longer driven due to safety concerns. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
I bought a vehicle from Woods Nissan in Lees Summit, MO, on [XXX], 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. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
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!!
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 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 contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact stated that when making a turn, the contact noticed a rumbling noise. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed electronic coupler. The contact was informed that the electronic coupler needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact was informed of a Technical Service Bulletin which had a similar failure description, Technical Service Bulletin NTB10-029E, however, the contact was informed that the repair was not eligible for coverage under Technical Service Bulletin NTB10-029E. The failure mileage was 40,000.
The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving at various speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that upon depressing the accelerator pedal for an extended period of the time, the vehicle responded as needed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer provided an estimate for the repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer informed the contact that there would be no assistance provided in covering the repair cost. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
I own a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder with a CVT transmission that has gone out. I bought the vehicle used in October 2022. Obviously this class action lawsuit and claim deadline had already passed - when I bought the car and until my transmission failed, I had no idea about the problems or the lawsuit. Therefore I have never opted out or into the lawsuit because I did not even own the car yet. The vehicle only has 55,000 miles. It's within the original 60,000 mile warranty, but Nissan refused to cover it because the 60 month warranty expired in May 2023. I've raised a case with Nissan Consumer Affairs to no avail. Nissan Cedar Park dealership where it's at has confirmed the transmission failure through no fault of our own. What recourse do I have? I have seen your CAMPAIGN BULLETIN: CVT Warranty Extension Reference: CVT Date: August 30, 2022 It seems to me clearly from that, that Nissan's CVT warranty for my vehicle has been extended and should be covered. How do I pursue getting them to make these warranty repairs? Can you help?
The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle jerked and hesitated to respond. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred while driving from a complete stop. An unknown dealer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the CarMax where the vehicle was purchased. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 121,320.
Significant knocking from front of vehicle. Took to mechanic and had front transfer case replaced due to metal breaking off assembly. Could have caused failure while driving.
Transmisson is stuttering. Check engine light was on when i had it read came back as CVT leak. Vehicle only has 107,000 miles on it.
When driving for any period of time over a half hour the vehicle will cut power and stop the vehicle. I was turning left at a busy intersection, hit the gas to go and the vehicle lost power and I rolled into the intersection. I could not go forward because the transmission was dead. Nissans solution is a transmission software update. They said it was repaired and after I left the dealership, 40 mins into the drive the vehicle quit at 55mph. This is incredibly dangerous and Nissan is fully aware of the defective CVT transmission they've engineered. Someone needs to stop them before people start dying.
On my way to the emissions test site, I was approaching an intersection that was controlled by a stop sign. As I approached this stop sign, I applied the brakes. My vehicle kept traveling into the intersection. The brakes did not stop the car I went out into the middle of the intersection, crossing one lane of oncoming traffic and into the 2nd lane of traffic and stopped about one foot from an oncoming vehicle. Upon this incident, I drove the vehicle home and tried to figure out what happened. The car drove home okay. Reviewed Recent service visits: December 2021 we had the car in the shop for a bearing was bad in the cooling fan and causing it to hit the shroud; March of 2022 service visit, brakes were flushed; September 2022 in for service found out a rear brake job was needed. As a result of the incident I drove the vehicle to the dealer again - they put it through the diagnostic tool - and the code came up for that the transmission was gone and to drive it any further it would be a death trap. The vehicle needed a brand new transmission. Researching the Nissan Pathfinder year 2015-there is a known defect in the transmission. As a result of a class action suit the warranty was increased to 7 yrs or 84,000 miles. This Nissan Pathfinder has 75,000 miles and was 46 days past the 7 year mark. The dealer could do nothing for me - charged thousands to replace the transmission. And now, all those identified Nissan Pathfinders, Nissan Rogues and certain model Infinitis are still on the road. It was fate that this did not end in a horrific incident for me or those I could have come in contact with. #1 - these vehicles need to be removed from the road and in my case the transmission should have been replaced by a recall. Why wasn't this a recall, who settled a class action suit and left the "death trap vehicles" on the road? (I do not have the invoice for the repair yet, will pick up vehicle tomorrow and forward the invoice to you.
