2020 Nissan Rogue: What to check before buying

Door lock actuators fail most often. A door stops locking from the fob, the switch, or the handle button, so the car seems locked when it isn't, and some doors lock at random. One report puts the failure under 35k miles. Other filings describe the fob not being recognized, no-start conditions, and a drained battery around 20,000 miles. Two fire reports cite a console USB port burning while parked and an engine fire at startup. One owner says parts for recall 23V093000 were not yet available.

Automatic emergency braking slams on the brakes with nothing ahead, at speeds from walking pace to highway. Drivers report a beep or flashing light, then a hard stop, sometimes in snow or after dark with the high beams on. One false stop led to a rear-end crash with a back injury. Another sent the car sliding through an intersection in snow. Some warnings appear in the first 100 miles. Dealers often cannot reproduce the problem, and at least one told an owner to switch the system off.

Almost every filing here describes the automatic emergency braking applying itself with no obstacle in front. Owners report a beep, a warning light, and a sudden hard stop at 20 to 70 mph, sometimes in rain and sometimes while reversing. Seat belts lock up, and following traffic has to swerve. Dealers usually find no fault, though one replaced sensors and one owner cited a service bulletin on false AEB activation. One case appears around 25,000 miles. Another owner says it has kept happening for 5 years.

The radiator cooling fan fails, and the engine overheats. Owners notice the AC quitting at idle, and one coolant reservoir burst. Replacement fans are often back-ordered. One owner paid $1500 for cooling repairs at 30K miles, and a dealer called the failure common. Two fire reports are on file. In one, the car caught fire in traffic and an occupant was trapped and injured. In the other, a parked car with 140,000 miles burned. There are also reports of stalling and of sudden acceleration into a garage.

Deployment fails in serious crashes, including a head-on hit into a pole and a side impact at an intersection. Crash reports dominate this category, and several involve injuries. A separate pattern is an airbag warning light. Dealers traced it to a module under the passenger seat around 55,000 miles, to a connector under the driver's seat knocked loose by a rolling bottle, and in one case to a full system replacement after a year. One driver needed surgery after the knee air bag hit her leg.

The transmission slips, hesitates, and accelerates unevenly. One owner saw rough idle and code P0301 at 24k miles. The transmission was replaced, and the symptoms came back 25k miles later. Dealers often refuse to act without a warning light. Other reports describe a parked car rolling away in Park and hitting a house, the push-button start dying and needing a new body control module, sudden shutdowns blamed on the key recall, and cooling fan failure at 61k miles.

A cracked, bent front subframe shows up in repeated filings, found during routine service after a used purchase and blamed on an unreported prior accident. Front strut bearing assemblies make noise and fail again after being replaced twice. In one case a front wheel suddenly turned outward after a bump, with a malfunction warning and the steering pulling. Another report describes a loose driver's seat that shifts while driving.

The power liftgate closes without warning and hits people loading or unloading cargo. The front sunroof glass shatters at highway speed with a loud bang. A used buyer learned at an oil change that the front subframe needed replacing after an accident. Other reports describe a broken driver's door handle that leaves a permanent door-open warning, and backup sensors that gave no alert before a parking-lot crash.