Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2013 Nissan Altima owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
To whom this May concern, I own a 2013 Nissan Altima 4 cylinder with roughly 81000 miles on it. About 2 weeks ago I was driving and the car kept stalling out when I would come to a stop light, but I was able to restart and move on. However, in the middle of the high way it completely shut off on me and didn't restart. Thankfully the truck behind me had enough room to swerve to avoid hitting me. Me and my car would have been totaled. I received no warning lights before this issue, it happened out of no where. I received a diagnosis of "bad transmission" and was given an estimate of $4200+ tax. I was told that since my extended warranty ran out that I would be responsible for the payment in total. I did my research on this problem and it seems that many people are having the same issue as I am. …
I was driving to work at approximately 5:30 am and took exit 10b off of i85 north. Went to reach down to get my coffee and hit the grass which in turn slung me into the guard rail. This is not the first time this has happened. This wreck done 10,000 dollars of damage to my car. The steering is very touchy. This has happened several times. My air bag light on the passenger side does not work either. I have taken this car in because it does act right when you accelerate but I was told there was nothing wrong with my vehicle. I have also took it in for a leak and they told my it wasn't leaking it was a 2013 and it was to new. But there is a spot in my driveway and I am the only one that parks there.
I recently purchased a Nissan Altima s from clay cooley March 2015 so I only had the car a year and some months and now the transmission is gone out I get my car serviced as I should and now this and no one wants to help clay cooley day I'm out of warranty due to miles over 24000 on the car and I'm stuck out to still fork out a 518 car payment it's not right I need help. I was leaving work my my car started vibration and started to decelerate and jerking like it was about to go dead I thought I had got some bad gas so I pulled over my car started jerking harder and cut off so I turned it back on and I shift it in reverse and it went dead so I cut it back on again and shift it in drive it cut off so I dit there for over an hour then I star it again and shifted it in drive and it didn't go dead I was able to drive home so the next day I went out to see if it would do it again and it …
My vehicle stalled as I was going through an intersection. Would not start and I coasted to the side and had to get a tow. Check engine lite was on. No codes found. Car sat for a week and then started right up and drove fine. Check engine light turned off. Car started stalling again only when I put it into drive or reverse, and as long as I put it into neutral and gave it gas, then threw it into drive I would be able to drive it. Still no light on. Car drove semi good for a week or so, seemed to run a little rough but didn't stall out. A few days ago it started to not take gas and rev up on its own. I would start to go and the car would accelerate by itself. When I was on highway, or regular roads. Usually under 50 miles an hour. Tachometer would rev even though car didn't seem to go any faster. Then it just stopped taking gas all together. Now today it just stopped going. …
While driving my car and merging onto a busy interstate, the check engine light, traction control, and blind spot monitoring error lights all came on the car would not accelerate. The RPM gauge would go up and the car would try to go, but it just wouldn't. I almost got rear ended by a semi truck because my car wasn't able to go or move out of the way. I left it in a shop for over a week and apparently it's something to do with the CVT transmission and speed sensors. I contacted Nissan and all they would tell me was that they did an extended warranty on those transmissions up to 130,000 miles, however my car was roughly 2,000 miles over this and was not covered by that warranty. They told me all I could do was replace the transmission and that was going to cost me roughly $4,000. …
I have been to the dealer several times with the complaint of the car constantly drifting left and right and not being able to control the handling of the vehicle. It often feels like you are driving on three wheels and the stability shifts. I do not feel safe driving the car as I don't have full control ,nor do I like having my son in the vehicle and try to avoid freeways but it pretty much drifts at all speeds. I have spoken to the service manager, service director, and regional manager at Nissan north America but they claim to not be able to reproduce the issue. However, every time I get in it I feel vibrations and experience weird whining noises as well as the drifting and bouncing all over the roads. I have also experienced where I'm trying to slow down and it seems like the car speeds up and when trying to speed up the car is sluggish. …
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the check engine and slip warning indicators remained illuminated when the vehicle was parked or when shifting out of drive. Also, while driving highway speeds, the vehicle lost power, the transmission gears failed to change over, and the vehicle shut down. The vehicle was coasted off the road and parked. Balise Nissan of cape cod (322 falmouth rd, hyannis, ma 02601, [phone]) was contacted and indicated that an unknown manufacturer campaign regarding the reprogramming of the continuously variable transmission (CVT) failed. The dealer recommended that the vehicle be diagnosed to determine if the CVT needed to be replaced. The vehicle was unable to be driven and the manufacturer did not volunteer to have the vehicle towed. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 122,000.
I have a 2013 Nissan Altima and my transmisson has started slipping, I have 100,000 miles on my car and have stayed on top of my mantince. Out of nowhere I get in my car and started driving it and it started jerking, shifting gears slowly and vibrating. I have had transmission flushes during my maintance check-ups. I took it for a diagnostic check and was told it was my sensors going bad. I get that fix to find out I need a transmission and to find out nissian are known for transmission problems. I am very unhappy about this due to how well I have taken care of my car. I contacted Nissan to ask about transmission recalls and was told no.
Driving on an uphill street car would not go and I would have to push hard down on gas I had my son in the back seat I then pulled over to set car at park and turned off let it sit for about five mins turned car back on put it on reverse and it went forward I set it pack to park gear and then back to reverse and it complied not the first time now it's just more common and this time it freaked me out it wasn't a little burp as the other times had car for only about 6 going on 7 months and I restricted l myself from driving my own car that I just purchased to then being told transmission failing and 8 recalls
Reported to sheehy Nissan mechanicsville va foutr times. The vehicle braking system activates while driving at any speed (stability light activates). The brake light stays on when the vehicle is turned off. The accelerator touches the floor while traveling 45-60 MPH loss of pressure. I was told to wait for the engine light to activate in order to use the extended warranty gold plan. I was charge $93 for a scan of the computer, then it was purged. The fob system is not recognizing the keys and I was charged for checking and reprogramming keys. Fob keys still lose the programs while driving.
Traction Control complaints in other Altima years
Frequently asked questions
How common are traction control problems on the 2013 Nissan Altima?
NHTSA has 32 complaints about the stability & traction control of the 2013 Nissan Altima, 1% of the model year's 2,313 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2013 Nissan Altima traction control problems?
No. NHTSA lists no stability & traction control recall for the 2013 Nissan Altima, though it has 12 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2013 Nissan Altima traction control problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 77,000 miles, and 25% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 2 crashes, 0 fires and 0 injuries to stability & traction control problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.