CarComplaints.com Notes: You don't want to get 2009 and 2010 Altima owners started about their cars. That is, unless, you know how to start their cars.
These vehicles can suddenly become impossible to start thanks to a faulty electronic steering column lock (ESCL). Nissan dealers will gladly replace it, but that will run you $1000.
More info & videos about the Nissan ESCL defect are available over at NissanProblems.com.
It's one of the many reasons this car was named CarTalk's Turd of the Week and given our Beware of this Clunker badge. Two dubious honors.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
95,579 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.
The contact's sister owns a 2009 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that while her sister was driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine revved loudly but the vehicle would not accelerate above 20 MPH. Additionally, the vehicle overheated, causing the antifreeze to leak. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, but the mechanic could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, and the dealer informed the contact's sister that there was a recall for the continuously variable transmission (CVT) that was unrepaired. The dealer referred the contact's sister to West Herr Nissan of Orchard Park (3580 Southwestern Blvd, Orchard Park, NY 14127). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.
The CVT transmission CONTINUES to "FAIL"; the transmission goes into "fail-safe mode" when the driving long distances. The engine/transmission will decelerate right in the middle of the roadway while traveling at highway speeds. This is dangerous and WILL cost someone their life.
Loss of power after 2-3 hours of driving, speed dropped down from 70mph to 45mph and then continue to drop to 20-25mph on the highway. Pull over on the should waited for about an hour and then it regained power for about an hour till once going uphill it loss power again. This is very dangerous to loose power like this on a high traffic interstate highway.
My transmission went out on me while I tried to accelerate at a busy intersection. There was no check the engine light or maintenance required light that popped up but just wouldn't go nowhere. I had to call 911 in order to direct traffic on top of calling a tow truck. I had to wait 45 on both and directed traffic myself from not getting hurt or prevent someone from hitting me and my car. The transmission was already replaced once in 2016 now its needing to be replaced again with a price tag of about $4000 which is wrong when I took car of the car very well by doing what was required of the maintenance and the part that they put on through the warrenty in 2016 only is good for 1 year which is not fair for the car owner knowing that this is an ongoing problem with nissan. I feel like if it's under 5 years or 100,000 after a part have been replace they should pay for it because thats the price for another car
- Knoxville, TN, USA
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The contact owns a 2009 Nissan Altima. The contact stated while her son was driving 70 mph, the vehicle decelerated to 20 mph, without warning. The driver pulled off the roadway, restarted the vehicle, and the vehicle drove as designed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that the vehicle was working as designed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and the contact was informed that the vehicle was not covered under warranty. The contact stated the failure was similar to technical service bulletin tsb-10052883-6508 (power train). The failure mileage was 135,000.
This vehicle will not operate if it's driven for more than 45 minutes at highway speeds. The power train goes into a neutral mode. It then requires a pull over onto a freeway to allow it to cool down for at least 30 minutes before the vehicle will work. It does not matter what the ambient temperature is outside. When driving at speeds lower than 50 miles per hour it does not have this problem. Per the Nissan mechanics this is a known problem with the cvt and the only way to fix it is to completely replace the cvt. We have tried a transmission cooler but that does not work. This is very dangerous as it requires the vehicle to be stopped and turned off for 20 minutes which can be a big safety problem as it would require sitting on the side of the freeway or, if able, sitting in the vehicle in an unsafe neighborhood.
The cvt transmission has given me major problems after driving for 60+ miles. Up until then it does fine just as it has always done around town driving. After about an hour and half of driving the vehicles stops allowing you to go over 40 mph and I found that this is called 'limp mode' which is to protect the transmission. The problem is that the car is not even getting over heated whatsoever at all. I had the transmission serviced by Nissan and thought this would fix the issue but no such luck. When you have a car that you got brand new and have taken care of it and low mileage you should be able to drive somewhere that is more than an hour away. My car is unable to be taken on any road trip whatsoever. I have had myself in some unfortunate situations due to this problem. I had the vehicle serviced and was told it was good to go on a road trip the next day as I had explained the situation to them and was assured that I could safely make the trip. Low and behold sixty miles out of town I could only go 40mph on a highway with a 75 speed limit. Nissan dealership was not anywhere near me. I was 100 miles away from anywhere I could get help which is all Nissan told me to do was bring it in to a dealership! I did just that before my trip to fix this issue and it wasn't fixed. What am I to do?
