Nissan Altima Reviews

After doing some online research, I decided to take the Altima to an independent service center for a diagnostic on the airbag problem. They found an open circuit under the driver seat. They cleaned the connector pins, retested the system and indicated the airbag was fine and did not need to be replaced. For this I paid a $150 diagnostic fee. The airbag has been fine since. So it seems pretty clear that the Nissan recommendation to replace the driver side airbag was really a rip-off. This reflects poorly on Nissan first with the initial vehicle purchase and then the unnecessary $2800 service request. We would not purchase another Nissan.

Now as inconvenient and disappointed as I was I'm a reasonable person and got a tow of 30 miles and followed protocol to have repairs done because I was covered under warranty still. Transmission was replaced and back on the road I am until .... 18 months later, transmission failure again on my way home from work, So now as you can imagine my frustrations are growing because what are the odds, so I call a tow and have it towed to a local transmission shop because now I'm paying out of pocket because I'm at 100, 000 miles and no longer covered under warranty, now let me also add I am a law abiding citizen and obey ALL traffic laws so no I do NOT beat on my car.

My car was repaired with another transmission due to as they stated "internal transmission failure" and I paid extra for a 3 year warranty. Back on the road I am again. Well let me sound like a broken record, yep you guessed it, like clock work 1 year later transmission failure, same story - on my way home from work, etc. Etc., So by now I've just about had it with this car but since I purchased the 3 year warranty I keep the car until November 2023 when the warranty expires, now before I finalize this review by telling you yes the transmission failed again making that 4 transmissions NOT including the one it came with totaling 5, I did contact Nissan and submitted all supporting documents and out of pocket cost receipts for a reimbursement from a class action lawsuit filed against them from many others with similar experiences as I and over 1 year later still HAVE NOT received a response, so as far as Nissan and receiving any more of my business and hard earned money, that's a hard NO...

Nissan refused to cover ANYTHING. NOT A DIME. I ended up shelling out over $4500 for a repair on a known issue a month after the extended warranty expired. The only satisfaction I will gain is from sharing this story via every platform and through my extensive network. I promise you Nissan, that your serious lack of customer service and honesty will cost you far more than you cost me.

Our next step will be with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and we will do everything possible we can to have this issue becomes a recall. When it does, we will be submitting our claim once again. Everyone we know that owns a Nissan Altima or Nissan Maxima will learn about the extended warranty on this issue. Postings will be made on several social media sites to let others know of the service bulletin, both in the United States and Canada. While Nissan didn't stand behind their service bulletin for our vehicle; BIG SHOUT out to Anderson Nissan in Rockford that has agreed to do the work at a reduced cost. While we are in the market for a new car, can say with certainty that it will not be a Nissan.

Original Review: On June 8, 2022 while my husband was driving our 2013 Nissan Altima our rear lower link broke. Luckily, the driver was not traveling at a high rate of speed and nobody was behind him. After having it towed home, he found the service bulletin online. We called our local Anderson dealer that confirmed parts and labor would be covered. After having it towed to the dealer, we got a call from the service manager stating that Nissan did not approve the service because our car is registered in California. The service bulletin clearly states, "Certain Nissan Altima vehicles currently or previously registered in specific U.S. states with high road salt usage for model year 2013 are potentially affected."

Our car was registered in the State of Colorado for 2013 and 2014 and when we bought it in March of 2015 it became registered in the State of Illinois. Our car was never registered in the state of California. We filed a claim with consumer affairs on June 9, 2022. We have called several times regarding the status of our claim and given several different dates on when we will get a decision. Two of those dates have passed.

We inquired about a rental car and told someone would call us and nobody has contacted us. During this time without our vehicle as it sits at the local Nissan dealer, I've learned that an extended warranty has been issued on vehicles in those states with high road salt usage. This warranty covers 2013-2018 Nissan Altimas as well as 2016-2018 Nissan Maximas. My disappointment lies with the fact that there is incorrect information on our vehicle, as it has never been registered in California. (not that it should matter) Second, disappointed that consumer affairs at Nissan is not acting in a timely matter, as we are without our vehicle.

