CVT failure on the 2010 Nissan Rogue
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Nissan Rogue report CVT failure at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 57,500 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 27 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 22,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 102,700 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.
19% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22,100 miles | 57,219 miles | 71,000 miles | 90,500 miles | 124,800 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 2010 has 36. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 nissan rogue. The contact was attempting to accelerate from a complete stop yet the vehicle would not respond. The contact abruptly depressed the accelerator pedal into the floorboard yet the vehicle would not accelerate over 5 MPH. The vehicle was shut off and resumed normal operation when restarted. The dealer performed a diagnostic and determined that the CVT valve body would need replacing. The vehicle was left with the dealer where the contact was awaiting repairs. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was approximately 1,700.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 nissan rogue. The contact stated that the vehicle lost power abnormally while decelerating to a toll booth and the vehicle became resistant to acceleration attempts. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was informed that the CVT transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired yet the failure recurred after one year. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the dealer advised that the failure as caused by the valve body. The vehicle was left with the dealer for further repairs. The failure mileage was 3,000 and the current was 13,000. Updated 9/19/11 *cn updated 2/21/12 *cn
Driving on highway and heard a grinding noise on the car. I also noticed car would not drive at optimal speed when gas pedal pressed to keep up with traffic. It felt sluggish and as it was losing power. I turned off the air conditioning system and the car started condensating through the events. None of my previous car have done that before. After about an hour drive the cars hood was extremely hot you could barely touch it. I felt scared for my family as this car does not feel safe at all. Dealer is not taking it back and I've now had this troubled car 20 days but they won't admit it's defective. They said they can change the transmission but only because its under warranty. Nissan needs to recall all CVT cars. *tt
Also reported on the 2010 Nissan Rogue
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Cruise control failure
Other electrical problem
Complete transmission failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 36 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 2010 Nissan Rogue?
Across 27 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 57,500 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cvt failure on the 2010 Nissan Rogue?
36 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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