2006 Nissan Maxima
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 57% of them, about 5× the usual rate of 10.9%.
Generation 1 of the Nissan Maxima, which began in 2004 and ran to 2008. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 576 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 95 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 56.9% of this year's complaints, against 10.9% across the other years of this generation (5.2×).
- gear — 29.2% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (5.7×). Owners wrote it as: gear, 2nd gear, first second, second gear.
- shifting — 21.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (8.3×). Owners wrote it as: shifting, many people, downshifting, fix issue.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- gear — 28% of complaints, 7× usual
- shifting — 17% of complaints, 22× usual
- gears — 17% of complaints, 14× usual
What owners wrote
TRANSMISSION,HESITATION BETWEEN GEARS, ROUGH SHIFTING, SUDDEN STOPS OR DIMINISHED ACCELERATION, IN CITY DRIVING AFTER 1/2 HR OF DRIVING.
WHILE DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE VEHICLE WOULD JERK WHILE SHIFTING GEARS. THE VEHILCE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER AND THEY INFORMED HER THAT THE VEHICLE NEEDED A NEW TRANSMISSION. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 75…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 06V046000 SUSPENSION
- 05V512000 SEATS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Maxima was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Nissan Maxima? What happened to yours?
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