Complaint volume
221 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2018 Nissan Altima Complaints
221 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2018 Nissan Altima, grouped by component category.
221 Total complaints
11 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
5 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are unknown or other, air bags, power train. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 11 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 5 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 109 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 34,207 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to unknown or other, air bags, power train?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2018 Nissan Altima?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2018 Nissan Altima
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2018 Nissan Altima complaints?
11 Crash
0 Fire
5 Injury
0 Fatality
11 Towed
4 Medical attention
What are the most common 2018 Nissan Altima complaint categories?
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 37
AIR BAGS 24
POWER TRAIN 16
SERVICE BRAKES 14
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13
LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 11
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 8
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 6
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6
ENGINE 5
221 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | ENGINE | Vehicle turned off on a red light. The vehicle was on drive, my foot on the brake waiting for the green light, the car then died while waiting. Check engine light is on. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN | For the transmission I was driving at normal speed in the freeway when out of no where the car started to jerk and lost power I almost got hit by the car behind me it was a traumatizing experience for me and my son I haven’t gotten my car to get repaired because as a single mother it is very hard on me and with the suspension it had been making loud squeezing noise from my rear suspension and it has gotten worst now it’s embarrassing to be driving my daughters father in law also had an Altima and it had the same suspension issues | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | My back doors do not lock with the FOB or the interior door lock/unlock button. I have to manually unlock and lock my rear doors. This is a defect that Nissan is well aware of and seems to not care. My car only has 63,000 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Cvt transmission, yes its available for inspection. Loss complete horsepower on highway after it jerked. Kids in car at time. Took it to the autozone to get printout after check engine light came on, then took it next morning to dealership which did confirm that my transmission is in failure. Have printout confirming my concern. No lights were on I had just an oil change before getting on the highway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2024 | POWER TRAIN | I want formally lodge a complaint regarding a serious issue with a 2018 Nissan Altima that I purchased from a Nissan dealership on [XXX]. The vehicle, which had 107,000 miles at the time of purchase, has exhibited a critical failure. On [XXX], while I was accelerating to change lanes in rush hour traffic, the car began jerking and suddenly slowed down. This malfunction nearly resulted in a dangerous collision with an 18-wheeler and caused me to be run off the road. This incident could have been catastrophic, and it deeply concerns me, especially since this vehicle was intended for my daughter's commute to and from school. Following this, I had the car towed to the Nissan dealership and was informed that it requires a new transmission. I am shocked to learn that the cost to replace the transmission is $6,200. This is particularly distressing given that I purchased the car less than four months ago and was unaware of the known issues with the CVT transmission. It is unacceptable that vehicles with faulty transmissions are still being sold without adequate warning or extended warranties. Nissan should be required to provide clear disclaimers about potential transmission issues before a sale. The lack of transparency and the high cost of repairs are deeply troubling. Given the severity of this situation and the potential risks involved, I believe that Nissan should take immediate action to address these concerns. The warranty should be extended, and there should be clear warnings provided to potential buyers about the risks associated with the transmission. The current lack of empathy and action from Nissan is disappointing and unacceptable. I urge you to review this situation promptly and provide a satisfactory resolution. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | AIR BAGS | UNKNOWN air bags lights turn off and on on the passenger side. No air bag light remains on all of the time of the driver side | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | AIR BAGS,SEATS | Air bag dash warning light came on. Brought to dealer. They"fixed". Light came back on few days later. brought back to dealer. They said drivers side seat frame with air bag needs to be replaced. they ordered part & said 2 week wait. Called dealer back 2 weeks later & they said part not released by Nissan. Called Nissan consumer affairs. They informed me they have no ETA when parts will be available/shipped. Been about 2 months since first contact with dealer & have no idea if/when will be repaired. See recalls on older Altima & am wondering if this is an issue Nissan is not addressing. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Altima. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights were not functioning properly. The contact stated that the headlights were very dim. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Altima. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the hood latch inadvertently unlatched, and the hood raised up and fell onto the windshield and cracked the windshield. The contact was able to drive a short distance to the residence. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the windshield was replaced. The contact stated that she was informed by the Insurance provider that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V315000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages); however, the contact never received the recall notification letter. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 59,000 |
| Jun 2024 | AIR BAGS | My airbag light is on.. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that while driving from a stop sign and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle hesitated to respond as intended. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle was jerking for several minutes. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer but was not diagnosed since the check engine warning light was not illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS | Dealership sold me a car that had faulty air bags but neither the manufacturer nor a dealership is wanting to correct the problem. Please help. