Nissan Altima — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 39,904 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Engine5,920 (14.8%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 2001–2020.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)4,396 (11.0%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 1995.
• Air bags (restraint system)3,806 (9.5%)Official recall records for this system: 23, covering model years 1995–2025.
• Body & structure3,518 (8.8%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 2009–2018.
• Electrical system3,504 (8.8%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2007–2014.
• Steering2,690 (6.7%)Official recall records for this system: 5, covering model years 2012–2024.

Other / uncategorized: 2,986 classifications (7.5%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (30,444 records, model years 1995–2025) are most frequently classified under: engine, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and air bags (restraint system).
• Safety recalls (195 records, model years 1995–2025) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), lights and doors, latches & locks.
• Transport Canada recalls (104 records, model years 1995–2021) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), engine and body & structure.
• Manufacturer communications (4,986 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, equipment & accessories and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 20,818reports included a mileage
• 76,865average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 240 records for 1995 240
2. 1996 139 records for 1996 139
3. 1997 165 records for 1997 165
4. 1998 190 records for 1998 190
5. 1999 133 records for 1999 133
6. 2000 219 records for 2000 219
7. 2001 213 records for 2001 213
8. 2002 1,207 records for 2002 1,207
9. 2003 999 records for 2003 999
10. 2004 373 records for 2004 373
11. 2005 1,202 records for 2005 1,202
12. 2006 910 records for 2006 910
13. 2007 593 records for 2007 593
14. 2008 1,151 records for 2008 1,151
15. 2009 1,669 records for 2009 1,669
16. 2010 520 records for 2010 520
17. 2011 373 records for 2011 373
18. 2012 552 records for 2012 552
19. 2013 2,708 records for 2013 2,708
20. 2014 1,451 records for 2014 1,451
21. 2015 1,303 records for 2015 1,303
22. 2016 887 records for 2016 887
23. 2017 646 records for 2017 646
24. 2018 425 records for 2018 425
25. 2019 430 records for 2019 430
26. 2020 315 records for 2020 315
27. 2021 184 records for 2021 184
28. 2022 63 records for 2022 63
29. 2023 59 records for 2023 59
30. 2024 59 records for 2024 59
31. 2025 12 records for 2025 12
32. 2026 2 records for 2026 2

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 1,614mention a crash
• 420mention a fire
• 1,386mention an injury
• 32mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 195
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 4,986
• Investigations NHTSA 52
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 104
• Owner complaints NHTSA 30,444

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0776 in 103 records · 2013–2020
• P0456 in 71 records · 2007–2022
• B00A0 in 44 records · 2013–2024
• P2813 in 43 records · 2013–2020
• P0101 in 30 records · 2011–2020
• P0442 in 25 records · 2012–2022
• P0455 in 25 records · 2012–2022
• P0087 in 16 records · 2015–2019
• P0448 in 15 records · 2015–2019
• U1000 in 15 records · 2002–2016
• P0605 in 10 records · 2009–2013
• P0116 in 9 records · 2008–2016

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.