Hi. I am new to this message board and had a few questions. I recently purchased a new 2016 Rogue SV. I noticed a considerably annoying vibration in the steering wheel which occurs when the engine is warm and I am driving with the RPMs around 1200 to 1300 RPMs. When I drive in sport mode it is much less noticeable. It is also not noticeable when the RPMs are at 1000 or 1750 and higher when moving. I have taken the car to a Nissan dealer (different dealer then the one where the car was purchased) and the mechanic said that this is normal. He did adjust the idle RPMs for me as a courtesy (since the idle adjustment TSB did not apply to the 2016 Rogue) as the vibration was also present when idling sometimes. The RPM adjustment helped with the vibration at idle but not so much when moving and RPMs around 1200 to 1300 RPMs. The mechanic suggested I contact Nissan corporate to complain. I have been considering it but am worried that it won't do any good. I am afraid of the dealer starting to try things and making it worse, as I have read they have done for some cars. Should I pursue this further with Nissan corporate, go to a different dealer, or drive in sport mode all the time in order to avoid this vibration as much as possible? One thing to note, I did drive a loaner 2016 Rogue SL made in US and the vibration was much less noticeable. My Rogue was made in Korea. Could this vibration be related to Korean built cars and not American made cars? Also, is it okay to drive in sport mode nearly all the time as long as you accelerate gently? Thanks in advance for any responses.

A shaking steering wheel is often one of three things. Bad tires ,bad axle or bad steering parts

1. The tires are out of balance or you have a broken belt. You can test this by rotating the tires front to rear and rear to front, then take it for a drive. Has the vibration changed or gone away? If so then go get the tires rebalanced. Depending on where you are this is the time of year when you drive through deep snow and sometimes it accumulates on the inside of these fancy aluminum rims and causes a balance problem. Once it melts the vibration goes away.

A broken belt can often be felt by running your hands over the surface of the tire. You will feel a lump or bulge, in this case you will need a new tire(s).

Even though you have said the vibration is only at certain rpms, I know you're thinking worse, transmission for instance, but I would want to rule out the simple first. Out of balance or tires with a broken belt cam cause weird problems.

A friend of mine bought 4 new tires, after mounting and balancing his van had a slight steering vibration only at 70 mph nod above. He went back 3 times to the tire store, they finally found that one of the tires had a bad belt.

2. Worn tie rods , wheel bearings or ball joints can cause a vibration. Jack the car up, grab the tire with your hands at the 3 and 9 o'clock position, attempt to move the tire. If it moves you have a suspect tie rod. It's a good idea to have some one hold the steering wheel as the steering wheel will move slightly even though it's locked.

Grab the wheel at the 12 and 6 position, attempt to move it pushing and pulling. If it moves your wheel bearing is suspect.

These usually don't happen on a new vehicle.

3. After all else an axle can also be bad. Does the vehicle make clicking noises when turning right or left. Are the rubber boots covering any of the 4 cv joints split and puking grease all over from high speed spinning?

After having said all this, on a new 2016 vehicle the first thing I would suspect is the tires. The dealership should be able to rebalance or replace them. All the other items are for older vehicles with a few miles on them. Unlikely to be a problem for you....yet.

And of course I think from your description that you suspect the transmission, and it could be , there have certainly been enough CVT failures. Make sure the dealer documents everything so you don't get down the road and out of warranty, and have no recourse if the transmission does fail.

What harm can contacting Nissan do? Ok so they blow you off, at least you tried, and maybe they'll step up and help out.

May be this can help:

Subject: SB 2014-2015 Rogue; Vibration in Steering Wheel or Passenger Front Seat
Summary of NTB15048:
IF YOU CONFIRM Vibration, booming or drone is present while stopped, at idle and transmission is in Drive: * From the steering wheel with the A/C ON. Or * From the front passenger seat with the A/C OFF. And * The level of vibration is great

The car has about 900 miles on the odometer so the tie rods should be okay. No clicking noises are made while making turns either. At highway speeds and in sport mode the vibration level is the same as any other car I have driven. It is also not vibrating more then any other car I have driven while stopped and the transmission is in Drive. Also at the moments that the vibration does occur and you disable O/D using the switch on the gear change handle, the vibration instantly goes away regardless of car speed. I also noticed that when going down small hills the vibration goes away (even at 1250 RPM). It is as if the only time it vibrates is when the car is moving, the engine is operating at about 1250 RPM, and it takes effort for the engine to move the car. The mechanic that drove my car said that it has to do with the torque converter locking up to save fuel. The vibration (when occurring) can be described as driving over a rough road surface such as rocks, except the road is in good condition. I am somewhat OCD when it comes to my cars. This is the first CVT based car I have ever driven and have not experienced these things before.

Ahh, some more clarification. I think with only 900 miles on the odometer we can safely assume everything is more or lees perfect with all the front end parts that might recsult in a vibration in an older vehicle.

Your tires could still be a contributing factor, even new tires can come from the factory with a manufacturing imperfection.

It sounds to me at this point you're just going to have to get used to driving a vehicle with a CVT, it took me awhile. I don't think unless some changes are made that I will buy another vehicle with one. Though I do see some advantages. Once you get used to their idocyncries they are very smooth.

I have been reading the posts in the forum and some people say that the vibration reduces once the engine / transmission break-in fully. Is that the case? How long does it take for the engine / transmission to break-in? Also, will driving in Sport mode most of the time be bad for the transmission (as long as you accelerate softly most of the time)? What are the best uses for the Sport / Econo / OD Off / Regular transmission modes?

Will driving in sport mode not be bad for the transmission as long as you accelerate softly most of the time?

I don't have sport mode on mine, so I have no experience with it. However I find it difficult to believe Nissan would put "sport" mode on a vehicle and using it would destroy the transmission. The newer CVTs are not as failure prone as the model years 2010 and before, but they are after all a slushbox transmission and auto's are notoriously less reliable and more difficult to work on than the old manuals.

Remember the dodge caravan transmission? Good for less than 100k a few years ago? Many slush transmissions develop issues after the 100k mark. Some on the other hand are well designed and last for 200+k. Manuals by and large will go past 300k and all you have to do is put in a new clutch. Obviously there are exceptions.

I think you'll be fine, in sport or out of it, but I would try to get used to driving it in "normal" mode. Break in will be 10-20k miles

Thanks for the advice. I will try to get used to driving in regular mode and start using the Sport mode later on more often. Hopefully the CVT transmission won't give me any problems in the future.