CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Nissan Altima has multiple problem trends including the CVT transmission, and now that this model is out of warranty, it earns our "Avoid Like The Plague" badge.
Be warned: the 2014 & 2015 Nissan Altima appears to share these same problems.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
28 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
34 / 0
Average Mileage:
24,071 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.
2013 Nissan Altima 2.5S was serviced on December 19, 2016 at planet Nissan 5850 centennial center blvd. Las vegas, nv 89149 dealer performed R1609 OCS recall & PC490 cvt reprogram recall. During these process some electrical items damage. Now cvt (continues variable transmission) is failing. On April 6, 2017 took vehicle to autonation Nissan las vegas 5800 w. sahara ave the service consultant said cvt is bad and needs to be replace but Nissan do not want to pay. Vehicle drives but when you reach 25-35 miles per hour it jerks, also 65 miles per hour it jerks then it looses power, vehicle comes to a stop and it does not move. This vehicle is not safe to be on the road. Nissan needs to correct this issue before somebody gets injured.
Passenger airbag indicator light indicates airbag is "inhibited" even though my wife is riding in the passenger seat. She has no protection from the airbag in the event of an accident.
Despite multiple recalls and fixes to the passenger airbag (all open recalls completed), there are still times when a normal weight passenger is in the passenger seat and the airbag light indicates that it is off with no passenger present. The dealer has not been able to fix this, despite all the visits/recalls to date. It is not a permanent fault, just an occasional fault - passenger normally around adult/teenagers 200lb
NHTSA recall 16V-244 (R1609) was performed by dealer capitol Nissan in wilmington nc on 2/220/17 and only made the problem worse. This was the third time that the dealer had attempted to reprogram/address the problem.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the vehicle was previously repaired per NHTSA campaign number: 16V244000 (air bags). While the engine was running and the passenger seat was occupied, a warning indicator illuminated, which meant that the air bag was deactivated. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired and the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 36,600. Updated 04/06/17 lj the consumer stated the vehicle was repaired under recall, twice. The failure recurred. Updated 08/29/2017
- Marietta, GA, USA
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Light on passenger side of car is still giving us trouble. We made complaints about 2 yrs. After purchasing the car. We noticed the light came coming off and on in those two years before. Co said they were waiting for an official recall. They got it and we were told to bring the car in to be fixed. We did. They said it was fixed. About two weeks later until now the light keeps coming on and off. I am worried about my wife. We are both 77 yrs. Old. I am worried about however is sitting in my car in the passenger seat. I do not know if air bag is on or if it will go off by itself. I called Nissan dealership and they said nothing could be done. They said I could bring it in only when they could see the light on. Happens when car is in motion.
They fix my passager airbag but my driver side came on. And my car engine sound loud went U drive it. Sound like a muffler sound but I don't have a hold on it.
The OCS passenger side airbag sensor is no longer working. Nissan has refused to make any necessary repairs to ensure the safety of the vehicle. Nissan rep.quinn, first claim it was due to mileage. The second call, from yesterday, she stranded it was a warranty issue. Given the continuing issues with the sensor, the interest of public safety and the lack of assistance with repairs, it is necessary to report this defect to the nhtsha.
Passenger air bag not recognizing when someone is in the seat. Airbag remains off even with a passenger in the seat. The dealer has looked at the car multiple times and they state they can not find the problem. They have worked on the sensors and recalibrated them but the light continues to go on and off and airbag appears to be nonfunctional. Dealer says they can not duplicate the issue and system is operating as designed.. light continues to come on intermittently when the seat is occupied
2013 Nissan Altima S - safety system defect / malfunction problem:2 aspects (1)the OCS airbag and seatbelt system warning light "incorrectly indicates" a passenger is not in the seat when in fact the seat is occupied! this condition "turns off the air bag protection for an adult passenger!" (2)the seatbelt light 'incorrectly indicates' that a passenger is unbelted. Erroneous test results: Nissan 'tests' this safety system on equipment programmed by Nissan ' via a humanly devised algorithm. In other words, since the 'test equipment' is programmed incorrectly, the results will be wrong. Proof: Nissan has recalled to reprogram my vehicle 4 times (I think) ' a new 'test' algorithm. Additionally, Nissan refuses to acknowledge that there could be a faulty components of this safety system. If the 'test' fails to show a system fault. Nissan ignores the problem. Nissan refuses to replace components of this faulty system. 2013 ' 2017ocs system malfunction continues after multiple reprogrammings by Nissan. Nissan has never fixed this faulty system. Nissan needs to replace this safety system immediately!
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the passenger side air bag warning indicator was constantly illuminated. The failure appeared after the vehicle was repaired per NHTSA campaign number: 16V244000 (air bags). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 39,900.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and serviced per NHTSA campaign number: 14V138000 (air bags), but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the air bag warning indicator remained illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 52,435.
Vehicle was moving on a city street when it was hit on the driver side door by another vehicle. Side air bags did not deploy after recent recall work regarding SRS was performed. Please see attached documentation.
When an adult passenger sits in the front passenger seat the airbag dash light does not go off to indicate that air bag is functional! this is while in motion, stationary, and can sporadically work as it should but I am still concerned that the system is malfunctioning! !
The orange passenger airbag light came on right after I purchased the car in 96/97/2015, with the number 1 underneath. This light would go away every once in a while based on usage. In the last 3months or more August 2016 is when the red airbag warning light starting flashing when car is turned on moving, with a passenger or without.
The passenger side airbag activation mechanism in some of 2013 Nissan Altima doesn't work properly. Nissan already had two recalls on it but they never able to fix it. Even if someone is sitting on passenger side, the airbag light on the dashboard is activated randomly, that means airbag will not open in case of crash. It is a very serious flaw. In the recent recall they simply made a S/w update to flip the airbag light switch on/off logic. Nothing was done to fix the core issue. It again randomly switches on/off when a person is sitting. I have talked to Nissan and they don't seem to care about it. They are just trying to hide or circumvent this issue or trying to tell customers that there is no issue at all. It has been more than three years and Nissan is not fixing this issue.everytime they will say it's fixed either after recall or repair but in reality they are just trying to circumvent it through S/w upgrades.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was repaired under a manufacturers recall on the air bags but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the air bag sensor was reprogrammed. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer and the technician stated that the manufacturer would be made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 71,094.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. While driving various speeds, the front passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated. Even when the vehicle was in park, the air bag indicator illuminated even when the front passenger seat was unoccupied. The indicator displayed air bag off once the seat was occupied. The dealer was notified. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 49,000.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that the air bag warning indicator remained illuminated. The vehicle was serviced per NHTSA campaign number: 16V244000 (air bags), but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the air bag indicator remained illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was not available.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Las Vegas, NV, USA