2012 Nissan Altima Power Train Problems
- 115
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 115 stored complaint records:
- 0 indicate a crash
- 0 indicate injury
- 1 indicate fire
What owners report
- safe mode · 10 records
- lost power · 9 records
- whining noise · 7 records
- very dangerous · 7 records
- multiple times · 6 records
- same issue · 6 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 43 |
| 100–150k mi | 33 |
| 30–60k mi | 15 |
| 1–30k mi | 8 |
| 150–400k mi | 3 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Power Train · Vehicle Speed Control
Takata recall. I was traveling on the interstate, in heavy traffic, when my car began to slow it refused to maintain my speed or accelerate at all. I had to pull into the median to avoid being hit by an 18 wheeler. I had my sister and two of our little kids in the car with me. This is not the only time it has done this it has done it several times now and the mechanics can't find anything wrong. I have read several…
ODI 11074173
Power Train
While driving on highway doing speed 70 to 80mph, vehicle begins to reduce speed and goes into like a safe mode. Very unsafe on interstate highway. While searching on google find out cvt transmission vechile only has 81823 miles on it. Nissan needs to cover the warranty to fix the vechile.
ODI 11074671
Power Train
Cut transmission slipping causing car to over ten with little to no acceleration.
ODI 11081732
Power Train
O hills and on warm days the car losses power and wont go over 60 mph this happened on the highway and almost cuased a wreck. This has happened several times. Engine light came on and the code said it was low on fluid. It was checked and was good.
ODI 11092688
Power Train
2012 NISSAN ALTIMA SL 115,425 MILES AND TRANSMISSION DEAD.
ODI 11057328
Engine · Power Train · Vehicle Speed Control
While in motion, the vehicle begins to drasticly slow down from speeds of 60 to 70 mph down to 20 to 30 mph. This usually happens during the day after driving for an hour + and in any kind of incline road. At hard inclines i can bearly drive upward even hhaving to come to a complete stop. The rpm gage begins to jump rapidly to 5 and 6 rpm when even slightly pressing the gas peddle, and once it adjust , the vehicle…
ODI 11240506
Power Train
My 2012 altima 2.5s has shut down transmission wise(cvt) and it will not speed up even when gas pedal is all the way to the floor! Today it did this for a total of 120 miles...this is a safety issue when you cant get your car out of the way of even get to the shoulder because nothing happens when the gas is pushed down...i barely made it home today with of course a torrential downpour and my car wouldnt respond...i…
ODI 11020960
Power Train
The 2012 nissan altima coupe 3.5 6 speed manual transmission was in motion on a city street when sudden loss of clutch pressure occurred. This resulted in the inability to change gears and therefore effectively control the speed of the vehicle outside minimum and maximum speed specifications for the given gear. This was the result of a faulty concentric clutch slave cylinder.
ODI 11021089
Power Train
Sustained driving more than an hour the transmission overheats and forces sensor to "fail safe mode" causing vehicle to drive only at low speed. This is a safety issue on the open road due to driving way under posted speed or having to stop n road side.
ODI 11015593
Power Train
While driving on a highway at 75mph, my car just stopped going. I decelerated very quickly. I was pressing gas pedal to the floor and car would not increase speed. It just would not go. The rpms went over 3,000. No check engine light came on. I didn't even have any warning in the days leading up to this event that this would happen. There were a lot of vehicles on road at that particular time and a truck happened to…
ODI 11010953
Engine · Power Train
After driving vehicle for 1 hour or more, vehicle goes into fail-safe mode, meaning the rpms will not go over 2500. So, if one is on the highway going 70 mph, then arrives at a hill, then the vehicle speed could decrease to 40 mph. According to mechanic, this is a known issue and nissan has a service kit for this exact issue. I am not sure why it is not a recall...
ODI 11004169
Power Train
Transmission stopped working. Car stopped moving.