I looked up the reviews on Google and apparently a LOT of these nissans have a CVT transmission that have this issue. I’m not paying 4300 for them to put the exact same kind of transmission in this car so that in another 7000 miles I’m going to need another one. Moral of the story- don’t buy this car. It’s nice and comfortable but that’s the only pros. It’s not worth having to pay for a new transmission every 60-100k miles. Or worse, wreck with your children in the car.

Nissan said I should have brought the car in during the pandemic. Apparently Nissan isn't concerned about the spread of COVID or the impact on the communities in which it operates, but rather only on corporate profits. I've owned 3 Nissan automobiles, and the quality of each one was worse than the car before it. Now it's finally time to move away from Nissan. Unless you enjoy spending lots of money on repairs and hanging out for hours/days in service departments, I would strongly advise you to purchase anything other than a Nissan. As an example, look at the photo of the grease they put in my car interior during the 17 days they had it and then tried to return it to me.

A) involves an issue which could kill both my husband and myself every time we get into our Altima (the severity of which Nissan of Turnersville and Nissan Corporate were completely and totally apprised of in every aspect, both by past lawsuits and customer presentations), which involves a powering down and stalling issue that randomly occurs in the middle of intersections, only resolvable by having to start the vehicle no less than 3 times before being able to move it; and B) involves Nissan calling us 2 months later to “discuss your last service appointment” -- when we took the call, thinking they wanted to repair the stalling issue, they instead attempted to “smoke tickets” over the phone, a term used in the industry where the service tech tries to upsell very expensive services that are not needed. I will explain each issue below.

We own a 2013 Nissan Altima, which has a random stalling issue, as described above. It’s absolutely terrifying each time it happens, as it randomly stalls no less than 2 or 3 times in a row, while cars and trucks barrel by! It’s a frantic scenario and you’re left sitting there to hope that it will start before you can get clobbered. Our highly skilled auto mechanic checked the car out twice to resolve the issue, to no avail.

I then called Nissan, who stated they were not familiar with any such problems, but that for $125, they could do a diagnostic check. I then decided to do a google check for “Stalling Issues with 2013 Nissan Altimas” – and I found hundreds of complaints with the same problem we had! The cause was in an experimental transmission called Pure Drive, and the only fix to the problem was to replace the transmission.

I also found out about a lawsuit filed by someone named Christopher ** in September of 2018, who had the same stalling issue and was met with the same rudeness and uncaring attitude from Nissan as we had been when trying to look for a resolution to this dangerous problem (like we asked for this!) It turned into a Class Action lawsuit and an out-of-court settlement had been reached, with Nissan agreeing to pay for the full repair of these stalling issues until March 30, 2020. I brought our car in on June 1st, totally unaware of this deadline at the time, and because of that, our lives were deemed less valuable than the lives of those customers whose transmissions Nissan did agree to fix! We had no way of knowing about this settlement or lawsuit, so our disadvantage turned into their monetary advantage.

I wrote a caveat on my invoice when we picked up our unrepaired Altima, stating that I was picking up the car in protest, with a detailed explanation of why, including how Nissan refused to repair the life-threatening problem in our vehicle even though they were fully aware what the cause of the stalling was. We have copied this statement and put it with our Wills, in the event we get killed or maimed in a car wreck due to our Nissan’s faulty transmission issues. Our children have been made aware of all this, as well.

With regards to the smoking ticket issue, the Nissan service rep told me when we called back, that our car needed a new front end suspension and was leaking fluid (call was recorded). When I told him there were no stains on our driveway, he stated, "well maybe it isn't leaking now but it will be" -- this is what we're dealing with when dealing with Nissan! Never again!

