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 0.99 for 2018 (226 complaints across 228 listings) to 7.12 for 2013 (2,314 across 325), against a generation median of 2.00. The highest year, 2013, is 3.6 times that median. No year reaches the 2.0x our rule needs together with an above-median ad share and 30 or more listings, so nothing is flagged.
| Miles | Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| about 202,000 in one owner report; extension runs to 84,000 | CVT failure (judder, slipping, replacement) and the warranty extension | $4,800 to $5,500 at a Nissan dealer (CoverageX); $5,900 quoted by AAMCO on a 2015 at 202k miles (one owner post). The extension makes covered repairs free inside 84 months or 84,000 miles. | Nissan's bulletins extend the CVT warranty from 60 months/60,000 miles to 84 months/84,000 miles on 2013-2016 Altimas (May 2020 bulletin) and 2017-2018 Altimas (May 2023 bulletin). Coverage runs from the original in-service date, so many cars are now past it, and some owners opted out of the class action. Check the VIN with a Nissan dealer. Cost figures come from search-result snippets. |
| any | Hood latch (can fail to latch or release) | Free at a Nissan dealer when open | NHTSA recalls 14V565000, 15V116000, 16V029000 and 20V315000 cover the hood latch across 2013-2018 cars. Confirm each by VIN. |
| any | Air bag occupant classification sensor and air bag inflator recalls | Free at a Nissan dealer when open | NHTSA recalls 15V681000, 16V911000 and 16V244000 cover air bag and occupant sensor issues on 2013-2016 cars; air bags are the third-largest complaint component for the generation in our NHTSA pull. Confirm by VIN. |
| any | Exterior lighting complaints and rear door latch | Free at a Nissan dealer when open | Exterior lighting is the largest complaint component for the generation in our NHTSA pull. NHTSA recall 17V040000 covers the rear door latch on 2015-2017 cars. Ads and complaints are not confirmed failures. |
No year in this generation was flagged. 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.
| Year | Complaints | Top components | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2,314 | Exterior Lighting, Air Bags, Power Train | |
| 2014 | 1,113 | Exterior Lighting, Air Bags, Power Train | |
| 2015 | 955 | Exterior Lighting, Air Bags, Power Train | |
| 2016 | 555 | Power Train, Air Bags, Unknown Or Other | |
| 2017 | 393 | Power Train, Air Bags, Unknown Or Other | |
| 2018 | 226 | Unknown Or Other, Air Bags, Power Train |
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.