CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005 Nissan Altima has two fairly significant problems with the floor pan rusting through & motor mounts breaking.
Altima owners report that up to a basketball-size hole develops under the floor mats where the floor pan metal rusts through. Average repair cost is over $1,000.
The broken motor mounts are less of a problem - they break at ~75,000 miles average & it's $400 to fix. Still, motor mounts should not break!
8.4
pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$670
Average Mileage:
116,400 miles
Total Complaints:
64 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
not sure (22 reports)
cut out the rusted metal, replace and paint (17 reports)
18months after my passenger side rusted out, so did the driver's side. This time I called Nissan customer relations and opened a complaint.
My dad was checking my brake pads for me and I happened to see my driver's side was now rusting out. I took it to Nissan to confirm my VIN and the rust. Per the nice lady at Nissan Service, I contacted 1800-NISSAN1. I sent in all the documentation as well as the receipt from the original repair and the estimate for the new required repairs from the collision repair shop...not a Nissan dealership.
I got a call about a day later to say my claim was denied because it was out of warranty. ^^^HELLO^^^...they are ALL out of warranty. It has been documented that only 2002-2006 Nissan Altimas (not Maxima's) were affected by the rusty floorboards. I asked for it to be appealed and was told it couldn't be. I was instructed to call the BBB.
Instead, I called State Line Nissan to let them know I was denied. She suggested I call 1800NISSAN1 every day until it was resolved or call the news station that did the story back in April that Nissan wasn't helping anyone out. My repair estimate is $600...same as last time. It's not the $2k+ estimated to replace the whole floor pan. I just hung up the phone and had my case re-opened and escalated to a supervisor. Which was a fiasco. They escalated it, right back to the same guy who denied it which took 2 days. So, I escalated it again and had to wait another 2 days to be denied, yet again.
- heathm,
Overland Park, KS, US
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I have owned my car for a little over a year and my passanger side floor board is rotted! It is a long strip that runs over half the length of where my door is. I'm really afraid that someone is going to get hurt but I can't afford to get it fixed(being a struggling mother of 3) it's ridiculous that Nissan knows about this problem but refuses to recall them! Someone is really going to get hurt and they don't care! They use the excuse that it's an old car, but Nissan maximas aren't rotting out and I havn't seen many 2005s of any car that are.
This car was recalled about a year or so after I had it and was to be treated since I live in a Salt State. At 10 years old, the floor board should not be rusting through. I have Chevy that is 1998 that does not have this type of damage. I am passing this car down to a family member and was going to buy a new Altima. Now I am having second thoughts. I will be calling Nissan first, but I am sure I will have to pay for this myself.
Sad, I have had 2 other Altimas, both ran great and aside from replacing the brakes for normal wear the cars have had no significant problems. so I have trusted the quality. Just got this car out of an estate only to find that you could put a something the size of a football through the floor. This is not minor body rust issue. Nissan step up!!
We learned from news stories in April 2015 that many Nissan Altimas around this year had a rusting floorboard problem. Took picture by putting cell phone under car and realized ours did to. Brought to dealer July 2015. Nissan refused to pay for repairs. We were told they would be about cost of car. If Nissan had publicized this years ago maybe problem could have been fixed before rust spread. There is no way ordinary car owners would know about this until their feet fall through the floor.
This the most ridiculous case of corrosion failure I have seen on any vehicle since the junk that was built in the 70's. Nissan has to be aware of this manufacturing defect. Why no re-call? My dealer informed me that floor-pan replacement kits are available for this model. Coincidence?
Update from Sep 29, 2018: Nissan still refuses to acknowledge the design defect that has resulted in thousands of floor plan replacements in Altimas and Maximas. Too bad, The cars aren't bad otherwise, and the dealers are decent . I've moved on. 'Finally unloaded the 2005 Altima. I have purchased 5 Toyota's since being jerked-around by Nissan. Goodbye forever Nissan clowns.
Car still runs good and the whole underneath is rusting out and the body. Definitely was not worth the money that I paid for it. Won't recommend a Nissan to anyone.
Actually now I have 150,000 miles and it still runs great. The Crank and cam sensors died but after replacing the car ran smooth. The floor pan is bad but this is New England. I have seen crappier cars in my day.
The rear brakes are not designed well in this car. Also, the rack and pinion has developed some play.
Took my car into the repair shop yesterday and the mechanic says "Did you see the story on NBC yesterday about all the Altima floorboards rusted out? What year is your car again?". Sure enough, as the pictures show, I have the same problem. They seemed to think that Nissan had issued a recall according to the news story, but I have not found any evidence of that. I filed a complaint with the NHTSA this morning and will head to my local Nissan dealer to see what they tell me. I'm interested in the class-action lawsuit someone else mentioned here. This is an obvious design flaw, the corrosion is centered around the poorly-designed drain plugs.
This was expensive and unexpected. Nissan seemed VERY familiar with the problem and knew immediately when I called what it was and how much it would cost to do the repair.
I have had my car for less then a year it only went threw one winter and the floor is rusted out on the passenger side. are you kidding me? I really want this fixed, this is high upsetting. I actually love my car but it's just starting to be more and more of a problem. I really hope you guys have a solution for all the people with this recall, this is not OK.
This problem is coming out of the blue. The car is in great shape. It is a one owner and I am 75 years old. The car is currently garaged, but was exposed to the elements in the past. I am told it is not drivable without extensive repairs. I NEED this mode of transportation and a hole in the floor is enough to keep me off the road. Where is there help???
The whole structure is rusting out, so badly that mechanic believes I shouldn't waste my $$ fixing anything else. Yes there ARE mechanical problems and issues with the transmission, but the rust problem is the worse. He believes driver of passenger floor could collapse at any time. He warns me NOT to drive on the Expressway! Why the hell did I buy a Nissan!
I took the car in for service- dealer reported floor pan perforation and would submit to Nissan for authorization to repair-- Nissan declined. I called Nissan and moaned and cried and they said they would review. Called me back within a day or two and advised that " as a one time goodwill gesture" ( that ship had already sailed) they would do the repair.
I was told years ago by an old timer Toyota master repairman, that as soon as Nissan Toyota and Honda started building cars in North America the quality would drop like a stone and they would become like the "Big Three " ie. Crappy Cars. It appears he was right--( they are still better than the big 3, but not by much) - I switched to Honda, Toyota, and Nissan ( have had 2 of each ) 25 years ago and know for a fact that the old ones were much better than the newer ones and the company's attitude was much more customer oriented 20 years ago.
Within 2 years of finding light corrosion on the floor boards, holes developed on both driver and passenger sides. The rugs are getting wet. Annoying and expensive to fix. Don't have money right now.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
PAINT ON ROOF PEELING AWAY. RUST FORMING ON THE SIDE NEAR WHEEL WHEEL.
- Carol S., New Bedford, MA, US