Shame on you Laura and shame on you Nissan. I will NEVER purchase another Nissan because of the downright CRUEL way in which Nissan does not take responsibility for their screw ups, actions, or happiness/dissatisfaction of customers. At this point, they are KNOWINGLY selling lemons to honest, hardworking people. If someone goes into a dealership asking to buy an Altima, they should run a CVT test immediately and be UPFRONT with the status of all of their defective cars of the same variety.

I wish I could give negative 100 stars. Nissan is truly the most crooked company I have come in contact with to date. Their brand integrity is extremely compromised and I am positive they will see a diminishment in brand loyalty. My friends and family tell me I should take the necessary steps to sue this company, and I believe I will look into that immediately.

Guaranteed no one in my circle will buy from Nissan ever again. We are all disgusted by this company’s lack of ethics. I will make sure if anyone around me is searching for a car they know about this ordeal and to stay far, far away from this stingy company. If you are considering buying an Altima or any other Nissan vehicle, please take this message as a warning and DO NOT DO IT. Save yourself the headaches and emotional turmoil.

On Thursday, 07/09/2020 I got in my car and tried to start it and I got the message "Key ID Incorrect" which was interesting because I was able to unlock and lock the car and even power it on. After a while my S/O came and said, "Let's try and see if it's the battery." So when we opened the hood of the car and looked at the battery there was a ton of corrosion on the battery. Well we were able to "jump" the battery and get the car started. Took the car back to the dealership and had a complete battery service on the car for free because they told me my battery was fine and good at the time of service but in fact was not. Then they had to replace the battery because it was dead. And this battery was only 2 years old.

Then Friday, 07/17/20 while on 95 NB to NYC to see my family, I started noticing something very strange with the RPM on my car. It was jumping up to 3-4 RPM like I was accelerating but I in fact was not. So I thought it might have been a computer glitch from when I started the car back up after filling up the gas tank (from half to full) for the road trip. So I pulled over in DE at a rest stop, turned the car off for about 5 minutes and then restarted. So, I get back on 95 NB and proceed. Then it got worse! We were on the DE bridge (if anyone knows that bridge you would know that's not a place for this to happen). The car didn't really want to accelerate up that bridge and there was only 2 lanes because there is currently construction on the bridge. So we make it over the bridge and get to the NJ turnpike.

As I am on the phone (using Carplay) talking to my S/O father, I just got my turnpike ticket and the car wouldn't MOVE AT ALL! So now I am nervous and scared because I am in the middle of the road and the car isn't trying to go forward from a stop. So as I am attempting to move the car over to the shoulder the car starts to accelerate again, so we are like, "Okay, let's get to NYC and we will figure it out there what to do." So the car seems to get itself together the longer we are on the turnpike. My S/O dad said it may have been bad gas. So we get to the Woodrow Wilson Service Stop (which I usually do) and go in, come back out, and try to drive the car over to the service area to get Octane Buster for the gas to see if that resolves the issue. NOPE! THE CAR DOES NOT GO FORWARD OR BACKWARDS! The dang transmission WENT OUT! WTH!

I have had 16 cars (DJM lol) in my life and NEVER had anything like this happen but from the very 1st car that I had that had almost 200,000 miles on it. This is a 2018 NISSAN ALTIMA with only 60K on it! THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING! Me and my sister were STUCK on the NJ turnpike! Thank GOD we have AAA Premier Membership! First of all, if you ever break down on the turnpike just know that your towing service cannot tow you from the turnpike, NJ Turnpike Authorities have to tow you first WHICH IS A SEPARATE TOWING FEE! Then your tow service will tow you from there which is ANOTHER FEE! This was ALL FREE because I have AAA. If you don't have it I HIGHLY recommend you getting it!

Anyway, I had my car towed from NJ back to Baltimore, MD to the NISSAN dealership, I contacted the Service Manager IMMEDIATELY when it first happened and she is on top of this because I AM NOT PLAYING AT ALL WITH NISSAN! I am a single mother of 3 and am supposed to have a reliable car! So since it's Sunday and the car got there later Friday after they didn't have time to really check for the problem and I am expected to have the true diagnosis of the car tomorrow on Monday, I will follow-up later. But this is the worse experience I have ever had with a "new" car.

