Problems · by component
2012 Nissan Rogue engine problems
43 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2012 Nissan Rogue cite engine, 13% of all 319 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
43
13% of all complaints
Crashes
1
Reported by owners
Fires
2
Reported by owners
Injuries
3
Reported by owners
What owners say about the engine
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“August 1, 2025 I was trying to get to [XXX] from [XXX] to see my mother, before Kansas City, Mo. Before getting to KC while cruise was engaged car RPM’s began amping but car did not speed up. I put it park and turned motor off and tried to drive again, but did the same thing. I called my mechanic in XXX and he suggested I try to come back but I couldn’t go over 30mph driving on the shoulder ALL the way back to XXX.!! Very tramatic experience.!! Mechanic said it sounded like possible transmission problem.!!! That’s when my son told me about Nissan’s new transmission they went to that is in this Nissan.!! They know it was a bad idea.!!!”
“The contact owns a 2012 Nissan Rogue. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal, before the engine seized. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road. The contact noticed black smoke coming from under the hood. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The contact had the spark plugs and boots replaced. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The contact stated that an abnormal sound was coming from the engine when the vehicle was restarted. The check engine warning light and the TPMS warning lights were illuminated. The failure had progressively worsened, and the vehicle was no longer driven. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of gasoline. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 210,000.”
“The main and most dangerous issue is first hearing high pitch whining/winding sound while driving as the rpm's start to spike and stay high resulting & causing vehicle to lose power and speed for no apparent reason. Subsequently, as you attempt to depress the gas pedal to increase speed to try to mitigate the issue, the vehicle continues to lose power and speed regardless of how depressed gas pedal is (even completely depressed to floorboard). Within seconds vehicle is forced to a stop from lack of power and acceleration and will not continue to drive at all. This issue is nothing less than terrifying and incredibly dangerous especially while on the freeway with heavy traffic speeding and whizzing past you at 70+ mph. If this is happening to people at night, it's only a matter of time before someone will be killed by the speeding and oblivious traffic coming from behind if that has not already occurred. I was travelling with my child and our dog in the back and wonder would have happened if I couldn't have merged into the slower lanes in heavy traffic and off to the shoulder to "safety." What will happen to a family in the fast lane that is not able to merge to…”
“Unknown I was driving to st. Louis on the highway and was going 70 mph and then I hear a winding noise and loss acceleration and had my foot all the way down on the gas pedal and it would not speed up I was only going 40 on a highway that I was going 70 mph on and kept losing speed”
“My cvt transmission is bad. It's apparently a problem with a lot of 2012 Nissan rogues. When I drive, if I stop at a stop light, when the light turns green I hit the gas pedal and the car doesn't move.”
“My son was driving at a highway speed of 55 out of Lawrence, KS. He noticed left headlight flickering and starting to smoke. He immediately pulled over and exited the vehicle. At that point, the whole front of the car was engulfed in flames. Very dangerous. I can provide pictures but for some reason the upload information won't allow me to do it here. Fire department had to put it out and was a total loss.”
Showing 6 of 43 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.