Purchased my vehicle new not long after (less than 200 miles) I started having a jerking (which felt to be in the transmission) at the speed of 20-25 mph. I literally would have to let up off the fuel to make it stop. Give it fuel again making sure I go past the 20-25 mph (which isn't good in school zones) I have had it to the Nissan Dealer 3x for this problem and was told that "Nothing" showed up on the Diagnostic Test. I haven't taken it back since. I was approached by an individual who owned a 2012 Pathfinder and he asked me if I had any problem with my car at the speed of 20-25mph? I said yes and what a conversation we had. My car currently has 27,775 actual miles, I'm to nervous to drive it on a long distance from home! With the jerking and I know it has something to do with the transmission (overhauled motors back in the day) there's No Way I'm going to be left stranded. It's quite a shame really I spent all that money (paid in full) and I'm unable to use my car for a long trip due to fear of becoming stranded because of a Manu. BooBoo
Shuttering occurs upon acceleration from a stop and loss of power. Intermittent stalling an extreme loss of power.
We bought this Nissan Pathfinder SV model with 4-wheel drive brand new in 2015. This model supposed to have had an upgraded Continuously Variable transmission (CVT). It is meticulously maintained. In 2020 at 70,000 miles the CVT oil was changed by the Nissan dealer. The dealer said that there was nothing abnormal with the car and it was doing well. About year later at around 80,000 miles, car started to sporadically shudder and loose power when cruising at a low speed and when trying to accelerate or go up a hill with slow speeds. There was no check engine light, or any other indicators that there was a problem. We took it to the Nissan dealer and the dealer ran diagnostics. They charged us $129.95 for an hour of troubleshooting and give us a report that the car has a code P17F1 - the CVT Judder. This indicates that there is a problem with the CVT steel belt or the CVT valve body. According to Nissan these problems can not be repaired. The only fix is transmission replacement at the cost of $6,042.76. This car is few months after the warranty expired. We are another family victimized by Nissan who knows that they have problems with their CVT and they keep selling bad vehicles.
Vehicle started hesitation between 20 and 30 mph. Took to Nissan of Wood River and paid for diagnostic test and came back with code to replace transmission. Vehicle could have broke down on highway. Took to transmission shop, they verified and replaced transmission at 127k miles. There were never any warning lights or messages that appeared.. cost over $4500.00 for replacement. Nissan is aware of the CVT transmission problems and should recall.
Car stuffers at low speeds and looses power when shifting from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 at times.