ODI 11001402
Power Train
In warm weather, car consistently goes into limp mode. It will only achieve speeds of around 30mph even though rpms are accelerating. I have to stop the car and wait for 20 minutes in order to drive it again. Doesn't seem to happen when outdoor temperatures are cooler. This has been happening for several months and is apparently a well-documented issue with other nissan altima owners.
ODI 10995853
Power Train
I have 78k miles and my car is loosing power when i am driving. Looses power after sitting at a light, while driving the car bucks as if its getting stuck in it's gears and when i get up to a certain speed the car makes a squealing noise.
ODI 10995539
Power Train
1st incident: driving on hwy 5 in ca on a hot day at freeway speed car suddenly lost power and dropped below 30 mph. Pulled off of hwy and shut vehicle off for about 30 minutes and no longer experienced this issue. 2nd incident: driving on interstate 80 in ca in 95-100 degree weather. Got off freeway and car lost power again this time not going over 5 mph. Took vehicle to nissan dealer for diagnostics. They said…
ODI 11000549
Engine · Power Train
My vehicle is 5 years old and i have had to replace the radiator and now the transmission. There are over 700 complaints of this same issue with the nhtsa and consumer affairs. I have taken my vehicle into the dealer twice for this issue and this ongoing issue is going to hurt or even kill someone. Nissan is fully aware of the cvt issues and this needs to be resolved. This recently happened this past weekend (2nd…
ODI 10995383
Power Train
Whining up hill and no drive down hill, when heated up transmission will not go until cooled off
ODI 10984663
Power Train
When the car is at 75mph, it loses speen and the rpm goes up and it slows down when you stop the car and wait for an hour or more, it will go back to normal for a while it happens after and hour or long trips.
ODI 10981759
Power Train
Vehicle lost power while driving 70 mph down highway. Almost got rear ended by semi as i could not keep enough speed to stay ahead and get to side of road. When i searched web, found this to be a frequent occurrence on the 2012 cvt transmission.
ODI 10980904
Power Train
Driving down fl. I75 did not have power to pass another vehicle. Push the gas pedal several tines no power. No warning lights on dash. After sever miles safely got off i75. Found out cvt over heated and shut engine down. Nissan waiting for some one to get killed. Is that what nissan is waiting for? There is a fix for over heating cvts. Is nhtsa going to sit on there butt or do something about it. This is an on going…
ODI 10981119
Power Train
After driving for about two hours on a trip the cvt transmission stops accelerating and you slow to a crawl which is very dangerous if your in heavy traffic was almost killed by a big rig who couldn't slow down in time
ODI 11023811
Electrical System · Engine · Power Train · Service Brakes
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 nissan altima. While stationary, the vehicle would not start when prompted by the key fob. In addition, while driving various speeds, the vehicle would not stop when the brake pedal was depressed. The contact was able to place the vehicle in park to stop. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 113,090.
ODI 10969266
Power Train
Driving at highway speeds car engine suddenly revved to approx. 5000 rpm. Pulled over and upon accelerating again the car would drive but the engine revved very high and the cvt wouldn't change gear ratios ("shift") as it normally does. Realized car would accelerate and not rev as high if i accelerated extremely slowly. Car however is extremely dangerous to drive at this point. Also couldn't drive above 55 mph…
ODI 10957717
Engine · Power Train · Unknown Or Other
I was driving my car down the road heading to get something to eat. It was a sunday night, it just started misting rain. I drove on my usual curvy 2 lane paved highway and then proceed onto my usual 4 lane paved highway to mcdonald's where i got food inside and then upon leaving decided to go through drive through for another item. I left and headed approximately 3 miles back on the same road i traveled to town on.…
Fire reported
ODI 10971264
Power Train
After i have been driving my car for 45 min on the freeway going around 70-85 mph the car loses power and almost feels like it is going to stall. Once i was off the freeway at the intersection when i accelerated my car would barely move. This seems like a huge safety issue. I have heard of others almost being rear ended because of this same issue. They say its due to the transmission overheating and going into safe…
ODI 11000652