2016 Nissan Altima
This year drew an ordinary 551 complaints for a Nissan Altima — the model's median is 390. What they were about is the unusual part: 24.1% of them mention accelerate, against 8.6% 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 | 551 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 390 |
| Involving a crash | 28 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- accelerate — 24.1% of this year's complaints, against 8.6% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: accelerate, sign, vehicle failed, pressing.
- check engine — 14.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: check engine, engine light, indicator illuminated.
- acceleration — 11.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: acceleration, delayed, delayed acceleration.
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
Acceleration from stand still occasionally does not occur. This causes us to press harder on the acceleration pedal and suddenly the car accelerates with high RPM. There is no check engine light. This is particularly at risky when left side turns at traffic si…
Vehicle will delay acceleration when I have stopped at a stop sign or stop light especially if I was stopped on a hill. When I press the gas pedal it will delay acceleration for a couple of seconds and then finally take off. It was happening every so often but…
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.
- 16V244000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V315000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 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 2016 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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