Driving the highway 75 miles hour and have the accelerator not response. Was told cvt transmission overheating going into safe mood causing vehicle to slow and accelerator not responding. Barely pulling off the highway and waiting to have control again. Was told that a radiator for the transmission was needed. Scared to drive.
Nothing but problems with this car since I purchased it. Had to replace all tire sensors, speed sensors, coils, front passenger tire rod, the ctv transmission, and the trunk leaks into the trunk and the tail light's. I have repaired all these things out of my own pocket.I have been stranded several times, I have almost been hit, and have had the car towed. The dash has become sticky and everything sticks to it. It produces a glare on the wondow which makes it hard to see.the engine experiences loss of power and no mechanic can pinpoint the problem. I do not drive it much since I have purchased it. This car should be a lemon or recalled. The problems keep coming.
Several things are wrong or gone bad. Nissan suppose to be awesome vehicles with good reputation but tell you if I had known or could have for seen all the trouble, wow. 1. have had problems with steering wheel locking, ok that was fixed it has done it again. Module is bad. 2. had to replace transmission very costly 3000, and was told that in a couple yrs would need it again. Push button start is part of the locking issue so why is this not fixed from what I have read it's an ongoing problem, actually the same issues with my 2009 Altima is exactly what thousands of others are going through, why is this not fixed why are we all still having these problems, my car is taken all the way to Nissan dealership in louisville ky. Oh about 45-to an hour away, for all regular maintaining, all the way down to the oil changes. Like I said Nissan suppose to be superior vehicles this has been a nightmare, I can't afford to pay the price of fixing the car every time I turn around. Trade in on it sucks, resale privately does too. Something needs done, how many hundreds of thousands of people have the same problems with their Altima
On more then one occasion when driving on the freeway for about 45 min. The acceleration speed drops to about 40 mph. And when going on hills its even worse. This has been going on for some time now, but now I have a second Altima that is having very similar issues. After sitting on the side of the freeway for a hour, the car returns to normal. This can not be a normal problem, I have searched and found that a number of people have had very similar issues and in fact I received a letter stating that 2014-2018 Nissan where having acceleration issues. ( I have attached the letter) I have 2 cars now that have the same issue and I can not afford to fix them, especially if I am not 100% sure what the correction is. I have also attached copies of others that have the same issues, and you will see that some have tried to fix but get different responses on the fix. Please help!! thanks
I am experiencing two severe safety issues with my 2009 Nissan Altima coupe. 1. when I am driving on the highway, after about an hour, my transmission will not allow the car to go the speed limit or accelerate. No matter how hard I press on the gas pedal, the car will not shift, loses power and gets progressively worse the farther I drive. I had to pull off the highway for fear that someone would hit me because no matter how hard I tried to accelerate, the car would only go about 40 mph. 2. the dashboard is literally melting causing a blinding glare when the sun (during the day) or other headlights (during the night or rain) hit it...it creates a blinding glare making it impossible to see. Both of these issues, the transmission and dash make driving extremely hazardous.
My Altima has 257K miles. I was driving home from a friend's house and the car just died on my street. The engine made a whining sound and would not go over 5 mph. Luckily I was able to coast the car down the hill to my house. The car has been well maintained and I am replacing the cvt transmission for the second time. The last time I replaced it was 3 years ago in 2016. Most of my mileage is hwy miles. I have read numerous complaints online regarding the crappy cvt transmission in the Altima. The dealer is putting in my 3rd transmission today and only guaranteeing a 1 year / 12000 mile warranty. This does not sound like they are backing their product. From all that I have read and experienced, the car is a total safety issue losing speed in warm weather on long trips that could result in serious accidents. Could there be a recall coming?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Greer, SC, USA