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | POWER TRAIN | Car started acting strangely on the way to work one morning, rpms would jump all over, it started to jerk, judder, slow to accelerate. That evening it did the same a few minutes after driving it. Got it to a local trusted mechanic who test drive and ran an OBD2 diagnostic check, which returned a P17F0 code. He told me it's serious CVT issues and referred me to the local Nissan dealership. The next day they called with the same diagnosis, CVT failure. Car was around 99,500 miles. The horrible extended warranty company I chose wouldn't honor it, said the car was fine. Nissan dealer argued that it WAS CVT failure and could cause a hazard. Nevertheless, I picked it up on 05/02. The next evening on the way home from work, in heavy traffic at 50 mph, it started lurching, crazy rpms, shuddering, going into neutral then back to D. As I was turning into a packing lot to stop, the CVT completely failed. The car wouldn't accelerate and left me at an almost stand-still in the middle of the left turn, as incoming traffic nearly crashed into me. A motorist helped push it into the parking lot, where it was towed back to Nissan... where it still sits today with a shot CVT. Nissan refused to help or offer any goodwill assistance even though it nearly caused multiple collisions. The car has been maintained perfectly, with CVT service performed at 65k miles and another at 95k miles. NHTSA should mark this issue as a safety hazard as a car that suddenly loses power puts families in danger. A modern car that can't even reach 100k miles before a major failure is pathetic. And Nissan having known about this issue for 10+ years (as made evident by the multiple lawsuits) should be held accountable. One day this massive CVT issue is going to seriously injure someone, or worse. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | Brake switch failure contributed to intermitten braking resulting in near crashes | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | As I was driving on a highway, my sunglasses and light compartment on my roof completely fell out of my roof in front of my windshield view. I contacted Nissan and they stated that they could do absolutely nothing for me. Did not have any concerns regarding the fact that it almost caused me to get into an accident as it came swinging right in front of me and almost hit me and my head. This is also a very common issue when you look it up online with these vehicles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | TIRES | I purchased Milestar tires model ms932 sport in 2021 size 235/45/18. In Jan.2024 my tire pressure indicator light came on and I pulled over and changed the tire to my spare and took the tire to my tire dealer and it had to be replaced with another tire due to the sidewall separating on the inside of the tire. The tire was on the front of the passenger side of the car. There was still plenty of tread wear on the tire. About a month later the same thing happened to another of the milestar tires. This time it was on the front driver's side. When this happened to the second tire, I took the car into the tire dealer and upon inspection it appears to be that the tires are going to do the same thing on the other two. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | AIR BAGS | Cuando lo encendí en la mañana ya Marcava la luz de advertencia de las bolsas de aire | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The system that’s got the issue is the backup camera. When I’m backing up periodically, all of a sudden it’ll go black or really dim to where I’m not able to see anything. I never know when it’s going to go black or dim, but it will happen when I’m backing up. I noticed that there was a recall while looking at credit carma. It stated that it had a recall, but when I called the Nissan customer service, I was told my car doesn’t have any recalls. My car has this same issue, but for some reason my car wasn’t included in the recall, when it should’ve been. I feel that this is a hazard for me, but yet for some reason Nissan doesn’t think so, since my vehicle wasn’t included in that recall. I don’t have any pictures because I don’t know when or where it may happen— for instance out shopping when I’m backing into a parking space using my camera it’ll go black or really dim. Then this scars me because I’m in the middle of backing and not knowing how close I’ve gotten to the vehicle behind me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When backing up, often times my rear camera screen goes black and I’m unable to see anything. It is not consistent and sometimes it appears to be distorted like a tv channel trying to clear. There have been no accidents and the most recent incident was on 1/3/24. I see there is a recall for cars as early as 2019 for the same issue, however, my 2018 vehicle is experiencing the same thing. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was riding down the road and the interior overhead dome light just fell out and was hanging. It was hanging right by my head. I researched this issue and it seems to be a REGULAR occurrence in these cars and the dealer wanted to charge me to fix it even though I have a warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Vehicle turned off while driving. Battery disconnected as the battery terminal connector got lose. after a quick clean-up of the terminal corrosion, it was obvious that the terminal has completely deteriorated (corroded) and has no more strength to hold a good contact to the battery terminal. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE | 1- el motor esta partido 2- foco trasero derecho las conexiones están malas y los cables podridos. 3-el carro dejo de acelerar en carretera perdiendo totalmente el control. 4- lo lleve a un mecanico y el diagnostico fue que el motor esta partido porque al carro nunca le hicieron sus mantenciones ni cambios de aceite y esto deterioro el motor. 5- el banco no y el dealer me dice que todo lo que le pase al carro luego de su compra no tiene nada que ver con ellos. 6- el carro lo compre y tenia varias lamparas encendidas pero en el dealer me dijeron que estaban fallando los censores pero que todo estaba bien. Lo que era todo mentira. El dealer cuando compre el carro me dijo que tenia garantia por 6 meses, como no hablo ingles ellos me explicaron las condiciones del contrato y firme un papel sin saber que era que no tenia garantia, y cuando compre el auto venia con fallas pero ellos mismo la revisaron y dijeron que era solo una goma. Luego de esto empieza con mas fallas pero descubro que el dealer lo cerraron y no contestan los llamados para reclamos ni nada. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEATS | Occupant Sensor for Airbags is not working and airbag light is on, this is a safety issue which can cause loss of life in an accident this needs recalled immediately | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2023 | POWER TRAIN | The transmission would shift into neutral while driving down the road, loosing power to the drive train. This happened multiple times on the interstate at higher speeds in the left lane. Cars following came close to hitting me because of the sudden loss of power and speed. Talking with multiple transmission shops and a dealership they stated it was a common problem in the Nissan Altimas. Brought it into a independent transmission repair. First try was a flush and fluid replacement, after a day the issue returned. Next they replaced the transmission with only about 75,000 miles. No warning lights or messages about the failure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2023 | POWER TRAIN,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I bought my car in February 2021 and me not knowing anything about vehicles I first heard the popping noise when I backed my car out of the driveway.I thought it was something to do with the steering wheel. I recently had someone to look at the car and they said it was my front axles going bad, this could be a safety issue. I have to work with mentally challenged people and I have to transport them back-and-forth to doctors appointments. Is there anyway that there could be a recall on those axles because I know someone else who has an Altima just like mine and hers does the same thing . It’s very embarrassing to hear that popping noise and I’m afraid that my car will break down because of it and my front crash light stays on constantly. Please help me resolve this issue. I’ve been dealing with it since I bought the car.. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |