Underbody rust. Auto body shop stated this was a very unusual condition for a vehicle this age.

- Chanhassen, MN, USA

I own a 2002 Nissan Altima. A few months ago I noticed rust on both the passenger and driver side. The drivers side is worse than the passengers side. There is an actual hole in the metal where it has corroded. It has rusted from the inside out, so it appears to me as if it is a factory defect. I called Nissan and spoke with a representative. She told me there was nothing Nissan could do because the warranty has expired. I talked to her supervisor and she told me also there was nothing they could do. Her 3 reasons were: (1) it costs too much to fix (2) she does not know the history of the vehicle and (3) the warranty has expired. I believe that this defect is a safety issue and Nissan need to fix it.

- Parker, Co 80134, CO, USA

Rusted floor boards front. Floor boards rusted specially passenger side due to defect in the drainage inside or poor design. Persons could inhale gas fumes or floor board suddenly fall down if a person is unaware that a rusted hole is underneath. Told out of corrosion warranty which is only 5 years.

- Mount Prospect, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Nissan Altima. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic shop for an oil change and while inspecting the vehicle they found the floor boards rotted out on the driver and passenger side. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they took pictures of the failure and contacted the manufacturer. The manufacturer contacted her and informed her it was wear and tear and the vehicle was out of warranty and there was nothing they can do for her. The failure mileage was 89,847.

- Hyde Park, MA, USA

I am the owner of a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 S. I have owned this car for almost 8 years and have close to 42,000 miles on it. I purchased it brand new in 2002 from a Nissan dealership. Just recently I had a routine oil change done in my car and my mechanic noticed an enormous rusted hole on the driver side of the floor panel underneath the car, the passenger side also had a big rusted spot where another hole is developing. I took it to a local Nissan bodyworks repair shop where I was advised to replace the entire floor panel, since it was so badly rusted, you can see the carpeting through the hole. The estimate came out to a total over $2,000. This comes as a complete surprise to me, since I hardly drive my vehicle and take very good care of it. It is kept in a sealed garage of a private house. The vehicle also gets washed regularly, especially during winter months. The underbody is cleaned periodically (at the very least once a week in winter) to make sure the salt and sand/dirt does not cause deterioration, it also gets waxed every so often. When the floor coverings get wet during the cold months, I take them out and dry them before placing them back in. I am just in a total state of shock, how a vehicle with 42,000 miles during a span of 8 years, which was kept inside a garage and constantly maintained have such an issue with the floor panel. There is definitely something wrong with the way that particular part of the car was manufactured.

- Champlin, MN, USA

Large hole in passenger floorboard of my 2002 Nissan Altima. Size of hole is @ 10"X 5". the underside of the vehicle is undercoated and the rest of the underside is spotless.

- Rochester, MA, USA

Had oil changed on 2002 Nissan Altima SE and notice large rust spots on the floor panels under both driver's and passenger side. Upon further investigation, the rust had created a hole right through the floor panel - lifting the carpet, I could see the road below. Nissan dealers said that it was out of warranty so they could do nothing.

- Cabot, PA, USA

On my 2002 Nissan Altima, both the driver and passenger side floorboards are rotted out. There are holes over 1 foot square on each side below the pass and drivers feet. This is a well taken care of vehicle, purchased new, washed every month (including undercarriage). The vehicle came with a factory "undercoating", that is still intact but no longer fully attached to the structure, it holds the water against the metal and rots it out, without the owner ever being able to see the damage being done until its too late! ive never seen this, even half as bad, on any car that was taken care of before (and ive been working on cars for 20 years!) this seems like a design flaw by Nissan.

- Jackson, NJ, USA

Pa vehicle inspector found large rusted holes through floor pan in our 2002 Nissan Altima which was always garaged and had only 42,000 miles. Because exhaust fumes could enter the passenger compartment we couldn't use the car. Calls to the dealer and Nissan were fruitless. An online search found several other owners of the same model with the same problem and a couple had estimates of over $2000 for repair.

- Erie, PA, USA

Gas door was not closing properly. It eventually is very crooked and does not close at all any more. I talked to several Nissan Altima owner same thing happened.

- Parkforest, IL, USA

While driving in severe wind gusts, we heard a loud screeching noise emanating from the front, left post area. Sometimes the source was the right front. The noise erupted as the wind gusted at sharp angles and the car steered into or away from the gusts. The noise was highly pronounced. I ruled out anything mechanical because we experienced the same noise whenever the gusts increased and the car was thrown left or right. Turning the steering wheel seemed to cut right into the gusts and the sound was so intense that we thought it resembled a buzzsaw trying to cut its way into the windshield/post area. We mentioned this phenomenon to our car dealer (harbor Nissan, port charlotte, fl). The service manager told us he has had this complaint from other Nissan owners and that he, too, thought it was the wind reacting against the configuration of the vehicle. Our vehicle is a 2002 Nissan Altima. The noise lasts only a split second, sometimes as long as a second. But it is persistent in high gusts. We leased this vehicle in June 2002 and had never before experienced this problem. We had not encountered such high gusts until the period I report here. We were on an extended trip and the problem persisted outbound and inbound. I'm confident there is no mechanical problem. But there is a design flaw of sorts.

- Port Charlotte, FL, USA

Consumer states that snow builds up in the small wheel wells and makes steering difficult, especially when it turns cold, it is impossible to steer. There is also extreme wear on the tires due to the ice build up, this causes the vehicle to shimmy in the front end.

- Bigfork, MT, USA