Why does my Nissan Rogue have an annoying vibration?
John Paul, AAA Northeast's Car Doctor, answers a question from a reader who was told the vibration in his Rogue is normal.
Q.
In July I bought a low mileage 2015 Nissan Rogue SV. After a month or so, I started to notice a vibration in the steering wheel, primarily when driving between 20 to 45 miles per hour at a constant 1,250 revolutions per minute. I took the vehicle back to the dealer, and they looked at it for a few days. They told me they found and replaced a bad exhaust mount and that the vibration was virtually gone. Unfortunately, that didn’t take care of the vibration. I took the Rogue to a second dealer and was told that transmission is designed to cause the vibration. I asked them why I didn’t feel the vibration in any of the other new or used Rogues I test drove. They just answered that the car is supposed to have a vibration and suggested that I call Nissan if I wasn’t happy. I can’t believe that Nissan has sold over one million Rogues, and all have a built-in vibration in the steering wheel. I really like the vehicle, but the vibration is annoying when driving on local roads. Do you have any suggestions?
A. Some continually variable transmissions (CVTs), like the one used in your Rogue, have a somewhat undesirable vibration, but it is a characteristic of the design. Before I wrote this off as normal, I would want the dealer to check for any technical service bulletins that address vibration. Using AllData, the technical database that I use, I found one that describes a low speed vibration caused by the electric-controlled coupling for the rear drive unit. In addition, I would want the dealer to perform a vibration analysis to determine the source of the vibration to determine if it is in fact a normal characteristic or if something is wrong.
John Paul is AAA Northeast’s Car Doctor. He has over 40 years of experience in the automotive business and is an ASE certified master technician. Email your car question to [email protected].
