CVT failure on the 2014 Nissan Altima
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2014 Nissan Altima report CVT failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 53 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 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 97,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 95,304 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.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,696 miles | 50,000 miles | 73,900 miles | 83,950 miles | 98,000 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 2014 has 69. 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.
Bought 2014 nissan altima 2.5 s brand new from dealer, same day noticed ticking/rattling sound when accelerating with slight vibration. Take car to dealer to get checked out on 05/24 and again on 05/27. Dealer confirmed the noise, service manager tells me noise come from the CVT transmission, but won't do anything. I believe the CVT transmission is defective and should be replaced. It does not feel safe to drive with a transmission making strange sound. Nissan dealer would not do anything and said it's normal. *tr
After slowing down or stopping, ie at an intersection waiting to turn or at a stop sign or light waiting to go, when you attempt to accelerate from the stop or slow down there is a hesitation before the car will accelerate properly. On numerous occasions, because of this hesitation, I was in danger of not getting through the intersection or of not completing a turn in time to avoid being hit by on coming traffic. I brought my car into dealer today (1600 miles on odometer), explained problem. They checked it out and confirmed that this happens as I explained; tech did not know why until he found service bulletin video. They checked service bulletin (service video) that described exactly what I was experiencing but nissan indicates that this is not a "problem" and that is "normal" for this 2014 model "CVT shifting"; says it is a "normal characteristic" of this 2014 model CVT and not a "problem". I am reluctant now to keep this car for fear of getting into an accident. You might want to check your data base to see if 2014 altima with this transmission has been involved in an unusual number of intersection accidents. *tr
Transmission fails on the highway this is the second time for a brand new car. I had my child in the car this time. The vehicle suddenly loses power . The first time it occurred was @ 3000 miles . The second time is at 13000 miles. The biggest risk is being rear ended by the vehicle behind due to the sudden loss of power and nissan knows their CVT for altima and rogue 2014 is an issue, no move from manufacturer to replace the car or recall all cars in question
Also reported on the 2014 Nissan Altima
Headlight failure or clouding
Other lighting problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 69 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 2014 Nissan Altima?
Across 53 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2014 Nissan Altima?
69 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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