CVT failure on the 2008 Nissan Rogue
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Nissan Rogue report CVT failure at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 67 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 7,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 122,151 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.
15% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,449 miles | 68,150 miles | 90,449 miles | 119,797 miles | 130,600 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 121; the 2008 has 71. 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.
Within 1 month of taking delivery of a 2008 nissan rogue sl AWD, we started hearing a faint rattle that was intermittent from the front end at approx. 1000 mi. When the noise became more regular and louder, took it to nissan to have them check it out. Tech's heard the noise on 2nd trip there, but said nissan was aware of a problem but there was no fix as of yet and will let us know when there was a fix. Two months later, no word from the dealer, we took it to another dealer and was told there they had experienced it and replaced a transmission for another rogue. They kept it for nearly 3 weeks and only replaced a transfer case--it turns out the transfer case only echoed the noise from the CVT/transmission. Was told by the dealer that nissan requested them to return the car back to us with so-called added comfort that "it is safe to drive until they find a fix because there haven't been any reported failures". Noise is still there, and seems even louder than before. "rattle noise" is heard when foot is lifted off gas pedal at slow speeds below 35-40 MPH. Current mileage: 6350. *tr
I purchased a 2008 nissan rogue sl AWD in november 2008. I began hearing a noise emanating from the front end of the vehicle at approximately 3000 miles. The noise occurs consistently when decelerating from about 20 MPH to 5 MPH. As the vehicle begins to decelerate, the noise sounds like a bicycle chain rattling against metal. The noise changes to a grinding sound like metal rubbing against metal as the vehicle loses speed. The grinding sound appears more pronounced when making a left turn at slow speed, such as when turning into a parking lot. Service manager acknowledges the noise but has no explanation for it and no interest in trying to resolve it. I believe the noise comes from the CVT transmission, and it is probably caused by a defective CVT push belt or a CVT push belt slipping on the variator pulleys. Either cause could lead to catastrophic failure of the CVT push belt and result in an immediate and total loss of response to driver accelerator input. My nissan rogue currently has approximately 7000 miles, and the noise is becoming more evident. *tr
I purchased a 2008 nissan rogue sl AWD in november 2008. I began hearing a noise emanating from the front end of the vehicle at approximately 3000 miles. The noise occurs consistently when decelerating from about 20 MPH to 5 MPH. As the vehicle begins to decelerate, the noise sounds like a bicycle chain rattling against metal. The noise changes to a grinding sound like metal rubbing against metal as the vehicle loses speed. The grinding sound appears more pronounced when making a left turn at slow speed, such as when turning into a parking lot. Service manager acknowledges the noise but has no explanation for it and no interest in trying to resolve it. I believe the noise comes from the CVT transmission, and it is probably caused by a defective CVT push belt or a CVT push belt slipping on the variator pulleys. Either cause could lead to catastrophic failure of the CVT push belt and result in an immediate and total loss of response to driver accelerator input. My nissan rogue currently has approximately 7000 miles, and the noise is becoming more evident. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Nissan Rogue
Other powertrain problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other body or interior problem
Complete transmission failure
Other speed control problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 71 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 Rogue?
Across 67 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2008 Nissan Rogue?
71 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.9 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