I believe tires are causing the vehicle to wandering in lane your driving in, the tires are following grooved concrete on interstate highways cause the vehicle to wandering and you constantly adjust your lane position, this doesn’t happen on asphalt roads just on grooved concrete highways.
Nissan Pathfinder pulling problems
24 of the 7,336 owner complaints about the Nissan Pathfinder describe pulls to one side, most of them for the 1995 model year.
- owner complaints
- 24
- worst model year
- 1995
- typical mileage
- 118,000
By model year
- 20261
- 20242
- 20221
- 20181
- 20133
- 20101
- 20051
- 20011
- 19991
- 19981
- 19972
- 19961
- 19955
- 19941
- 19931
- 19911
Often reported together
Adaptive cruise 2Stalling 1Shudder 1Jerking 1Hesitation 1Harsh shifting 1Door locks 1
What owners say
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that while accelerating from a stop, there was a slight jerking or hesitation before the vehicle accelerated. The failure was intermittent. While driving approximately 45 MPH after stopping at a stoplight, the vehicle shuddered and pulled to the left. The contact stated that excessive force was needed to turn the steering wheel to the right to avoid a crash. The vehicle was pulled over and parked. The vehicle was turned off until a friend arrived at the scene to assist. The friend started the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to respond in drive or in reverse. The vehicle was towed to the residence. Several days later, when the vehicle was started, the check engine warning light was illuminated, and the vehicle failed to operate. The vehicle was inspected by two persons with automotive knowledge, and the contact was informed that the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) had failed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 118,000.
The Original Equipment (OE) Bridgestone Alenza Sport A/S 255/50R20 105H M+S tires on my brand new 2024 Nissan Pathfinder suffer from groove wander on roads in which grooves are cut into them to mitigate hydroplaning in rainy conditions. The geometric design, tread design incompatibility, or structural irregularities of these tires cause severe groove wander and impair safe handling. Groove wander causes the vehicle to follow road grooves involuntarily, which is a handling defect that compromise driver control. Groove wander causes the vehicle to rapidly swerve from side to side, and in the case of my vehicle, feel as if the rear end is "fishtailing" and raising off the pavement. This condition is a safety hazard, especially at highway and interstate speeds or in inclement weather. Groove wander does not allow the vehicle to operate safely, causing the driver to constantly correct the involuntary path of the vehicle on such roads. The driver's and others' safety are at risk if the driver is unable to quickly correct the path of the vehicle and keep the vehicle in the lane of traffic to avoid lane departure into another vehicle or object. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by both the Nissan dealer from I bought the vehicle and a local Bridgestone/Firestone service center because both are unwilling to do so. Both have refused to accompany me on a test drive on Interstate 90 where this occurs because this road is approximately 12 miles one way from their locations (their claim it is too far away; if it was only 5 miles, they would be willing to do this). The tires have been visually inspected by both companies, and naturally both have found nothing wrong with the tires (normal wear at this time). Visually inspecting he tires will not diagnose the issue, and a test ride needs to be completed to document this issue - again both Nissan and Bridgestone refuse to do this. Other brand tires on other vehicles I own do not suffer groove wander.
The Original Equipment (OE) Bridgestone Alenza Sport A/S 255/50R20 105H M+S tires on my brand new 2024 Nissan Pathfinder suffer from groove wander on roads in which grooves are cut into them to mitigate hydroplaning in rainy conditions. The geometric design, tread design incompatibility, or structural irregularities of these tires cause severe groove wander and impair safe handling. I believe there is a mismatch between the tire design and the vehicle's weight or suspension design - Nissan should not be placing this OE tire on new Pathfinders. Groove wander causes the vehicle to follow road grooves involuntarily, which is a handling defect that compromise driver control. This condition is a safety hazard, especially at highway and interstate speeds or in inclement weather. Groove wander does not allow the vehicle to operate safely, causing the driver to constantly correct the involuntary path of the vehicle on such roads. The driver's and others' safety are at risk if the driver is unable to quickly correct the path of the vehicle and keep the vehicle in the lane of traffic to avoid lane departure into another vehicle or object. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by both the Nissan dealer from I bought the vehicle and a local Bridgestone/Firestone service center because both are unwilling to do so. Both have refused to accompany me on a test drive on Interstate 90 where this occurs because this road is approximately 12 miles one way from their locations (their claim it is too far away; if it was only 5 miles, they would be willing to do this). The tires have been visually inspected by both companies, and naturally both have found nothing wrong with the tires (normal wear at this time). Visually inspecting he tires will not diagnose the issue, and a test ride needs to be completed to document this issue - again both Nissan and Bridgestone refuse to do this. Other brand tires on other vehicles I own do not suffer groove wander.
