What’s Going Wrong with Nissan? The Brand’s Reliability Is Starting to Falter

The annual reliability study conducted by Consumer Reports highlights which automakers deliver the most dependable cars — and which ones fall short.

According to the latest report, Japanese automaker Nissan ranked only 12th out of 22 brands, lagging well behind many of its fellow Japanese competitors, including Subaru, Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Acura, and Mazda.

Owners of new Nissan models most frequently reported issues with the VC-Turbo engines and Jatco-built CVT transmissions. These recurring problems have already triggered a massive recall affecting roughly 450,000 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, leading to a noticeable decline in consumer confidence toward the company’s newest releases.

However, not all the news is bad for Nissan. Despite ongoing reliability concerns with newer models, used Nissan vehicles remain popular thanks to their relatively solid performance over time. In fact, Consumer Reports data shows that five- to ten-year-old Nissan vehicles rank eighth overall in the outlet’s used-car reliability index — a respectable position that highlights the brand’s enduring appeal on the secondhand market.