My drama didn't end there though because the rental car that I was given from Hertz in NJ that I had to take an Uber for, battery died in NYC! But "jump started" that car and at least made it back to Baltimore safely and had to exchange that rental car for another one yesterday. Hopefully my life will calm down once Nissan fixes this issue. If anyone else has an transmission issues with a 2018 Altima please share! I would appreciate to hear your experience. Thanks!

After the car is at the dealership where we bought the car for 3 days, they finally called and said that it's going to take 2 to 3 days to bring an inspector in from Nissan to diagnose the CVT issues, which they don't even open the transmission to see what the issue was. Conveniently Nissan will not go back 1 more year on their garbage CVT transmission, so my wife and I had to pay $600 for a new one. Thankfully we still had the extended warranty on the vehicle. I'm furious at this point, so I called Nissan America to file a complaint. I got no offer of anything, just a few apologies and some lines of crap. And now this brings us up to June 2020. My wife and I had to pay $1100 to get a fuel issue taken care of, to which Nissan knows that it could possibly cause a fire, but won't issue a recall to address the issue. Come to find out that where the fuel pump is is under our 3 year old daughter's car seat.

Again, I contacted Nissan America and filed another complaint. I gave them my wife's phone number to call, as well as mine. My wife talked to "Kate" who was some kind of regional manager. My wife kindly and patiently explained everything that was going on and the entire time, the only thing Kate did was say "I do apologize." Then my wife got angry with this but still kept calm, to which she proceeded to ask Kate "if you know this is an issue, why don't you care? Why don't you care about your consumers? What's it going to take for you guys to understand the safety and value of a human life riding in your car? Would you let your husband or significant other and child/ren ride in this car if you knew it had issues that could result in death? Would you be prepared for a wrongful death lawsuit?" To which Kate simply had nothing to say except offer more apologies.

Clearly Nissan DOES NOT CARE about human life and doesn't care about their consumers. Once they get your money, they don't care. Such a careless company with heartless employees that don't care. We are unfortunately first time and now last time owners of a Nissan. Can't wait to trade this piece of junk car on a non Nissan vehicle. P.S. Nissan America should take lessons on customer service from Hyundai.

The car is at 56 plus thousand with a warranty that ends at 60,000. I DO NOT have money for a new transmission and Nissan needs make things right and warranty my Transmission and stop giving me the run around to avoid the warranty. The Mechanics code reader is not wrong and more then one code reader was used each time I took it to the mechanic just to see be sure of the results. I myself have worked on many cars doing all levels of repairs over the years, I may not know everything but I am Not stupid as they tried to make me feel by how they spoke to me, which I just let go in that moment. My Nissan needs repaired under warranty before it up as I am still having the same issue. Nissan honor your manufactures warranty. I would not encourage anyone to go to Smolich Nissan in Bend Oregon at this point.

I looked online and saw that I wasnt the only one having this problem so I called corporate. They put in a case number for me but at the end of the day they said I was out of warranty so they were no helped. I had just brought the car 2 years before but I'm out of warranty because I was over the miles. Considering this was a recall on the transmission and it was the transmission that was messing up I feel as if they shouldve provided some help. They do not. I came up with the money and told them to fix it and a couple of days later they tell me that a bolt cracked on them and they have to replace it. Okay how much will it cost, $4800. I just had to come up with 4200 and now I'm being asked for 600 more because you guys broke something. All they could say was, "We didnt break anything. It's just the part was too old and it cracked, but without this part we cant fix the car."

I told them just to put it back together and I'll take it somewhere else. I was so mad. They refused. They said there was no way to put it back together because that piece was gone. So of course I end up paying the $4800. Nissan took a month to fix my car although I told them to fix it 3 days after they called me with the quote. Nissan did not give me a rental car so I had to find my own way. This car has cost me a lot of money and I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. Save yourself the time and money and do not buy a Nissan!!