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:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
88,649 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.
Took my car in for shocks and discovered the lower cotrol arm on both sides were severly rusted. Almost to the breaking point.only 69306 miles on the car. I was told that they could have failed at any time while driving.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic to have the rear shocks replaced. Later, the shocks made an abnormal rattling noise. The vehicle was then taken back to the mechanic because the noise recurred. The mechanic installed new rear shocks, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer and dealer were not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 69,603.
My husband was driving in a parking lot at about 5-10 mph, and went through a pothole. He heard a loud noise and felt the car dip. He looked under the car and saw that it was detached from the frame and the rear wheel was at an angle. He took it to the Nissan dealership where it was inspected and repaired for approximately $1300. The rear control arm had broken completely. I checked for recalls and found there were none, but I also found there were multiple complaints on this website for the exact same issue for the rear control arm breaking suddenly, which signifies to me that there is an issue with the control arms in this model car.
2013 Altima with 86,000 miles. The lower rear passenger control arm cracked and broke off the mount. This happened while driving ~30mph. This happened while driving straight. The rear end of the car swerved pretty severely during the incident. I had three kids in the back speed so this is a huge safety issue. If this happened at higher highway speeds it's quite a dangerous situation. I was lucky this happened at slow speeds as this is a mostly highway car.
- Park Ridge, IL, USA
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When entering the freeway I began to gain speed to merge from the ramp and as I did so, I noticed I had minimal control of the car. There was a lot of on coming cars that had to brake abruptly as to not rear end my car. I pulled over to the side of freeway to check and noticed the back driver tire looked to be no longer attached. After getting my Nissan back to the town I live in and to a repair shop they informed me it was a break in my control arm and that it appered it had "rusted off" they showed me the other side of vehicle and it was also about to snap due to being rusted.
2013 Nissan Altima 4 door: I was driving the vehicle on a city street about 40 mph and heard this loud crunching noise and the vehicle started fish tailing. I parked the vehicle and had it looked at and the control arm in the back on the passenger side had completely snapped. I had to order a new one and also another for the other side because I heard if you replace one you should replace the other.
Takata recall. When driving the car and make a right turn the car appear to drag. At this point I have to move my feet off the accelerator. Turn the wheel straight and slowly press the gas. Never happen until I make a turn.
The entire rear control arm rusted and snapped. Could have caused serious harm to my family. This is only a 6 year old car and should not be rusted like this. I was driving down road heard a snap and car started to wiggle got home and it barely made it up the drive while dragging the tire.
I was driving through a parking lot when I heard a loud clunk noise and the car felt like it wasn't driving right so I pulled over and noticed the back passenger tire was caved inward. I looked under the car and the control arm that attached the tire to car was completely severed due to corrosion
Backing up in parking lot, hit curb at minimal speed and felt and heard loud sound. Car listed when driving forward. Problem not apparent initially, so drove car home. The following day it was apparent that the rear right control arm and coil spring had broken. (see photos). The car had 67,000 miles at the time. Regular service at Nissan dealer never indicated any rust or other problems. I feel fortunate that the control arm did not break while driving at highway speed. Cost to replace both right and left control arms over $2000. I feel at the minimum Nissan should be required to inspect the control arms. The car is garaged in Connecticut, washed regularly, and not driven for 6-8 weeks during the winter months while residing in warmer climate.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. While driving various speeds, a clunking type noise was present coming from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who discovered that both the driver and passenger side rear control arms had cracked due to corrosion. The vehicle was not repaired. Dorschel Nissan (3817 w. henrietta rd, rochester, NY) was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 90,000.
Car was in motion approximately 30 mph. A small bump was hit in the road and the car started to fishtail slightly. I pulled off to the side of the road to inspect the car and determined I would be able to make it home (less than 1 mile away) going at a slow ~10 mph speed. The passenger side rear lower control arm had fractured towards the center of the car upon inspecting the vehicle further in my driveway. The wheel was close to the top of the wheel well (~2-3 inches) and was at a slight inward angle. The following day the car was towed and the rear passenger side lower control arm was replaced under the dealer extended warranty. The driver side lower control arm was not replaced under the dealer warranty as it had not shown immediate signs of failure. Had the warranty not covered it, the parts and labor would have totaled around $800. The vehicle had 66,125 miles when it entered the dealer.
I began noticing a loud cracking noise which seemed to originate from the rear of the car whenever the rear wheels would go over sharp bumps. I had the dealer take a look and I have a cracked control arm.
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Altima. While driving 35 mph, the lower control arm fractured. The vehicle veered to the right and the contact lost control of the vehicle. The contact stated that the body of the vehicle would not comply with any turn and the frame stayed to the right. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that a new lower control arm was needed and scheduled to be installed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure by the mechanic. The manufacturer stated that they may issue a recall for the failure in the future. The dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 126,000.
I was backing out of my driveway about 5mph and heard a loud thud, as if I ran something over, looked under my car and the rear wheel control arm had come detached and was broken. I called the Nissan dealer who said both control arms need replaced because the other one is cracked. I started researching as I found this odd to happen in a 2013 vehicle & found more than 347,000 cars may have this same problem. This is a serious issue and all vehicles need recalled as this could lead to the driver losing complete control of their vehicle and possible death. I am grateful my 18 yr old son who is a new driver was not on the turnpike when these decided to give out and that I was just backing out of my driveway. Not only is it a safety hazard but when this happens it could also lead to thousands of dollars of additional damage if you are actually in motion with the vehicle. As I am in need of a vehicle I have to pay for these to be fixed which I was just quoted a whopping $2,100. Shame on Nissan!! someone is going to die if the control arms of the 2013 Nissan Altima do not get recalled and these vehicles are left on the road without the repairs needed.
When entering the highway on the coronado bridge at low speed the rear left control arm broke and left the car immovable. A tow was required and police for traffic control. Upon further inspection the right side lower control arm was cracked and ready to fail also. There was not any previous correspondence from Nissan warning of the possible failure and no reason to expect this to happen with a 2013 car with 85000 miles.
I was driving in a roundabout, when all of a sudden I heard a loud snap coming from rear, drivers side wheel. I started losing control of the the vehicle but was luckily able to make it to a side street where I pulled over. I noticed the rear wheel was tilted a bit sideways, and had it towed to a mechanic near by. The diagnosis was a broken control arm.
During safety inspection, the passenger side rear control arm was discovered to be cracked. The wheel was about to fall off the car. Pictures (attached) show severe corrosion around the weld seams and knuckle crevices. I kept the parts for further inspection. Noted that there is an open investigation with NHTSA in regards to this failure.
While driving the vehicle on a maintained two lane county road at the posted speed limit the vehicle suddenly darted across the road and became increasingly difficult to steer. Once stopped, you could see the the vehicles left rear passenger side tire was tilted in and rendered inoperable. I have attached photos of the control arm both where the vehicle was towed from and from the repair station it was towed to. The control arm was rusted and broke away from the frame/proper connection. We have been advised by the auto repair shop that both rear control arms need to be replaced, the broken one and the opposite side. The rear drivers side is in the same condition. This vehicle only has 86,100 miles on it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wickliffe, OH, USA