2015 Nissan Altima
This year drew an ordinary 945 complaints for a Nissan Altima — the model's median is 390. What they were about is the unusual part: 31.9% of them mention headlights, against 10.5% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Nissan Altima, which began in 2013 and ran to 2018. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 945 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 390 |
| Involving a crash | 45 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 10 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headlights — 31.9% of this year's complaints, against 10.5% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, night, dim, headlight.
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
I AM ALSO HAVING AN ISSUE WITH THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS BEING DANGEROUSLY INEFFECTIVE FOR NIGHT DRIVING OR INCLEMENT WEATHER. IT SEEMS THAT THEIR ARE MORE THAN AN ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF COMPLAINTS FILED TO WARRANT SOME ACTION. MY DAUGHTER AND GRAND CHILDREN RIDE IN…
Purchased a used 2015 Nissan Altima 2.5S and discovered that low-beam headlights are very dim. We almost hit a deer due to low visibility. Internet search reveals this is a known problem. We are too late to benefit from the class action lawsuit. A safety recal…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V915000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V040000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V911000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V733000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V244000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V681000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V486000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
- 15V116000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 10. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2015 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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