CVT failure on the 2008 Nissan Altima
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Nissan Altima report CVT failure at a median of 97,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 132,500 miles, from 25 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 190,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 170,117 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.
16% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,883 miles | 71,000 miles | 97,000 miles | 132,000 miles | 191,000 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 2008 has 30. 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.
Purchased a 2008 nissan altima, drove the car for 3,000 miles. Cvt transmission started making strange noises. Turned out to be defective. They replaced it, but did not put it back together properly. Been having problems with it ever since. Nov 30, 2009 took vehicle in for scheduled maintenance, had them examine transmission again for a grinding noise. They did not "see" anything wrong with it but acknowledged transmission could be defective. Car is going in for more "tests". Nissan extended the warranty to 10 years 120,000 miles for CVT's, however I don't feel safe driving the vehicle. *tr
Cvt transmission is warmed up after approximately thirty minutes of driving. Once warm, from a complete stop, I lightly accelerate to 20mph. The rpms drop slightly and more acceleration is necessary to drive faster than 20mph. I press the accelerator pedal to about half way down and the vehicle shudders/surges three to five times then accelerates rapidly. This causes your neck to snap back and the vehicle to loose control. No accident yet but it could easily happen. Taken to nissan dealer in california who called it a "normal operating condition" and sent me home. Still fighting with nissan customer service. *tr
2008 nissan altima 2.5 4 cylinder with CVT transmission, when pulling out on highway the car began to accelerate normally at first (0 to 25 MPH) but then would not accelerate and coasted into traffic nearly causing accident. This happened twice more on the way to the dealership. The problem happens intermittently and has been reported to a nissan dealer twice for repair under warranty. Check engine light came on when lack of acceleration happened 3 times and twice the dealer reset the code, change the fluid and reprogram the computer and said it was just a fluke and that it found no hardware problems. The nissan CVT transmission control electronics are unreliable, unsafe and should be investigated. This recurring problem very nearly resulted in a major accident today. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Nissan Altima
Other body or interior problem
Other visibility problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other electrical problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 30 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 2008 Nissan Altima?
Across 25 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 97,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 132,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2008 Nissan Altima?
30 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.1 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