What ownership is like, what breaks at what mileage, what the repairs cost, and what to check before you buy one.
← All Nissan Altima generations
NHTSA complaints per catalog listing run from 1.62 for 2012 (426 complaints across 263 listings) to 13.68 for 2009 (1,601 across 117), against a generation median of 5.25. The highest year, 2009, is 2.6 times that median. Flagged by our rule: 2009.
| Miles | Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| not stated by the sources for this generation | CVT problems (shudder, slipping, replacement) | $4,800 to $5,500 at a Nissan dealer (CoverageX). Other sources give wider all-Altima ranges: $1,500 to $8,000 (DMV JDM Depot) and $5,000 to $8,000+ for a remanufactured unit (I-90 Nissan). | CoverageX says the 2007-2012 cars had early CVT issues, but the extended-warranty bulletins we read name only 2013-2018 Altimas, so these cars are not covered by those two extensions. The cost figures are all-years Altima ranges read from search-result snippets. |
| any | Air bag and occupant sensor recalls | Free at a Nissan dealer when open | NHTSA recall 08V521000 covers 204,361 2007-2008 Altimas (including hybrids) for air bags; 11V408000 and 12V055000 cover 2012 cars. Confirm by VIN. |
| any | Steering and suspension recalls | Free at a Nissan dealer when open | NHTSA recalls 12V494000 (2012-2013 steering), 08V363000 (2008 front suspension link bolt), 09V358000 (2009-2010 upper strut), 11V371000 (2011-2012 suspension). Steering is the largest complaint component for the generation in our NHTSA pull. Confirm each by VIN. |
A year is flagged by our rule only when all three hold: (1) its NHTSA complaints per catalog listing is at least 2.0x the median for its generation, (2) the share of ads that mention a problem is above the generation median, and (3) we track at least 30 listings for that year. The cutoff was fixed before we looked. Ad mentions are not failures, and a flag is a reason to inspect harder, not a verdict on any one car. We also re-ran the ad test with the 'rust' flaw left out, because the ad reader counts phrases like 'no rust' as mentions, and publish a flag only if it passes both ways.
Complaints add up over a car's whole life, so older years in a generation can look worse here than they are. Read this flag next to the complaint details below.
| Year | Complaints | Top components | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 498 | Suspension, Air Bags, Service Brakes, Hydraulic | |
| 2008 | 1,047 | Structure, Unknown Or Other, Air Bags | |
| 2009 | 1,601 | Steering, Steering,electrical System, Electrical System | |
| 2010 | 393 | Unknown Or Other, Air Bags, Power Train | |
| 2011 | 242 | Power Train, Unknown Or Other, Structure | |
| 2012 | 426 | Power Train, Air Bags, Unknown Or Other |
source: NHTSA complaints database (api.nhtsa.gov). Complaints are owner reports, not confirmed failures.
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We don't tell you to skip a year; we flag by a fixed rule, and it flags 2009 and 2019. 2009 has 13.68 NHTSA complaints per catalog listing (1,601 complaints across 117 listings) against a 2007-2012 median of 5.25. Third-party lists most often name 2002 (24/7 Wall St) and the CVT years. 2002 has 1,047 complaints across 7 listings in our NHTSA pull, but only 7 catalog listings, so the rule cannot flag it. 2013 has 2,314 complaints across 325 listings, the most of any year.
CoverageX puts it at about $4,800 to $5,500 at a Nissan dealer. DMV JDM Depot gives a wider $1,500 to $8,000, and I-90 Nissan says $5,000 to $8,000+ for a remanufactured unit. One 2015 owner reported a $5,900 AAMCO quote at 202k miles. These are search-result snippets, not full-page reads.
Yes. Nissan's May 2020 bulletin extends the CVT warranty on 2013-2016 Altimas from 60 months/60,000 miles to 84 months/84,000 miles, and its May 2023 bulletin does the same for 2017-2018 Altimas. Both say owners who opted out of the class action may not be covered, so check the VIN with a Nissan dealer. Coverage is measured from the original in-service date, so many of these cars are now past it.
CarComplaints counts 131 catalytic converter failure complaints for the 2002 model year, with an average repair of $2,360 at 102,500 miles. RepairPal's average for an Altima converter is $1,577 to $1,682. Go-Parts warns a new converter will not clear a P0420 code if the cause is an oxygen sensor or exhaust leak. These are snippet reads.
We don't rank reliability. The 2019-present generation has the lowest complaints per listing in our data (median 0.29 against 2.00 for 2013-2018), but newer cars have had less time to collect complaints, so that partly reflects age.
NHTSA lists the 2007-2011 Altima Hybrid under its own name. We merged its complaints into the Altima counts and did not analyze it separately.