Nissan Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Transmission Defect Plaguing 2019-2021 Pathfinder, Infiniti QX60

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A proposed class action alleges the continuously variable transmission (CVT) in 2019-2021 model year Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX60 vehicles is defective, rendering the cars “unreliable and unreasonably dangerous to operate.” 

The 25-page complaint explains that certain Pathfinder and QX60 drivers have reported experiencing a significant delay in their vehicle’s response while attempting to accelerate from either a stopped position or while in motion. This delay is often accompanied by the engine revving while the driver steps on the gas pedal as the vehicle shows little to no increase in speed, the case says. 

Per the suit, Nissan and Infiniti drivers have also experienced “stalling, jerking, lurching, juddering, and/or shaking while operating” their vehicles, as well as premature transmission failure. 

The lawsuit states the Nissan/Infiniti transmission defect can occur without warning and poses “an extreme and unreasonable safety hazard to drivers, passengers and pedestrians for obvious reasons.” 

“These safety hazards include being unable to maintain the proper speed to integrate seamlessly into the flow of traffic, especially on highways or freeways, putting drivers at risk of being rear ended or otherwise causing an accident unless they pull off the road.” 

A continuously variable transmission is a type of automatic transmission that relies on a segmented steel belt between adjustable pulleys, rather than conventional gears, to achieve the ratios required during normal driving, the filing relays. The adjustment of the steel belt between the pulleys is supposed to occur “smoothly and continuously,” the suit says, and like a standard transmission, a CVT is controlled electronically by a transmission control module. 

Although CVTs have been in many Nissan models in the U.S. market since 2003, the technology, the case claims, has been “consistently plagued” by the alleged defect. The lawsuit alleges Nissan became aware of the transmission problem prior to the CVT hitting the market yet has “actively concealed the true nature and extent” of the issue from drivers at the time of purchase or lease or thereafter. 

The automaker has issued “scores” of technical service bulletins (TSBs) for the Pathfinder and QX60’s CVTs, the suit says, claiming Nissan has dealt with problems with this type of transmission for more than a decade. The case notes that in December 2013, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that the company would increase oversight of its transmission maker, Jatco, Ltd., as pervasive customer service issues had supposedly begun to eat into the automaker’s profits. 

Nissan ultimately “abandoned” the CVT altogether in the 2022 Pathfinder and QX60, which come equipped with a nine-speed automatic transmission, the case states. 

To date, Nissan has not recalled affected Pathfinder or QX60 vehicles, and has offered drivers neither a suitable repair free of charge nor reimbursement for the sometimes “exorbitant” costs they’ve incurred to diagnose and repair the CVT defect, the complaint says. 

“The Class Vehicles thus differ materially from the product Nissan intended to sell,” the suit contests. “Nissan intended to produce vehicles with CVTs that shift smoothly and continuously. Instead, Nissan produced vehicles that do not accelerate when prompted to accelerate, and that shake, shudder, jerk and judder.”

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons or entities who bought or leased any 2019-2021 Nissan Pathfinder or Infiniti QX60 vehicle in the United States. 

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