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.

3.1

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
44,867 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.

2002 Nissan Altima suspension problems

suspension problem

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2002 Nissan Altima Owner Comments

problem #3

Jul 022015

Altima

  • 112,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

After noticing excessive rust on both front floor panels of my 2002 Nissan Altima, I googled "Nissan rust" and read the many articles and news shows on the amount of complaints. I live I St louis, so not a eastern state with excessive cold and snow. Very disappointed in this defect, and would hope Nissan would be forced to offer a recall to correct this defect.

- St Louis, MO, USA

problem #2

Aug 052006

Altima

  • miles
I have followed the manufacturer and dealers maintenance and have so many major problems with my car. I think Nissan needs to revisit this model and determine if it is a defect. I have an 02 Nissan Altima. The heater was replaced in the 2nd year, this year the catalytic converter was replaced and now the struts are worn out. To my understanding, this is something that happens in the long run, not with a new car.

- Tampa, FL, USA

problem #1

Nov 282004

Altima 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 22,600 miles
I owned this Nissan Altima for three months, and did not encounter any problems until this incident. Ovember 25, 2004 drove over 200 miles to Maryland. Traffic was not backed-up at all. Weather was perfect. November 28, 2004, approximately 4am, I was driving, and a friend was following me (driving), on a well paved, two lane (one lane for each direction) road with no sidewalks and absolutely zero potholes. After driving less than 1 (one) mile, the road began to bend to the left. Following the road as it was bending to the left, I felt a slight drop/bump, then proceeded to spin around, more than 360 degrees, to the left. As I started to spin, I hit a mailbox on the left side of the street (luckily there wasn?T any oncoming traffic) in the front of a house, which caused minimal damage on my front passenger door, then continued to spin and stop in front of the house next door to the mailbox I hit. The car was not drivable because the passenger side front tire was laying almost parallel to the ground. Two tow truck drivers came at separate times. The first tow truck driver did not see the road I traveled and could not determine what caused the problem, or what the problem was. The second tow truck driver did see exactly where I drove (he towed the car back to where I left from), and could not determine what caused the problem. The service department where the car was towed to told me the suspension broke due to me hitting a pot hole or a curb. The road I was traveling on did not have any pot holes or curbs. My extended warranty covers suspension damage and the dealership did not pay for any of the repairs. The wheel, front suspension, front driver axle, front steering linkage/gear, and rocker/pillars/floor were replaced, and my front door was repaired. Portions of the car was painted. I am not sure if the old parts are available.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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