The vehicle was pulling to the right when driving or breaking. Brought to the mechanic and he discovered that the rear passenger side subframe is totally rotted. Appears to be a common problem with Nissan from my understanding now. He suggested I just trade it in. I don't have that luxury so will attempt to have it repaired. I have looked for a recall and so not see one but I do see numerous complaints regarding this issue on various Nissan boards. Some have said they registered a complaint as well. Since this appears to be a common Nissan problem, their corporation should be responsible for the repair. I'm told not to drive unless necessary.
The subframe on 2013 Nissan Pathfinder was completely broken from rot. I brought it to a shop because it was pulling to the left and making a clanking noise. I was told this is a common problem with 2013 Nissan’s. Car started pulling to the left about a month ago. Car was inspected about 2 weeks ago. After doing research it was learned that the 2013 pathfinders were never sprayed properly with some kind of rust protection. The pathfinder made a newly designed model for 2013 and never properly sprayed it. There are multiple places you can find others with 2013 pathfinder’s that have rusted out in the same area once the car get to about 140000 miles. Mine is just over 140000 miles
The steering assist randomly pulls to the left when turned on. The dealership did replace the front struts and realign the vehicle, but the issue was never resolved. We manually turned the feature off.
Vehicle pulled to the left while on freeway then went into dirt median tried to get it back on the freeway and it started rolling went across the freeway and down a steep embankment. Airbags did not deploy. Vehicle was hard to steering at speed limit (75 in az). Pulled to the right and left. Roof smashed down, I could barely crawl out of the back of the vehicle. Vehicle is a hamilton towing, buckeye, az
We have had our car into the dealer 9 times since june 2018. They have been replacing the cruise control sensors and the car started pulling to the right very hard. We have worked thru the dealer, the corporate headquarters, contacted the bbb auto and have an open account there. We got our car back yesterday and took it for a long ride on highway 95 north this afternoon and for 100 miles the car kept pulling to the right and then to the left and continued for every mile. We turned off onto a 3 lane road and were going slower and it went across all three lanes each way, left and right. I took video while my husband drove. It is a very dangerous situation. We were entering the highway via a cloverleaf turn and the car almost ran into the guardrail. We contacted the dealership at 3:30 and they told us they were closing soon so we could not bring the car in. They said an expert from nissan corporate said the car worked just fine. My husband says its not tires, the steering is binding and he has advised me not to drive the car. We asked to have an appointment for monday but they said the manager charlie had been made aware of the issue and would talk on monday. I emailed the corporate person but it is saturday. We have decided to file this complaint as it could be happening all over.
I noticed that the steering in my 1997 nissan pathfinder se was pulling to the left and I had experienced some resistance while turning the steering wheel, so I began to inspect the engine compartment and wheel wells. I found that the driver-side shock tower has almost completely separated from the rest of the body of the vehicle. The way it has bent away has caused it to put direct pressure on both the steering column and the master cylinder. If the tower was to fail completely, I'm reasonably certain that it would shear off the master cylinder (leaving me without brakes!) and possibly sever the steering column.
Related recalls
Steering: gear box (other than rack and pinion)
- What is wrong
- Due to the type of lubricant used in the steering transfer gear assembly, the effort required to turn the steering wheel at low ambient temperatures (less than -30 c) could increase to the point where some drivers would have difficulty in turning the wheel.
- Risk
- This condition could result in the inability to change the direction of the vehicle while attempting to turn the wheel, increasing the potential for a vehicle accident.
- Remedy
- Dealers are replacing the steering transfer gear assembly with a new assembly having different lubricant.
Recall number 96V034000 · Recall details
Questions about the Nissan Pathfinder pulling
Which Nissan Pathfinder years have pulls to one side problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1995 (5 complaints), 2013 (3 complaints) and 1997 (2 complaints).
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