CarComplaints.com Notes: Here's a disturbing trend for the 2002 Nissan Altima: the engine starts burning oil like crazy, the catalytic converter goes bad, the head gasket blows and eventually the entire engine needs replacement. Sound familiar? Like a script from a horror film, these Altimas seem doomed to fail around 95k miles.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
71,261 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
We are complaining about the fuel mileage with the Nissan Altima. It's a brand new 2003 Altima with a 2.5/4-cylinder engine that Nissan advertises on all their window stickers as getting 23/29. After the breaking period, my father still was getting only 20 mpg so returned the car along with the original window sticker to the Nissan dealer in hilliard, oh & they agreed to check it out which they did & reported that the car was fine & operating properly. When he picked the car up, he was given some papers & assumed the sticker was among them, but wasn't. when he realized he was missing the sticker, he returned to get it & was told they couldn't find it. He took his camera to the dealer & took pictures of like stickers on like model Altima clearly showing the 23/29 mpg rating. A couple of weeks later, he took it in again explaining it was still not getting any better mileage & something must be done so bonnie, the service mgr. There took over. Again they checked it out & told him the same thing...the car is performing just fine & they have no idea why he is not getting the advertised mileage. He takes it in for a 3rd time, they bring him home & keep the car for several hours. I take him back to pick it up & we wait for bonnie who tells us they have exhausted every method they have for trying to find out why the car is only getting 20mpg. She agrees to call Nissan headquarters to see if they have any suggestions or would trade out cars for my dad. Several days later she calls stating she made the call. He's really trapped & at his wits end. I subscribe to consumer reports so checked to see if they had tested the car & sure enough they had. They reported getting only 22mpg on the exact same 2003 4-cylinder model, which made me start thinking that probably nobody was getting the advertised mileage. I started asking every person I found who had a 2003 4-cylinder Altima what mileage they were getting, not 1 person ever even took a mileage check!
I am very unhappy with my 2003 Nissan Altima purchased in March 2003 there has been several times in this past year that my car will not start I brought car to dealer they found 2 recalls both were fixed but my car still has days were it will not start. I went back to dealer they tell me there is nothing they can do till they can find out how to fix problem it has been several months and they still have no idea what is wrong with my car they told me that several people are having same problem and there is nothing they can do right now! if they don't know how to fix my car I should get my money back or they should replace it! I never no from day to day if my car will start.
Dealer still hasn't made contact about a repair on a particular recall. Vehicle is still with the dealer. The vehicle was taken tot he dealer for recall repairs but was told by the technician that they lacked all the parts and information to perform the work. The consumer request information on any other local dealers that would be capable of performing the recall.
I am very unhappy with my 2003 Nissan Altima. I purchased it used in Aug. 2002. It has been in the shop numerous times for several things. Faulty shocks, which took three visits and two different shops to get it fixed. And the latest problem, not starting. And to top it off on christmas eve stalling in the middle of an intersection. Baa hum bug, no one wanted to help, they just wanted to honk, like I chose to "park" in the middle of a turn, in the intersection. After reading all the complaints on this website I am uncertain that they fixed the correct thing. They replaced the starer coil. But when I went to pick up my car the service engine light was still on. So next they replaced a sensor that is a new recall campaign. I purchased my car with exsisting recalls that I was never notified about. The only reason I found out was because I call to complain to the factory about the treatment I got from North bay Nissan in petaluma, ca. And the lady I spoke with informed me of 4 recalls! what is Nissan standards for selling "certified" used vehicles"?" I feel robbed. I hate my car, I dont want it, I dont feel safe!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wilmington, NC, USA