After taking my car in for a check up prior to winter at the end of October, 2015, I was shown and visually saw underside the drivers' and front passenger seats that were completely rusted through to my carpet. Upon further investigation I learned that this was a well documented problem for Altimas manufactured between 2002 and 2006. I had my car repaired and immediately wrote to Nissan Consumers Affairs about this manufacturing defect and requested they assume responsibility for their negligence. It appears that the company used a plug in the floor boards which trapped water and caused rusting from the inside out.. I received a call from a customer rep who asked what I wanted. I replied I wanted a reimbursement for my bill. He assured Nissan would review my case and he would get back to me in 2 days. Well he did called back in 2 days and told me my car was out of warranty. I explained to him that by the time the problem manifested itself all cars with this problem were out of warranty. There is no expiration date on a manufacturing defect. IT JUST DOES NOT DISAPPEAR OR CORRECT ITSELF WITH AGE! That's not rocket science.

I angrily told the rep that I would never buy another car from an irresponsible company as Nissan and would discourage everyone I knew from doing the same. I was told by my mechanic that Toyota had a problem due to manufacturing and took care of their customers even though it happened beyond the warranty date. Apparently, Toyota proved they know the importance of a happy customer and can separate the,'boys' from the 'men'.

I had a major repair for the car in March as the coolant was leaking in engine. When the tech lifted the car found this big hole below the passenger seat. It was a big crack around 8 inches and 4 inches hole. The damage was found in March 2013.

The year 2002 Nissan Altima brand new car was bought at wrong time. I had spend lots of money fixing this car due to coolant leak in engine (gasket change), cylinder misfire 2 times, water drum change, timing belt, coolant changed few times due to acceleration had water gushing noise, Heat would not come when idling.

As of now used only 118000 KMS. Now the new problem is intermittently gear would not switch. Gear would not switch from D to P. Have to move little further and the gear would change when parking needed.

Spent tons of money in this make car.

1) getting ready to drive to Florida, mechanic doing check notices he can put his hand through the floorboards, had to find a welder quickly (1/2 FOOT OF SNOW ON GROUND). Cost $500

2) heater box, replaced, cable keeps either breaking or gets trapped. A 2 minute fix, however driving home 1119 miles from Florida, no heat in car for 18 hours of driving in the cold and freezing temps. Had to wear emergency clothing the entire way. Mechanic had to flip a lever under dash to get it to work on high heat only. Home 5 weeks, cable suck again on cold air only, good thing it's in he 60's at the moment.

After I purchased this car I took it for inspection to my mechanic. During the safety inspection I found two patched holes on the floor panel in the driver and front passenger seat foot area. Holes approx 5-7 cm in diameter were covered with black tar, underbody rust protector. When I removed the carpet inside the car in this area I found metal sheets that were welded in this area with sealed perimeter. This car was just 8 years old and I found condition rather strange. Later I shared my finding with other Altima owners in Toronto Altima Club and I found that people have the same issue. L31 is notorious for rusted floor. I read somewhere that the problem with poor floor panel drainage design in this area

I had my Nissan Altima since 2002. Since having my car I have never allowed anyone else to service my car but Nissan. I take my car in to have it serviced in June of 2014. While waiting for it to be serviced the receptionist came and ask me had I thought about trading my car in and I said no, I don't have any problems at all with my Altima, plus, I am unable to afford getting back in to car payments.

So she said come with me I need to show you something with your car. I followed her. Lord and Behold my car was up on the lift and all I see was a rusted out floor pan. I said how could that have happen when I take care of my car and you here at Nissan are the only ones that service my car and no one has seen this completely rotted out floor before it ever could have gotten like this where myself or passengers in the front seat could have gotten seriously injured? All they were able to say to me was they had never seen anything like this.

I went home and decided to do some research on rusted out floors on 2002 Nissan Altima. What popped up, all these other complaints on the rusted out floor pans. I am very upset with Nissan because I feel it is definitely a manufacturing defect on their part and I shouldn't have had to be the one to fix a rotted out floor pan.

