2005 Nissan Altima
Complaints about this year name floor far more often than the model's other years — 25% of them, about 18× the usual rate of 1.3%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,091 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 390 |
| Involving a crash | 48 |
| Involving a fire | 18 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- floor — 29.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (6×). Owners wrote it as: floor, boards, floor boards, side floor.
- rusted — 30.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.5% across the model's other years (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: rusted, through, floorboard, floorboards.
- cooling — 8.4% of this year's complaints, against 0.4% across the model's other years (23.4×). Owners wrote it as: cooling, engine engine, engine cooling.
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
- rusted — 17% of complaints, 44× usual
- crankshaft — 14% of complaints, 34× usual
- engine — 31% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
VEHICLE WAS IN FOR REPAIR AT LOCAL AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR SHOP FOR CRANKSHAFT POSITION SENSOR [VIN]. DURING REPAIR, MECHANIC HAD VEHICLE UP ON LIFT AND NOTED SEVERE RUST TO THE FLOORBOARD AREA OF BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDE. RUST DAMAGE IS SO SEVERE IT IS RUSTED…
DRIVER'S SIDE FLOOR BOARD HAS RUSTED THROUGH FROM THE INSIDE OUT. THERE IS A DRAINAGE ISSUE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 07E087000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 07V527000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 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 2005 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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