2014 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 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH the vehicle was not shifting correctly and the vehicle stated jerking and shaking without any warning. The contact was able to pull over and had the vehicle tow to the dealer. The dealer stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was file and advised to contact NHTSA. The failure mileage was 110,000.
The Transmission randomly driving down the road started shaking and rpm’s went all over the place with a horrible judder and sense then won’t move or moves very little
The vehicle will not move due to judder in transmission.
I’m having a problem with my vehicle 2014 Nissan Pathfinder theirs a Judder, shuddering coming from my CVT as it Accelerates, I need to know what can be done to fix this ongoing issue other drivers are having if their was ever a recall I was never notified of it I purchased this vehicle back in 2018, I see a lot of problems customers are having with this particular issue. I would like to know what is Nissan doing to fix it I have little children I along with me in my vehicle this is a dangerous situation. I need someone to reach out to me. I’ve email Nissan consumer affairs and yet nothing has been done. I can be reached through email or phone [XXX] I would like resolution. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving from a stop light, the vehicle failed to respond properly. The contact stated that there was a delay while shifting gear before the vehicle launched forward. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
The car shudders and hesitates when first driving in the morning. CVT transmission is not responsive causing delays in acceleration. Critical safety issue that could lead to an accident. I was nearly hit because the car did not respond as it should on acceleration.
The car is shuttering/jerking upon takeoff. The vehicle has 120000 miles on it. The CVT transmissions were recalled in other models, but the same transmission is in the 2014 as well.
Juttering - first noticed during accelerating while turning and then it started to happen at any given time - rolling slow and driving fast. It feels like the transmission is out of gear until I let off the accelerator and then it catches again. This is a safety issue due to unexpected speed and control variation. It appears to stem from the CVT that I've ready many complaints about. When I first noticed an issue (I was still within warranty), I took it to Nissan, but I believe only a software calibration was completed and that appears to have only been a temporary fix. Now, I'm beyond the warranty by years and miles and the issue has returned.
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving at a slow speed, the vehicle started to jerk forward. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with needing the continuously variable transmission (CVT) to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed; however, the result was not yet provided. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 67,000.
The contact's husband owns a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated during acceleration. Additionally, the steering wheel vibrated while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with CVT failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The manufacturer advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000.
As I accelerate between 10-30 miles per hour the pathfinder shudders and skips. Once past 25-30mph the shuddering stops. I believe this is the same issue that countless other owners have dealt with the CVT needs replacement.
Vehicle was purchased used from an AutoNation Dealership. This 2014 product has the same CVT defect as 2015 and above Pathfinders, but is not mentioned in settlement. Noted a continuous rhythmic thumping noise while driving and occasional scraping. We took the vehicle to a mechanic who informed us it needed to go back to the dealership because Nissan will not sell him a transmission. We were informed by the Nissan dealership a transmission replacement was necessary to make the vehicle safe at a cost of $6k. The parking pin is the defect of all other CVT transmissions in this class of vehicle. If this fails on the road, it will cause an accident when it lunges forward.
We have experienced a second CVT failure on the vehicle. While highway driving experienced significant loss power on the highway and "CVT Judder" as it has been described to me by the dealer. The condition was intermittent and temporary but became constant within days and is no longer safe to drive any distance. Car was purchased Certified Used in Spring 2017. By Fall 2018 first CVT failure occurred and was replaced under warranty. Summer 2022 second CVT failure and dealer is indicating out of warranty for repair so will be at my expense (~$6,000). We have had several major repairs to this vehicle both under warranty and outside- CVT replacement, axle seized, complete audio system replacement, catalytic converter replacement. I am attempting to contact Nissan Consumer Affairs for support but not hopeful given dealership response.
The car violently jerks while accelerating from a stop or decelerating to a stop
The vehicle continues to jolt and skip when accelerating trying to get onto the interstate or merge into traffic. This has been diagnosed as the cvt transmission which has had numerous complaints yet no recall has been done.
