2016 Nissan Maxima
This year drew an ordinary 142 complaints for a Nissan Maxima — the model's median is 95. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.5% of them mention abs, against 1.2% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Nissan Maxima was redesigned for 2016. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 142 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 95 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- abs — 8.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the model's other years (7.2×). Owners wrote it as: abs, actuator.
- determined — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.1% across the model's other years (6×).
- pull — 9.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: pull, off car, time car.
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
While driving on the highway the car will lose power and acceleration, unable to accelerate. Power steering will begin to slowly lock up. After trying to safely pull over, ABS, battery and traction control light comes on. Then when I turned off the car, the ca…
AFTER A RECALL SERVICE FOR AN ABS ACTUATOR, THE F.E.B. LIGHT ACTIVATES FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. VEHICLE WILL DISENGAGE CRUISE CONTROL.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V601000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V911000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V636000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V193000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V733000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V486000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
- 16V244000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V807000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
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 2016 Nissan Maxima? What happened to yours?
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