2012 Nissan Altima
This year drew an ordinary 424 complaints for a Nissan Altima — the model's median is 390. What they were about is the unusual part: 30.2% of them mention transmission, against 10.8% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Nissan Altima ran from 2007 to 2012, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 424 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 390 |
| Involving a crash | 24 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 30.2% of this year's complaints, against 10.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- cvt — 23.3% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the other years of this generation (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: cvt, cvt transmission, transmissions, cvt transmissions.
- accelerate — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 5% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: accelerate, mechanics, about mph, car accelerate.
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
ONGOING ISSUE WHERE VEHICLE LOSES POWER WHEN DRIVING FURTHER DISTANCES (30-40 MILES) OR UPHILL IN THE MOUNTAINS AND IS UNABLE TO ACCELERATE. DRIVER IS FORCED TO PULL OVER ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND WAIT UNTIL VEHICLE CAN COOL DOWN AND GAIN POWER AGAIN. THI…
WHEN DRIVING IN WARM WEATHER FOR 1.5 HOURS OR MORE CVT TRANSMISSION LOSES POWER AND MAKES A WHINING NOISE. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE REGARDING THESE TRANSMISSIONS AND NISSAN EXTENDED WARRANTY ON VEHICLES UP TO 2010 BECAUSE OF IT. TRANSMISSION SAYS IT IS OVERHEATIN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V055000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V408000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 12V494000 STEERING
- 11V371000 SUSPENSION 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 2012 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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