CVT failure on the 2013 Nissan Maxima
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Nissan Maxima report CVT failure at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 85,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,200 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86,800 miles | 106,034 miles | 109,000 miles | 139,700 miles | 156,000 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 19; the 2013 has 11. 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.
Automobile went from operating normally to complete loss of power and acceleration. Very dangerous on road. Towed to mechanic, claims its defective CVT transmission, referred to dealer.
Vehicle has approximately 91k miles on it and the CVT transmission has failed. Vehicle has only been serviced by the dealership and never received any type of notification of change of fluid levels or the need to add fluids. Was driving down the street and vehicle was pretty much stuck. Eventually vehicle pulled itself through and wall accelerator very fast as if you floored it. I have looked on web and this has been a problem for many. I believe nissan is aware of this ctv failure. There is absolutely no reason why a transmission should fail without warning with less than 100k miles on the vehicle.
I have had this vehicle for 2 years and it's only a 5 year old car. I find it disturbing that nissan is well aware of the CVT transmission issues on these vehicles and they have not been recalled. They put my kids and myself in danger when my car all of a sudden didn't function correctly. I was making a u-turn and it would not accelerate, we almost got hit by two cars of oncoming traffic! I took the car in to the nissan dealership and it will cost $5k to replace the transmission that they can only guarantee 12,000/ 1 year after the repair, which will not be covered under my warranty because it expired. This is so unfair. I still owe a lot of money for this car since I financed it, so I am stuck with the repair cost. Nissan needs to own up to this issue and do something about it!!!
Also reported on the 2013 Nissan Maxima
Other powertrain problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Sunroof failure or glass breakage
Headlight failure or clouding
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 2013 Nissan Maxima?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2013 Nissan Maxima?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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