CVT failure on the 2007 Nissan Altima
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Nissan Altima report CVT failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 107,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,400 miles | 69,421 miles | 74,500 miles | 125,000 miles | 131,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $3,000–$8,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 62,500 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 180; the 2007 has 19. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
On some minor slopes, but not all, the CVT transmission-equipped 2007 altima will roll backwards several feet while in "drive" posing a hazard to objects and persons behind the vehicle. This is consistently reproducible in our home driveway but not on steeper slopes such as a parking garage. The surprising condition caused my wife to panic and almost lose control, nearly striking another vehicle. The dealership has been very responsive. However, as of this posting, nissan north america acknowledges but refuses to fix the issue. *jb
Follow up to complaint number 10198578. The entire CVT transmission was eventually replaced while the car had only 4500 miles on it. At around 60,000 miles the check engine light came on (8/31/09) so I took it to do the dealership and they received transmission codes. Nissan headquarters got involved and determined another transmission was needed. This will be my third transmission on a car that is a little over 2 years old and has only 60,000 miles on it. Nissan has said that the CVT transmissions have had few problems, and instead of repairing them, they are just getting replaced. No further explanation was given. I think it's ridiculous. *tr
I owned a 2007 altima at the time. The problem occurs at speeds over 45 MPH. If emergency brakes are slammed and lockup until vehicle comes to complete stop the throttle becomes totally unresponsive for up to 1 minute. This happened to me at an intersection and scared the'!@#$% out of me. Similar thing occurred a few days later. I decided to test if this issue can be duplicated. It can with almost 100% accuracy. Took car to dealership. Duplicated the issue for their confirmation and left car for examination. According to service rep "it is to dangerous to drive car in this condition\". A few hours later got a call from dealer with the following explanation. They tested this issue and were able to repeat it on 3 identical cars. Apparently manufacturer told them that this is an expected behavior to protect certain components of a car transmission. I have been in contact with nissan usa and was told that this is not a defect but a design to protect transmission. I have taken several other altimas for test drive and spoke to a number of people. Apparently this issue affects all altimas equipped with CVT but not with ABS. I believe…
Also reported on the 2007 Nissan Altima
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other engine problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 19 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does cvt failure happen on the 2007 Nissan Altima?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2007 Nissan Altima?
19 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed