The Lemon Index
Subscribe

All cars · Nissan Altima · Transmission

Nissan Altima transmission problems by year.

Worst years for transmission complaints per car sold: 2013 (440 complaints), 2016 (179 complaints), 2014 (185 complaints). Fewest since 2010: 2025, 2022, 2021.

Nissan Altima
Photo shows a 2020 Nissan Altima. Mr.choppers, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · background removed

Transmission complaints owners filed with the U.S. government (NHTSA) for each model year, per 100,000 cars sold. A complaint counts when it's filed under the transmission, or under the power train and the owner describes the transmission (shifting, slipping, gears, CVT). It's an owner's report, not a confirmed defect, and older years have had longer to collect complaints.

200085.8 per 100K sold200164 per 100K sold20022914.4 per 100K sold20032512.4 per 100K sold2004156.4 per 100K sold200510039.2 per 100K sold20066929.7 per 100K sold20075318.6 per 100K sold20087026 per 100K sold20097436.4 per 100K sold20105724.9 per 100K sold20115921.9 per 100K sold201212039.6 per 100K sold2013440137.2 per 100K sold201418555.1 per 100K sold201512136.3 per 100K sold201617958.2 per 100K sold201710240 per 100K sold20182110 per 100K sold201952.4 per 100K sold2020107.2 per 100K sold202121.9 per 100K sold202221.4 per 100K sold20230no sales data202432.6 per 100K sold202511.1 per 100K sold

What owners describe

Lost power while driving20%
Hard or jerky shifting15%
Transmission replaced11%
Shudder10%
Delay or hesitation10%
Slipping7%

Share of this model's transmission complaints that mention each symptom. One complaint can mention several.

In owners' words

The cvt transmission. While driving in a snow storm the car stalled in a turn almost causing a serious fatality on my part

2013 Nissan Altima owner · NHTSA complaint

Cvt transmission shutter, while driving from stop to go, car felt it was going to stall, like when turning left in traffic.

2013 Nissan Altima owner · NHTSA complaint

Quick answers

Which Nissan Altima years have transmission problems?

By transmission complaints filed with NHTSA per car sold, the worst Nissan Altima years are 2013, 2016, 2014.

What are common Nissan Altima transmission problems?

Owners most often describe lost power while driving, hard or jerky shifting, transmission replaced.

Which Nissan Altima years have the fewest transmission complaints?

Since 2010, the Nissan Altima years with the fewest transmission complaints per car sold are 2025, 2022, 2021.

See every problem, not just the transmission: Nissan Altima reliability by year. How we count

Updated

Free to use with credit: Source: The Lemon Index (lemonindex.com). Get the data