I bought my car after I got married in 2002. My 2002 Nissan Altima is considered a death trap. The passenger and driver side floor panels have rusted through. I noticed it when I went to pull the gas tank lever and saw the ground. I planned to keep the car another 2 years before replacing it. Now my husband and I have no choice but to replace the car for the safety of our children. I am so upset I have to replace my car tomorrow.

This is a problem because the car is otherwise sound. Heat and a/c work, engines fine, radio works, tires are in great shape. We wanted to sell the car to help with the down payment on my new one. I hope Nissan compensates all of us owners.

I noticed some rust under my car about 9 months ago and I showed it to my son-n-law who is a mechanic and he said it looked like the floor board is rusting out. Since then it has progressively gotten worse, now the passenger side front floorboard is almost completely gone. My mother who is 80 years old rides with me in this car and I am scared to death one day her feet will fall thru. I have seen all the complaints on the internet regarding the same issues between 2002-2005 Nissans. They also state that Nissan America will not do anything regarding the issue. I do not have $2000-$2500 for a repair. I can't even sale it the way it is. I think Nissan should stand up and take care of the situation, before someone really gets hurt in the vehicle.

Rusted through floor boards. I purchased this 2002 Altima new and loaded. It has been very well taken car of and garaged. I bought it for my daughter and she still has it garaged. I few weeks ago, I was looking under the car and noticed that both floor boards have rusted through. The holes are the size of skateboards. The car is unsafe to use at this point. Your foot can easily go right through to the street. There is no rust anywhere else on the car. Nissan says "sorry" it's out of warranty. And they don't admit that there's a defect in the manufacturing of the car, even though the internet has THOUSANDS of cases of this same problem. Wow. They must be waiting for a class action suit. When some large legal firm grabs this issue, and sends letters to every present and past Altima owner, the SH-T will hit the fan. What an insult. I will never buy another Nissan product again. I'm in the car repar business and will gladly spread the word.

Update from Oct 7, 2013: So, Nissan did not even recognize this issue as a common problem. There are thousands of complaints for this exact problem of rotted-through floor pans. I spent $900.00 to have a body shop rebuild and replace the floor pans. Fabrication and extensive welding was needed. Techs at the dealership said they have seen multiple cases exactly like mine. SHAME ON NISSAN. They know there's a legitimate major issue here.

DON'T BUY ANOTHER NISSAN. THEY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR CARS

WE CONTACTED NISSAN IN 2010 --THEY ASKED TO SEE THE CAR AT A DEALER--NISSAN REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING SAYING CAR IS OUT OF WARRANTY. MECHANIC SAYS IT IS A DESIGN PROBLEM WITH THE PUNCHOUT MATERIAL ON THE FLOORBOARDS. THE CORROSION WAS EXTENSIVE--COMPLETELY THROUGH THE FLOOR ON BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDE AND SIDE IMPACT SHIELDS WERE ALSO TOTALLY ROTTED OUT. DEFINITELY A SAFETY/BODY INTEGRITY PROBLEM AND SHOULD BE REPAIRED BY NISSAN.I PLAN TO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY SAFETY DEPT.AS WELL. NISSAN IS AVOIDING THIS SERIOUS PROBLEM. IF THEY PAY FOR THIS IT WILL OPEN A CAN OF WORMS FOR THEM. DEFINITELY A DAMAGE CONTROL MOVE FOR NISSAN.

All the comments about this Nissan Edsel I have read are all familiar. I think the only thing that is original is the cigarette lighter. I would advise EVERYONE to look at their floorboards. My mechanic just discovered that I am driving a Fred Flintstone car. (The car was rustproofed and yet I have holes in the floorboards, yes driver & passenger side)) There are too many problems with this car to list. I'm surprised the "Service Engine lite" hasn't burned out.

I WILL NEVER BUY A NISSAN AGAIN. Has anyone else had to have the gas filler neck replaced due to corrosion TWICE in 3 years? I could go on, and on and on . My car is a piece of CRAP. Now I feel a little better. Time to go back to buying a North American automobile.