I purchased my car in March of 2018. It was still under the manufacturer warranty. Less than 3 months after having it and various trips to the dealership they had to rebuild my transmission. This was only at 46k miles. Fast forward to April of 2022 and my car is once again violently shuddering and has no power to pick up speed some times. I constantly pray that nothing happens to me or my family because of this. It is not safe. It does not shift correctly and shudders when it does decide to shift and then jerk into gear. There was a class action lawsuit apparently way before I purchased this car for these transmission issues. When I contacted Nissan directly and informed them of the issues I'm having yet again to which they informed me of some extended warranty that was in place for the Nissan Pathfinder that I was never informed of. Tired of paying out of pocket for an issue that Nissan is aware of. This is insane that people pay good money for vehicles and there has already been one class action lawsuit regarding these transmissions so what is it going to take before they recall the whole transmission? Is someone going to have to die before Nissan does what is right?
While driving down a four lane divided hwy, the vehicle suddenly stopped accelerating despite the accelerator being pressed. A noise was heard ialong with severe vehicle studdering/vibration mmediately before the failure. Fortunately, i was able to coast into a parking lot without incident. However, had this transmission issue occurred 30sec earlier, i would have stalled out while turning left across oncoming traffic, potentially leading to a significant accident impacting myself and other drivers. Once into the parking lot, I tested the vehicle in various gear positions (low, 2wd, etc) and the vehicle would only respond when it was placed in reverse. I could not get the vehicle to accelerate forward or even obtain any engine rev when in a forward gear such as low, 2wd 4wd, etc. The vehicle has been towed to my mechanic's shop and he will conduct a full evaluation later this week. However, his initial diagnosis based on my description of the event, was that it was a transmission failure. I agree with his initial assessment particularly given the known transmission issues with this make/model year of the pathfinder. There was not any warning lamps at or before or even after the time of the event. The vehicle had experienced brief symptons of studdering in the recent weeks leading up to the failure. And the day prior, the vehicle experienced severe studdering and vehicle hesitation.
I started having problems with my Nissan years ago where it did not have sufficient power and it stalled on a couple of occasions. I took my car to a Nissan dealership on May 2020 and they were not able to diagnose the problem. They recommended to replace the transmission but did not guarantee that will solve the issue. The problem got worse making my car very unsafe to drive and I took it to a different dealership on July of 2021 where they told me that I need to replace my transmission and they indicated that this would solve the issue. I went ahead with the repair which costed me close to $6K. Now I receive the recall notice describing exactly the problems that I was having. Nissan should've been open about this recall and not make me spend thousands to solve an issue that was caused by them.
The car had a violent shudder/shaking on acceleration. The CVT was the issue and confirmed by the local Nissan dealer to be what they often see. It had several small jolts over the years but nothing like this. Apparently this is a well know issue inside Nissan to where they extended some repairs without telling owners. If we know of issue we would have had it checked by dealer before the end of secret extended warranty.
The transmission cvt failed and it's making the car unsafe to drive.
We have experienced a second CVT failure on the vehicle. First one was on highway driving experienced significant loss power on the highway and "CVT Judder" as it has been described to me by the dealer. The condition was constant and would not allow my vehicle to accelerate and was running very high rpms and was no longer safe to drive any distance. Car was purchased Certified Used in March 2022, first bad transmission was in March 2022, failure occurred and was replaced under warranty. Then in April 2022 second CVT failure and dealer is indicating out of warranty for repair so will be at my expense $6,000+. We have had several major repairs to this vehicle both under warranty and outside- CVT replacement, rear axle, and also need catalytic converter replacement. I am attempting to contact Nissan Consumer Affairs for support but not hopeful given dealership response.
The transmission is shuttering hard, cutting power, bouncing rpms as it can't stop shuttering, has completely stopped moving the car.
Vehicle shudders on acceleration randomly. Needs to be safety recall.
We purchased our vehicle from Nissan at 72K miles, we experienced a host of problems that we had to pay for out of pocket, only to have Nissan confirm our CVT transmission start to judder and start to lose power when turning left and right at low speeds. We experienced this at 111k miles when our car stalled when pulling out onto a busy road almost causing an accident in front of Walmart. We are in a situation where the repairs of the transmission and the other parts that continually fail are more money than what we have left on payments for the vehicle itself. With such a wide range of vehicles produced with this transmission type and such a widespread problem we feel like Nissan needs to take some ownership of the problem and would like some relief in the form of compensation or recall.
the CVT transmission jerking/shuddering/hesitation
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2014 Nissan Pathfinder has 147 Power Train complaints on file. 2 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.