Model years › Nissan Versa

2012 Nissan Versa

Complaints about this year name amount time far more often than the other years of this generation — 8% of them, about 21× the usual rate of 0.4%.

First year of a new generation. The Nissan Versa was redesigned for 2012. 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.

What the complaints were about

• takata — 18.7% of this year's complaints, against 4.5% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: takata, takata recall, spring 2018, april.
• spring — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 0.2% across the other years of this generation (26×). Owners wrote it as: spring, front coil.

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.

Also unusual this year

• time recall — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
• air bags — 15% of complaints, 4× usual
• takata recall — 13% of complaints, 5× usual

What owners wrote

TAKATA RECALL . I WAS IN A CAR ACCIENDT ON JUNE 8, 2017 AND MY AIR BAGS DID NOT WORK WHILE I WAS IN MOTION AS I WAS BEING HIT ON THE HIGHWAY BY ANOTHER CAR AND UNDER MY CREDIT KARMA PROFILE , ITS SHOWS MY CAR HAS FIVE RECALL NOTICES . HOW CAN THIS MATTER BE RE…

TAKATA RECALL. THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 NISSAN VERSA. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 17V028000 (AIR BAGS); HOWEVER, THE PART FOR THE RECALL REPAIR WAS UNAVAILBLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIM…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 18V401000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 17V144000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 17V449000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 17V028000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 17V637000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
• 18V044000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 15V507000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
• 15V573000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.

Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.

Own a 2012 Nissan Versa? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Nissan Versa 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.

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