10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 2 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 5 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 30,572 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
While driving at 35mph on a city road the car hood flew up open & smashed into the windshield despite their supposed fix of hood latch spring being replaced & assembly lubricated by the Nissan dealership in Aug 2021 due to a Nissan hood latch recall (NHTSA recall 16V-029) in response to a class action lawsuit. At highway speeds, this would have seriously compromised human lives. In this case, neither the primary hood latch lever or fuel door release lever had been pulled open by the driver just prior to the incident; yet the hood flew open without warning. (Hoods have primary latches located inside the vehicles, then secondary latches located under the hoods. Primary hood latches in the cars are located too close to the fuel door latches that might cause drivers to accidentally unlatch the hoods instead of the fuel doors. Then once the primary hood latch is pulled in the Altima, the secondary latch under the hood fails to hold the hood down, allowing the Altima hood to open while driving.) No warning lights or messages came on. The car was not drivable & was towed to the Nissan dealership where it is currently pending repairs estimate $5234.58. At this time, Nissan Motors accepts no liability for this incident; clearly shifting the blame again. Nissan Motors has issued multiple (2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2022interim) hood latch recalls in response to this problem in various Nissan models 2013-2018, the most recent in 2022 (still in progress). Design and manufacturing defects allegedly cause the hoods to open while driving at any speed. According to the Altima class action lawsuit, Nissan blames the problems on multiple sources but still can-??t properly repair the cars. The Altima hood latch systems are allegedly not strong enough to perform in real-world conditions and aren-??t up to industry standards used for more than 100 years. The return springs are also allegedly too weak, as are the locking systems which prevent the hoods from securely latching.
- Sewickley, PA, USA
We have a 2013 Nissan Altima that we haven't driven at night for over 4 years. There was a lawsuit over headlamp issue and plaintiffs won. So we filed our claim in Jan when we received postcard. We rec'd a ticket # and took it to our Nissan dealer after the April 1st, when allowed. They replaced the 2 recalls under our vin # but concluded our lights are fine. THEY ARE NOT! We can't see 2 feet in front of us at night. To prove this we drove it yesterday to our Good Friday Service at our church. We almost crashed. You can't see the lines on the road in front of you! We had to drive with our brights on and blind everybody. That's the ONLY way to drive it at night. I see on Nissan's webpage that there is a headlight recall dated 3/24/22 PC861 but you don't have a safety ID#. I figured that's why Nissan didn't honor that recall. I joined the Niisan club and there are MANY people that also were denied as headlights fine according to their "new bulletin" Nissan sent to all dealerships after the lawsuit was settled. Seems they are not honoring to replace the headlamps even though we can't see or drive our cars at night. I'm at a loss why your agency hasn't given this a safety issue. I don't know what to do. My husband was so angry to learn the dealership deemed our lights fine he started screaming at the management. They even ADMITTED our lights our dim but according to Nissan's co. Bulletin they don't meet the replacement standards. I guess we just wait to crash at night before it causes you to assign a safety ID #. I know we can't be the only ones complaining of being rejected. The Nissan dealership is on RT 19 in Wexford, PA.
- Allison Park, PA, USA
Very hard to steer and check engine light come on after a very loud beep.
- Hampton, GA, USA
Component malfunctioned - Driver sun visor comes down randomly & always over bumps. 2013 Altima is available for inspection. Risk factor - Visor came down randomly while I was driving in rush hour beltway traffic and hit me in the nose, blurred my vision and put me and my passenger at severe safety risk. Problem confirmed by independent service center No other inspections No warnings. First started in 2018 but has gotten progressively worse to the point of almost causing accidents due to hindering my vision while driving and/or hitting me in the face.
- Nottingham, MD, USA
The low beam headlights are almost impossible to use during the dark and triple the concern when driving at night and it's raining. This used to not be the case. This is a safety hazard!!! this happens whether street driving or highway driving and essentially makes me have to use the bright lights when there is absolutely no other natural lighting to help
- Whites Creek, TN, USA
The low beams for my 2013 Altima sl have become too dim for me to see at night. I have had to start using the high beams to see at night which could cause problems for other drivers, but if I didn't use them I could crash due to poor visibility.
- Marietta, GA, USA
Headlights extremely dim causing night driving hazard. Issue is due to degradation of reflector in headlight housing. I had to replace both headlight assemblies to resolve safety issue with the car. This is apparently a pronounced problem with Nissan Altima per Nissan online forums. Photo shows replacement headlight on left and the original defective headlight reflector on the right.
