2022 Nissan Pathfinder

While driving at normal speed, the vehicle unexpectedly shifted itself into neutral twice without any driver input. During both incidents, the vehicle suddenly lost propulsion in traffic, creating a safety risk for the occupants and surrounding vehicles. Prior to and after these events, the vehicle displayed a “SERVICE A/T” message and a check engine warning light. The vehicle has been inspected by a dealership. They identified an engine-related concern (including a failed mass air flow sensor) and an electrical concern requiring attention. However, the dealership reported that they were unable to duplicate or diagnose the unintended shift into neutral, and the cause of the neutral engagement remains unknown. This issue has occurred more than once shortly after purchase of the vehicle. The warning lights and messages have been reproduced by the dealer, but the loss-of-drive event has not. The unresolved transmission or powertrain malfunction poses an ongoing safety concern.

While driving the vehicle under normal conditions the transmission will shift itself into 'Neutral'. The unloaded engine will rev-up and the vehicle speed will decrease. 'Drive' must be re-selected on the shifter to resume driving normally. This has occurred a few times in various climates and engine temperatures(cold vs. warmed-up). Primarily taking place at speeds below 40mph. On one occasion, while parked, the transmission shifted to neutral and was stuck for several minutes. After many attempts the transmission was shifted into park and power was cycled. The issue did not come back immediately after power cycle. Replacement of the as-built OEM battery seems to have solved this issue but there was no sign of battery failure leading up to or during the phantom shifting. Battery replaced by owner when it died unexpectedly. Nissan Dealership where vehicle was purchased could not verify or corroborate the fault. According to their database there was no record of this occurring on other 2022 Pathfinders.

The contact owns a 2022 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that after stopping at a gas station, the vehicle was restarted but stalled. There several unknown warning lights flashing on the instrument cluster. The vehicle was unable to be restarted and was towed to a local dealer. The contact stated during the failure the transmission was in drive(D) and could not be shifted to park(P) or neutral(N). The dealer recharged the 12-Volt battery and had difficulty diagnosing the failure. The dealer determined that the transmission control module needed to be reprogrammed. The vehicle was repaired; however, the vehicle was losing motive power while driving. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was stopped, turned off and restarted to regain normal operation. The contact stated that the failure had occurred several times. The failure recently recurred with several unknown warning lights illuminated and the vehicle was towed to the same dealer. The contact became aware that in March 2024 another dealer replaced the fuel pump for a previous vehicle owner. The dealer had not yet diagnosed or repaired the vehicle. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 58,607.

I was driving and all of a sudden my car flipped into neutral mid drive. I couldn’t put it in park. I couldn’t put it in drive and I couldn’t put it in reverse. I had to sit on the road with my foot on the pedal until someone could tow it. My kids and were stuck in the dark on dangerous corner of a windy road. This is a serious safety deficit. We are still covered under warranty. We got it home and turned it off. Then we turned the car back on and we were able to put it in gear and park it, but the check engine light stayed on. The next day when I turned it on to take it to the dealership, the check engine light was off. The technician took it for a test drive and it did the same thing to him. The technician can’t figure out what is wrong or why it’s doing what it is doing, but that it is unsafe to drive.

My 2022 Pathfinder had 34,725 miles on it when I left for the grocery store, on the way while driving on the highway I got an alert on my dash saying "check shift level position", which that seemed normal & fine, and vehicle was still driving normally at this point. That alert then went away as I was driving a moment or two later ( however I did get a photo of it). A very few moments later, I was driving along and the vehicle suddenly shifted into N(eutral)! I pulled over, shifted into park, turned off the car, restarted it, and the check engine light was on. However I shifted the car into D(rive) and proceeded to try to get back home, car seemed to be driving normally, but then no, it began again, the car suddenly shifted into N again as I was driving. I tried pulling over and restarting the vehicle again, but the same thing happened again. I decided to have my passenger take a video of our drive home so that it could be easily shown to the dealer what was happening, that way there would be no question of if the dealer could replicate the issue or not. During our aprox 6:07 minute trip home, it happened another 5 times! Once I was home I found that I had a email from MyNissan saying that there may possibly be an issue with my vehicle emmisions system. My husband has a code reader and he plugged into it and it showed a code of P0742, which is ("torque converter clutch circuit stuck on"). So the next morning 10/01/24 I called my dealership and spoke to service and let them know what was going on and that it needed to come in, I explained however that I would not be loaded my 3 kids in the car and making that hour + trip up there driving the car as this is a HUGE safety hazard. I had the vehicle towed to the dealership. The next day the dealer did reach out to me and tell me they plugged into it, saw the P0742 code, but "didn't know what to do with that", so they were calling the Nissan "TechLine".

While driving my son to school, traffic began slowing and then accelerating in front of me. I was driving approximately 40 mph when I took my foot off the accelerator to slow down. Before I had a chance to press the brake, the vehicle shifted into neutral on it own without the shift level being touch and a steady Malfunction Indicator Light came on. At this point the traffic began speeding up and I was unable to accelerate until I manually shifted the vehicle back into drive.

I have had 2 major and one minor incident with my 2022 Pathfinder. I bought it certified preowned Jan 2023 with 21k miles. At 23k miles- end of the same month it was purchased- the vehicle decelerated from 75mph to 35mph on the interstate. The dealership sent a towing truck to pick it up next day and they diagnosed the problem to be a dead battery- the lights on the car remained on all night but if it was the battery then the car would have not even been on. Dealership failed to dig deeper. At 57k miles on May 3rd 2024 after being at the public park for an hour with my daughter the car would not start, warning lights were on the screen such as a malfunction warning. The dealership sent a tow truck and they kept the car for 3 days. We picked it up on a Monday and on Friday May 10th while driving on the interstate, the car decelerated from 75mph to almost nothing, I barely made it off of the exit. They towed it once again and this time we were told the issue was a bad mass airflow sensor. It was replaced and a week later we got another malfunction warning while parked on a sunny day. Currently in arbitration with Nissan. They fail to recognize this is a safety issue and no matter what they say the "cause" is, the same issue keeps happening on the interstate. Nissan is not taking it seriously and they want to give me 3,500 for the "inconvenience" I keep telling them I do not feel safe in this vehicle. I was told the car is outside Lemon Law timeframe. I brought up other NHTSA complaints that are like mine and still haven't heard from them, it has been 5 days. I would like for this safety concern to be taken seriously. It has put me and my family in danger as well as others.

On numerous occasions while cruising at highway speeds ability to accelerate disengages. There is no ability to accelerate and RPMs drop, car loses speed until transmission and acceleration re-engages. When the car does this you are unable to shift gears to attempt to engage and the vehicle still shows as though it is in drive. Vehicle has gone to dealer service numerous times and they are unable to replicate the issue and allege that there are no “codes” in the computer. They are reluctant to dive deeper into the issue despite the fact that this is a safety issue.