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:
7 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 1
Average Mileage:
52,021 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.
Cant get car to go from put to drive always gotta keep restarting I think its shift lock I keep putting foot on brake and have too do it 3 or 4 times very stressful.
Replaced the battery and now brake light and check engine like is on and won't start. Brakes are hard. Car was parked for 2 days and came out to a dead battery. Replaced battery and the copper battery connector. Went to start it and then all these other issues happened.
The shift lock solenoid has failed in the car. I can not take the car out of park.this is a common problem among Nissan and they refuse to acknowledge the problem. Numerous dealers have said that the piece in the shift lock that Nissan uses is defective. Nissan is requiring me to pay $1,000 to fix.
I was driving my 2013 Altima with 73,000 miles on the interstate going about 85mph and all of a sudden I fell a sudden surge in power the RPM went from 2,400 to 5,300 simultaneously and the I smelled something burning and my engine died I almost got into a horrific accident but luckily the person behind me wasn't on there phone but they had to slam on the brakes beacause my car was slowing down quickly probably beacause of the jatco cvt but once I am pulled over I am going through my glove box to find the roadside emergency card with a number on it but I found a recall notice from 2 years ago that said that the computer that controls your transmission does not work and I need to take it in to service immediately or damage will occur well when I had the recall performed I had 55,000 miles on the car and that is 55,000 miles of damage happening to my transmission so I called Nissan and told them since they do not know how to make a car and that I almost died in a car wreck beacause of them that they need to send me a tow truck asap to tow it to a Nissan dealership they sent me one but they did not pay fore it so 200 dollars later I am sitting in my brocken car in a Nissan dealership and I went in and told them since they can't build a transmission that won't get someone killed they need to put a new one in my car that eorks and of course they refused to do it so I gave it to them and they lowballed me and gave me 4,000 dollers fore the car whatever I was so mad at that moment then I drove my but over to Hyundai and got me a 2020 Hyundai sonata limited.
Gear stuck in park unable to shift out of it. Happens every time I park my car or put it in park. Noticed this has been an issue for sometime since 2016. I think this needs to investigated and a recall definitely needs to be done to address this issue. Totally unsafe!!
Handles are breaking from the inside causing an issue where I can't open door from inside. Driver side and now one of my back doors is doing same thing! I have seen multiple complaints about this for this year of Altima sedan
Check engine light comes on. Shop runs diagnostics and all systems, independently are working, however collective issue. I.e. mass air flow sensor code reads as broken, but sensor is independently fine when tested. Multiple systems read out with error codes, but all are fine when tested separately to further analyze. No connection between multiple codes - random assortment. Vehicle fails emissions test due to these errors. Shop now states they have found tbs on this problem through Nissan & there is a part requiring a swap out. My vehicle has experienced this issue for 6+ months. Huge time & financial burden to bring car in & out of shop. Vehicle unable to get re-registered due to faulty computer system.
The inside driver's side handle has broken. This happened all of a sudden one morning when the vehicle was in park. It was very cold the night before and was below freezing at the time of this occurring. It is loose and will not open the door. In order to exit the vehicle, the window must be rolled down and the door must be opened from the outside. This happens whether the car is on or off.
The gear shift is stuck and will not move unless a pin is inserted into hole on side of gearshift. I own 2 of these 2013 Nissan Altima and they both have the same problem. This is way too much of a coincidence for this not to be a problem.
The factory headlights are so dim that it creates an enormous safety hazard when driving at night. Using the high beams is the only way you can see the road, but presents a hazard to other drivers. Nissan acts as if they don't know this is a problem, but is all over the internet. A recall needs to be issued!
Transmission codes causes vehicle to stall. It can take over five seconds for car to move when pushing the gas petal all the way down. Sometimes I could be at a stoplight and it won't move for five seconds or more. When entering the freeway, it could take up to ten seconds to maintain the flow of traffic. These are the same things that happened when the first transmission was in the vehicle before I had it replaced
The vehicle will not start after warm up/driving for a while and then turned off. It will continuously run if engine does not get turned off. In order to start the engine again, it has to cool down, then the cycle starts again. It only happens when hot. It always starts cold or cooled down. Took it to Nissan dealer for diag and they said that is was the fuel injectors, so we replaced them on their advice - but that did not solve the problem. This is issue started recently. This is a well kept and maintained 2013 Altima with the qr25de 4 cyl engine and only ~ 92, nnn miles.
My suspension has busted off the frame of the vehicle. This occured while the vehicle was in motion. It caused the tired to bend and vehicle was not driveable. It messed with the steering in the front as well. Lost traction control. I have many pictures I can send by email. I already submitted a complaint with # 11267024. I have contacted Nissan direct and they told me there is no safety issue or recall for this or that NHTSA was not investigating anything into this matter. I am seeing you are looking into this matter. Nissan refused to fix the car or help me in any way. They were extremely rude and impossible to get ahold of. I have spent over a week trying to reach someone. Nissan will not help in any way and do not care if anyone gets hurt or this happens again. Something needs to be done. It is now my problem to get the vehicle repaired and I do not feel safe driving it especially because I have children. Nissan could care less. The repair was quoted between $800-1200 and Nissan cannot do a "goodwill repair" because they claim the vehicle is to old (its 6 years old) and has high mileage. I bought the car with over 50K mileage in 2014. All my mileage is highway. I avg 17K a year in mileage.... average is 12K. Nissan should have done the right thing and repaired the vehicle. They refuse! I get told its all about VIN #'s and part #S. it is a failure across the board on all 2013 models. A recall needs made asap.
My suspension broke off the frame of the car while moving on a turn after being at a complete stop making a left. The rear driver side detached from the frame making the car unmovable and bending the tire almost at a 90 degree angle.
The car would not accelerate from a stop light. It would just do low-RPM revs then eventually crawl then rev super high and accelerate super fast. The transmission would take about 10 seconds to engage at every light and once it did it would lurch forward. Stalled 3 times. 2013 Nissan Altima with exactly 85,500 miles. Called Nissan and they said the know of no recalls or issues with the transmission and it is no longer under warranty but to take it to a Nissan dealer to have it looked at. Check engine light finally came on with code P0776, and pending codes of P 0776 P0965 P2813.
I have had the following issues with the Nissan Altima: Air bag sensor issues sometimes sensor malfunctions (looked at 3 X, not fixed), rear view camera sometimes does not work (looked at 3 X, not fixed), transmission cvt issues sometimes jumps into gear (looked at 3 X, not fixed), seat belt sometimes locks up (looked at 1 X, not fixed). Issues happen while in motion or starting.
The lower control arm in the rear passenger side rusted totall out and my I am so lucky I didn't die or the pedestrian !!!!! I lost control of my car and almost hit someone as a result! why is the world would this part rust out"?? why is something not being done to fix this safety concern? because no one has died from it yet? is that what is needed to take care of this issue for other people? the picture is attached - see the rear wheel"
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Peachland, NC, USA