- Oilville, VA, USA
Driving on highway, absolutely no warning at all, hood flies open suddenly slamming into windshield while driving!!! after screaming of course, tried to keep vehicle straight, slowed, pulled over to right to safety. Unbelievably no other vehicles hit/involved, no crash - my vehicle has damage to hood, roof, both front fenders, interior overhead controls dropped out of the ceiling. Nissan not yet committing to paying for it 100% !!!!!! even though a recall on this item was issued 1 month ago, and I found articles on this problem with the car going back to 2014 - and Nissan dealership just had my car 4 months ago (March) working on another different recall !!!!
- Carmel, NY, USA
The headlights are super dim when I am driving at night. I have replaced my headlights twice now to the brightest lights you can buy. When I drive at night I have to turn on my bright lights because I am not able to see the road in front of me with the regular headlights on. It is not safe to drive at night due to the headlights being so dim. I have been dealing with this issue since I purchased the car last summer.
- Saint Joseph, MO, USA
Lighting on the 2013 Nissan Altima is a safety risk and potential liability waiting to happen. The visibility with the stock lights will limit your visibility and puts you and passengers at risk. This has to be corrected and taken seriously by Nissan. The light that is illuminating has to be out of code for a legal acceptable vehicle.
- Denton, TX, USA
You can not use regular lights to see with this car at night. You may get a good foot of lighting in front of the car. Very dangerous. You could be driving down the highway and be surprised by a curb or going down a street at night with no lighting around you and hit something bc you can't see anything. The brights work wonders but I can't just go around blinding people...
- Bells, TX, USA
Low beam headlights so dim that they provide almost no light to see the road. I've see similar complaints from many Nissan Altima 2013-15 owners. This is unsafe and Nissan won't acknowledge this. It had been getting worse over the past year. I replaced bulbs but they did no good. Problem is in headlight reflector housing which reflects bulb's light. Lining degrades/burns off and light then gets absorbed, not reflected.
- Berwyn, IL, USA
The low beam headlights on the 2013 Altima are extremely dim. My car has 95,000 miles. I basically am unable to tell if my lights are on at night and can only see a few feet in front of the vehicle. This appears to be a widespread issue. I have attempted to contact Nissan; however, no response was received. This is extremely dangerous and there will be a serious injury or death due to this issue unless Nissan is forced to correct the problem with a recall. Please help!
- Maumee, OH, USA
The headlights are getting dimmer over time to the point you are unable to see at night to safely operate the vehicle. The reflective material inside the headlight assembly appears to be deteriorating and replacing the bulb does not help.
- Savannah, TN, USA
Lo-beam headlights fail to illuminate the road. Having owned the car since new, I began noticing dim headlights after approximately 4-5 years of ownership at 60K miles or so. Night driving became hazardous so I replaced the bulbs with oem parts but saw no improvement. Driving at night now requires use of hi-beams as the road is barely visible with low beams + fog lamps.
- Cedar Park, TX, USA
Factory lighting is dim, cannot see at night. The projection is not strong enough for nyc night time. I need to use high beams and those arent even that good. It is not the light bulb
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
The headlamp projector is faulty, the light bulb works fine, the light projection isn't strong enough to see at night (in nyc). I have to drive with high beams on and those aren't even brighter than some cars normal lights. Nissan needs to fix this.
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
My Nissan Altima 2013 is suffering from a severe defect when it comes to the cars low beams. The low beams have an issue with the projectors in the headset, it's not an issue with the light bulbs. This makes driving at night dangerous and Nissan is not taking accountability for this design issue since this is not a light bulb burning out this is an issue with the design for the headlamps themselves. I can barely see the lines on the road.
- Metuchen, NJ, USA
Head light low beams are extremely dim. Even, I cannot see 2 meters in front of the car at nights. And this problem is not related with the light bulbs. It is related with the headlight projector housing (confirmed from different auto shops and internet complaints) that is losing its effectiveness by the time. Also, repairing this problem is very costly. Basically, both headlight assemblies have to be changed. We, as Altima owners, are waiting for the recall action specifically for this problem from the Nissan company. Unfortunately, it is very common safety problem among 2013 -2015 Altima.
- Rego Park, NY, USA
- Madison, MS, USA