2006 Nissan Altima
This year drew an ordinary 824 complaints for a Nissan Altima — the model's median is 390. What they were about is the unusual part: 31.4% of them mention floor, against 6.9% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 824 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 390 |
| Involving a crash | 43 |
| Involving a fire | 14 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- floor — 31.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the model's other years (4.5×). Owners wrote it as: floor, rusted, boards, floor boards.
- oil — 20.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the model's other years (6.4×). Owners wrote it as: oil, consumption, oil consumption, oil change.
- rust — 12.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (5.3×). Owners wrote it as: rust, corrosion, under driver, years old.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
BOTH THE FRONT DRIVERS AND PASSENGER SIDE FLOOR PANS ARE COMPLETELY RUSTED OUT. THE CARPET IS THE ONLY THING KEEPING YOUR FEET FROM GOING THROUGH THE FLOOR AND TOUCHING THE HIGHWAY. FROM READING THE OTHER COMPLAINTS ON THIS SITE, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THIS IS A…
DURING OIL CHANGE NOTICED THAT BOTH DRIVERS AND PASSENGER SIDE FLOOR PANS WERE RUSTED THROUGH COMPLETELY. ONLY THING LEFT WAS THE INTERIOR CARPET BETWEEN THE ROAD AND A DRIVER OR PASSENGER.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 06V046000 SUSPENSION
- 06V223000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
- 07E087000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 07V527000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Altima was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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