CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2014 Nissan Altima shows multiple problem trends, continuing the poor reputation of the 2013 Altima, prompting us to give it our "Beware of the Clunker" badge.
The stereo system in this car works most of the time like it should, but sometimes it goes off on it's own and will not produce any audio out from the speakers. In addition, the ability to turn the volume up or down is not available. The bars are greyed out. I had to pull over on the road, shut off the car for 2-3 mins, then start the car and audio would then come out of the speakers like normal. I noticed that sometimes when my iPhone is plugged into the USB port, this issue would happen. I also noticed that in hot weather, this issue happens intermittently as well.
Another audio issue is that when the Bluetooth is on and streaming music, the stereo system will pause for 2-3 seconds then reconnect. It's hard to say if the root cause of this issue is the connectivity of the iPhone or if it is stemming from the car. But with the issues I've had with this car, I wouldn't be surprised if the problem is actually coming from the car.
The dealership could not reproduce the problem and said all the firmware was up to date.
Update from Nov 9, 2014: I noticed that when the weather is HOT, the stereo system will shutoff or become unavailable at all when the car is first turned on. My simple speculation is that the electronic components on the board are either not equipped to handle the temperature of the heat or there is not enough thermal grease on a certain heatsink (I'm only assuming this since i have not seen the board myself to know if a heatsink is on the board or not).
This is frustrating. And sometimes when trying to play audio from my iPhone using bluetooth, I find i need to first switch the input to "SXM" (serious SM) then switch back to AUX to play bluetooth.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
The stereo system in this car works most of the time like it should, but sometimes it goes off on it's own and will not produce any audio out from the speakers. In addition, the ability to turn the volume up or down is not available. The bars are greyed out. I had to pull over on the road, shut off the car for 2-3 mins, then start the car and audio would then come out of the speakers like normal. I noticed that sometimes when my iPhone is plugged into the USB port, this issue would happen. I also noticed that in hot weather, this issue happens intermittently as well.
Another audio issue is that when the Bluetooth is on and streaming music, the stereo system will pause for 2-3 seconds then reconnect. It's hard to say if the root cause of this issue is the connectivity of the iPhone or if it is stemming from the car. But with the issues I've had with this car, I wouldn't be surprised if the problem is actually coming from the car.
The dealership could not reproduce the problem and said all the firmware was up to date.
Update from Nov 9, 2014: I noticed that when the weather is HOT, the stereo system will shutoff or become unavailable at all when the car is first turned on. My simple speculation is that the electronic components on the board are either not equipped to handle the temperature of the heat or there is not enough thermal grease on a certain heatsink (I'm only assuming this since i have not seen the board myself to know if a heatsink is on the board or not).
This is frustrating. And sometimes when trying to play audio from my iPhone using bluetooth, I find i need to first switch the input to "SXM" (serious SM) then switch back to AUX to play bluetooth.
- liveontomorrow, Tracy, CA, US