AS YOU ARE DRIVING THE CAR LOOSES POWER, IT HAPPENS RANDOMLY WHEN DRIVING, TURNING CORNERS , GOING UP HILLS HAVE TO PUMP THE GAS TO MAKE IT GO ALSO HAVE TO PUT THE GAS PEDAL TO THE FLOOR GOING UP HILL AND AT TIMES ON STRAIGHT ROAD.THE DEALER SCANNED IT WAS THE CVT TRANSMISSION. WE REPLACED IT AND STILL HAVING THE PROBLEM, NISSAN IS AWARE THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH NISSAN TRANSMISSIONS HOPEFULLY YOU CAN LOOK INTO THIS IT IS A SAFETY HAZARD ON THE ROAD, HOPEFULLY SOMEONE ISN'T HURT OR KILLED OVER THIS PROBLEM. THEY REPLACED THE TRANSMISSION $5000 COST TO US AND THE PROBLEM STILL IS NOT FIXED, I HAVE DOCUMENTS TO SHOW WHAT THEY REPLACED BUT DO NOT HAVE ANYWAY TO GET THESE TO YOU,IF YOU HAVE A FAX NUMBER WE CAN FAX THEM TO YOU. WOULD APPRECIATE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP, THANK YOU. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
GOOD DAY. SINCE THE 1ST DAY OF PURCHASING THIS VEHICLE I WAS EXPERIENCING ISSUES WITH TRANSMISSION LIKE HESITATION, JERKING / SHUDDERING / SHAKING AND ABNORMAL WHINING NOISE WHILE DRIVING AT LOW SPEEDS. I WAS NOT AWARE ABOUT NISSAN'S MAJOR CVT ISSUES UNTIL RECENTLY. VEHICLE'S BRAKING IS AFFECTED BECAUSE OF THIS ABNORMAL TRANSMISSION'S OPERATION AS THE VEHICLE DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY STOP AS NEEDED OR REQUESTED INSTEAD OFTEN SLIPPING OCCURS WHEN DOWNSHIFTING TO LOWER GEARS. NISSAN SERVICE CENTER WAS VISITED ONCE ABOUT A YEAR AGO OR LESS. I WAS TOLD THAT THE SOFTWARE FOR TRANSMISSION WAS SOMEHOW MISSING ON THE VEHICLE, WITHOUT EXPLAINING HOW CAN A VEHICLE BE MANUFACTURED WITHOUT TRANSMISSION SOFTWARE. AFTER INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE, THE DEALERSHIP WAS UNABLE TO PIN POINT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH MY VEHICLE. I WAS CHARGED ABOUT $140 WITHOUT BEING PROVIDED A CLEAR DIAGNOSE, BUT WAS TOLD THAT MOST LIKELY THE CAR NEEDS A NEW TRANSMISSION. CONTROL VALVE BODY WAS REPLACED SINCE THEN, HOWEVER VEHICLE DRIVES THE SAME EXACT WAY. PLEASE, ADVISE HOW CAN GET ASSISTANCE FROM.
THIS VEHICLE JERKS AND STUTTERS AT LOW SPEEDS, LIKE THE TRANSMISSION DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND ALSO DOESN'T ALWAYS SHIFT INTO THE GEAR IT SHOULD BE IN. I CAN ALSO FEEL THAT THE CAR SEEMS FAINTLY JITTERY AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, EVEN ON NEW PAVEMENT. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS AND THE 2015 PATHFINDERS HAVE A CVT TRANSMISSION LIKE THE 2013-2014 MODELS THAT WERE, APPARENTLY, RECALLED THERE ARE MANY COMPLAINTS AND CONCERNS FOR THIS MODEL YEAR AS WELL, I WONDER WHY NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN TO RESOLVE THIS CONSISTENT DEFECT.
WHEN ACCELERATING AND MAINTAINS NORMAL COMMUTER SPEEDS 34-70MPH THE TRANSMISSION IS LOUD AND IN INSTANCES JERKS AS IF IT IS NOT CATCHING THE NEXT GEAR. MY CAR IS 4YRS OLD WITH 77K MILES AND THERE SHOULDN'T BE A NEED FOR A NEW TRANSMISSION, WHICH LOCAL NISSAN DEALER SAYS I NEED. REVIEW HAVE SHOWN THIS IN THE PAST SO I WANT TO MAKE AWARE THAT THE PROBLEM IS NOT FIXED.
COOLING FAN VIBRATION NOISE IN DRIVING AND STATIONARY MODE.
HAVE HAD VEHICLE IN THREE TIMES FOR SHUDDERING AND JERKING, NOW THAT IT'S OUT OF WARRANTY THEY SAY IT'S THE REAR END. IT WAS SAME COMPLAINT 1ST AND 2ND TIME, BUT NOW WANT ME TO PAY OUT OF POCKET THAT IS OBVIOUS BY THIS WEBSITE IS A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH 2015 PATHFINDERS. I AM ON PHONE CALLING CORPORATE. THIS IS OBSCURE CAR IS ONLY 4 YEARS OLD.
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Quick Summary
The 2015 Nissan Pathfinder has 41 Power Train complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.