CVT failure on the 2013 Nissan Rogue
When cvt failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Nissan Rogue report CVT failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 102,500 miles, from 92 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 47,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,700 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.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48,300 miles | 66,000 miles | 84,500 miles | 103,188 miles | 124,000 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 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 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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 2013 nissan rogue. The contact stated that the front of the vehicle would shake when driving various speeds. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was determined that the CVT transmission caused the vibration. The contact stated that the vehicle would rock when driving 4-6 MPH and then even out until the vehicle reached 40 MPH and began shaking erratically. The manufacturer was contacted but stated that the failure was normal when driving 80 MPH and above. No further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 5 and the current mileage was 12,000. Updated 08/27/13*lj the consumer stated the entire vehicle vibrated and various speeds.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 nissan rogue. The contact stated that the front of the vehicle would shake when driving various speeds. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was determined that the CVT transmission caused the vibration. The contact stated that the vehicle would rock when driving 4-6 MPH and then even out until the vehicle reached 40 MPH and began shaking erratically. The manufacturer was contacted but stated that the failure was normal when driving 80 MPH and above. No further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 5 and the current mileage was 12,000. Updated 08/27/13*lj the consumer stated the entire vehicle vibrated and various speeds.
While waiting to here back from "nissan consumer affairs" about the transmission over heating and going into fail safe mode" after picking it up from the dealer on may 1, 2015, I am not going to sit back and not drive my vehicle until I am told so and if an accident occurs well so be that's why we have insurance just hopefully no one gets killed, so on sat may 2, 2015 I decided to head to philly 2hrs 20min trip 139miles i95 south just before entering philly I decided to pull off the hwy because I felt the car losing power as I exited the hwy I saw a mcdonald's and just made it into the parking lot once I stopped I tried all gears peddle to the floor it moved like a turtle in all gears, went to get a bit to eat let it sit started the car it was like the problem never existed at that moment I called "nissan consumer affairs" and left message as to what happened at that moment and then headed to my destination on the way back home not a problem, on monday may 4, 2015 still waiting to here back from "nissan consumer affairs" I decided to call the service manager at the last nissan dealer and explain the situation and he told me that…
Also reported on the 2013 Nissan Rogue
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 121 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 Rogue?
Across 92 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 102,500 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 Rogue?
121 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.8 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