2016 Nissan Versa: jerking or lurching

Filed Mar 11, 2026 · Airbags, Transmission · AL

0 The vehicle has a CVT transmission failure causing severe shuddering, jerking, and progressive loss of acceleration. Initially the vehicle would not exceed 20 mph, then worsened to 15 mph, then 10 mph, and now will not exceed 5 mph. The issue consistently occurs after the vehicle has been driven for more than approximately 2 minutes. There are no warning lights or alerts prior to the failure. The vehicle has completely lost power while driving and has stopped in the middle of the road with no ability to accelerate or restart the vehicle, creating an extremely dangerous situation and risk of collision. This appears to be a known and common defect with the CVT transmission on this vehicle model and year. The condition has progressively worsened and makes the vehicle unsafe to operate.

Filed Mar 10, 2026 · Fuel system, Transmission · MI

While merging onto [XXX] toward [XXX] , my 2016 Nissan Versa suffered a total loss of power while crossing active railroad tracks. The car stuttered and jerked before completely stalling and stopped responding. I was stranded in a high-traffic zone around [XXX] PM. I was worried that the vehicles coming behind me would not see my small car right away, as I was positioned past the railroad tracks and partway down the middle of the downhill slope. Because of the crest of the hill behind me, I lost sight of approaching traffic in my rearview mirror, which meant drivers coming over the top of the hill wouldn't see my stalled car until they were already descending toward me. I was fortunately able to get it restarted and drove it immediately to a Nissan dealership. A diagnostic scan confirmed Code P0746. The service technician told me the CVT assembly is internally destroyed ('toasted') and requires a full replacement. This catastrophic failure happened at only 50,484 miles, which is dangerously premature for a major transmission component. (note- i have a tech video that they sent me of there diagnostic just cant apply to the notes) INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Dec 20, 2025 · AZ

The vehicle has a CVT transmission failure causing severe shuddering, jerking, and progressive loss of acceleration. Initially the vehicle would not exceed 20 mph, then worsened to 15 mph, then 10 mph, and now will not exceed 5 mph. The issue consistently occurs after the vehicle has been driven for more than approximately 2 minutes. There are no warning lights or alerts prior to the failure. The vehicle has completely lost power while driving and has stopped in the middle of the road with no ability to accelerate or restart the vehicle, creating an extremely dangerous situation and risk of collision. This appears to be a known and common defect with the CVT transmission on this vehicle model and year. The condition has progressively worsened and makes the vehicle unsafe to operate.

Filed Mar 7, 2025 · Transmission · 84,000 miles · SC

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Versa. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power, and started jerking while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the RPM needled was fluctuating erratically. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 84,000.

Filed Jul 20, 2023 · Transmission · OK

Since buying car used last summer ive have numerous scares for the car stalling jerking and shutting off while driving or slowing down and taking off. I drove over train tracks on my way home and the car jerked stalled and died luckily i made it over the tracks and there was no train. Had a mechanic look at it and said the Cvt transmission more than likely blame for this problem. After researching more this particular make model and year had numerous of the same complaints and saftey is my main concern here. Thanks

Filed Apr 15, 2021 · Acceleration, Brakes · CA

Every single day multiple times a day my ABS light comes on cars transmission jerks around or whatever it is. I have to pull over and turn vehicle off and restart to drive again. I may have to do that a few times in a mile. I think it's a safety concern. It could be in motion or stopped car wants to lunge forward

Filed Jul 5, 2020 · Transmission · 57,000 miles · CO

Car bogging down won't accelerate when needed jerking around nissan had a class action lawsuit against them for this and is refusing to fix the vehicle.

Filed Sep 23, 2019 · Steering, Suspension · 30,000 miles · NM

Vehicle hesitates when accelerating jerks car when getting speed when going at highway speeds car wanders back and forth hard to keep it on the road , clunking noise comes from CVT transmission when changing gears also produces severe vibrations when car is in motion getting worse and worse have been having these problems since I purchased car 1 year ago at 27,000 miles now have 70,000 miles and car is not very safe to be on the road I have replaced struts hub bearings control arms and tie rod ends along with motor and transmission mounts but the problem keeps getting worse and worse every day. Took it to local dealer and was told they couldn't do anything about it because it was out of warranty. The hertz car rental place that sold it to me was made aware of the problem took it twice to pep boys but I was told they couldn't find anything wrong I've spent about a 1,000 dollars in parts to try and correct the problem but still no luck

Filed Sep 13, 2016 · Airbags, Fuel system · TN · crash

Nissan versa, always had issues with gas gauge fluctuating. Igauge read 79 miles in driveway, I pulled out of driveway into main road and went about 25 feet, has gauge started flashing. Told grandson I had to go to gas station before taking him to school. We drove about 1/4 mile and heard pop under hood, car jerked really hard to right. I had no control and hit mail box, car kept moving forward along ditch. Finally come to stop with windshield busted and front bumper and undercarriage badley damaged. Air bags didn't deploy, police were called and car was towed.