2012 Nissan Maxima
This year drew an ordinary 107 complaints for a Nissan Maxima — the model's median is 95. What they were about is the unusual part: 12.1% of them mention steering pump, against 4.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Nissan Maxima, which began in 2009 and ran to 2015. 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 | 107 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 95 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering pump — 12.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: steering pump, car dealership, car back, station.
- intermittently — 11.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: intermittently, locks, takes, unlock button.
- loose — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: loose, seat come, bolt.
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
MY DRIVER SIDE DOOR THE DOOR LOCK INTERMITTENTLY WORKS. IT SOME TIMES LOCKS AND DOESN'T UNLOCK OR DOESN'T LOCK AT ALL. RECENTLY IT IS WORKING LESS OFTEN. NOW THE BACK DOOR ON THE DRIVER SIDE STOPPED WORKING TOO. THE OTHER DAY MY 6 YEAR GOT LOCKED IN THE CAR AN…
Pressing door lock/unlock button on the door handles fails to lock/unlock all doors consistently. Rear door locks respond intermittently or not at all. Driver door often takes four button pushes to get it to unlock. Although it hasn't happened to me, I've hear…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Maxima 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 Maxima? What happened to yours?
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