Complete transmission failure on the 2008 Nissan Altima
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Nissan Altima report complete transmission failure at a median of 125,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 120,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 85,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 170,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 86,574 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83,426 miles | 120,200 miles | 126,000 miles | 130,500 miles | 170,000 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 $2,800–$8,000 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 99; the 2008 has 16. 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.
I was driving at 65 MPH on a major highway and without any warning the car stalled out . The vehicle would not engage in any gear. The transmission failed without any warning lights or codes. Vehicle towed immediately to dealership. Diagnosis stated checked for coded all ok, however internal hard failure new transmission . 4000.00 vehicle was serviced always at crowley nissan bristol ct and serviced on 3/28/2014 checked a week prior . Paper work indicated transmission fluid full and excellent. Nissan usa refused to assist in any matter and dealership was the worst. This vehicle had issues in the past having numerous items replaced under warranty . Never buying a nissan again... *tt
My CVT transmission went out with 126k miles. I was never notified of any recalls regarding the transmission and there have been a few. I started hearing the infamous "whining noise" about 6 months ago which would have been around 100k miles. Had I been notified of the recalls I would have taken the whining a little more serious and researched it. Well, too late but after the fact I found many youtube videos and hundreds of complaints from people with the exact same issue. If you hear this whining noise, it's your transmission. Nissan knows they put out a garbage transmission which is why they doubled the warranty on it to 10 years or 120k miles. Conveniently, mine did not go out until 126k. I bought this car three years ago with 17k miles. Yes, I drive a lot but it's for work and it's primarily highway mileage. I wouldn't have ever expected the transmission to go out in a car this new. I have learned my lesson. I will never buy another piece of jap crap from nissan as I am now dumping 4k to get this repaired. I checked with nissanusa and they denied any responsibility nor did they offer any financial assistance because I am 6k…
In february 2014 I had a new transmission put in my vehicle to replace one that was part of a recall by nissan. On june 13, 2014 at approximately 6pm while traveling on interstate 95 in delaware, my 2008 nissan altima suddenly lost power and the ability to accelerate. I was able to get it safely off the road despite being in the fast lane during heavy rush hour traffic. I had the vehicle towed to the dealer that replaced the recalled transmission. On the morning of june 16, 2014 the service representative at the nissan dealer advised me I needed a new transmission because the one I received was a 'bad apple". Later that same day, he called back to advise me the issue was not the transmission but it was a software update that was not installed when the transmission was replaced in february. The software has been updated; however when the vehicle reaches a speed of 60-80mph the vehicle hesitates and acts just as it did when it shut down on june 13, 2014. *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 16 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2008 Nissan Altima?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 125,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 120,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2008 Nissan Altima?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.1 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