Nissan Pushes Jatco to Resolve CVT Issues

TTAC Staff
by TTAC Staff

In the wake of quality and customer satisfaction with the continuously variable transmissions Nissan has been buying from affiliated supplier Jatco Ltd., the automaker is increasing oversight over the supplier. Nissan has experienced glitches as it launched a number of new models offering the CVT. The automaker is also expanding capacity around the world, putting additional pressure on their suppliers.

Earlier this year, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn singled out Jatco by name, saying that Nissan will require it to explain how it will ensure customer satisfaction on any new transmission that it introduces. He also said that customer service issues with Jatco transmissions have affected Nissan’s profitability.

“Every time you launch a new CVT you always have some risks,” Ghosn said last month. “So we now have a process by which, before we launch any new CVT, they come before the Nissan executive committee to explain all the measures they have taken to make sure there are no surprises.”

Nissan holds a 75% stake in Jatco and Ghosn is reassigning its most senior North American manufacturing and supply chain executive, Bill Krueger, to Jatco, where he will be executive vice president in charge o Jatco’s operations in the United States and Mexico. Tomoyoshi Sato, who held that position previously, will return to Japan for a new assignment.

Jatco in part blames customer perception and unfamiliarity with how CVTs operate. Jatco CEO Takashi Hata said that some Nissan owners are not comfortable with how Jatco’s continuously variable transmissions work. Nissan’s small-car strategy is based on Jatco’s CVTs, but Nissan’s use of the fuel efficient transmissions has spread to most of their cars. CVTs are the automatic transmission offered for every car and crossover in the Nissan line, except for the Leaf EV and sports cars like the 370Z and GT-R.

Jatco’s has improved its CVT’s performance with reduced friction and greater operating efficiency which has helped Nissan be at or near the best fuel economy in their segments.

Customers have complained about the CVTs to Nissan dealers, probably because they are used to how conventional planetary gear automatic transmissions work. CVTs have no fixed gears so the engine RPM don’t rise and fall as the transmission works through stepped ratios. To an unfamiliar driver a car with a CVT can sound like it’s stuck in one gear.

Jatco will take an unusual step for a supplier and work directly with Nissan dealers in the U.S. to provide more consumer information about CVTs and also gather consumer feedback about its transmissions.

TTAC Staff
TTAC Staff

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  • Dimwit Dimwit on Dec 03, 2013

    One of the issues I had with my rental is that the engine, at hwy speed, was in an unfortunate powerband. You *really* wanted it to kick down or up. That drone from the 4 cyl was unlovely. The CVT was doing its job but it didn't matter, it just made a hwy trip tiring and annoying.

  • Elgato Elgato on Sep 19, 2014

    We have a 2008 Sentra. It is gently driven and well maintained. At 35,000 miles it started howling very loudly at freeway speeds. The dealer quickly acknowledged it was the CVT and replaced it under warranty. At 70,000 miles there was some noise and it threw some codes about transmission temperature. The dealer scheduled another replacement. The common element to both of the failures is that it was making the 120 mile trip from Tucson to Phoenix in the summer. The dealer mentioned that they were adding coolers with each CVT replacement to help with the heat related design problems. They also mentioned that they get a huge number of CVT failures in cars trying to cross the mountains between Arizona and San Diego in the summer. The good news is that we were still able to limp home with both failures. Many are stranded when these things just shut down. It is a benefit that I just get to have regular transmission replacements instead of expensive fluid changes! I do expect to see one more transmission before the 120,000 mile warranty is up. These things are just not designed to operate in warm climates or under stresses such as towing.

  • Oberkanone My grid hurts!Good luck with installing charger locations at leased locations with aging infrastructure. Perhaps USPS would have better start modernizing it's Post offices to meet future needs. Of course, USPS has no money for anything.
  • Dukeisduke If it's going to be a turbo 4-cylinder like the new Tacoma, I'll pass.BTW, I see lots of Tacomas on the road (mine is a 2013), but I haven't seen any 4th-gen trucks yet.
  • Oberkanone Expect 4Runner to combine best aspects of new Land Cruiser and new Tacoma and this is what I expect from 2025 4Runner.Toyota is REALLY on it's best game recently. Tacoma and Land Cruiser are examples of this.
  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
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