2018 Nissan Altima
This year drew an ordinary 223 complaints for a Nissan Altima — the model's median is 424. What they were about is the unusual part: 30% of them mention radar, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Nissan Altima ran from 2013 to 2018, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 223 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 424 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- radar — 30% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (4.5×). Owners wrote it as: radar, obstruction, front radar, radar obstruction.
- braking — 23.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.8% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: braking, emergency, automatic, emergency braking.
- collision — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (7.2×). Owners wrote it as: collision, front end, end collision.
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
THE FRONT RADAR IS FAULTY AND IS CAUSING ISSUES WITH THE FRONT EMERGENCY BRAKING (FEB). THERE IS A NOTIFICATION THAT SAYS "FEB UNAVAILABLE: FRONT RADAR OBSTRUCTION". THIS IS CAUSING A REGULAR DISTRACTION TO THE DRIVER AND ALSO POSES IN A RISK THAT THE VEHICLE…
WHEN DRIVING MY 2018 NISSAN ALTIMA, THE CAR BEEPS AND THE MESSAGE "FRONT RADAR OBSTRUCTION" APPEARS. THEN THE AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING (AEB) SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT COMES ON. IT GOES OFF AND COMES BACK ON LATER. THIS CONTINUES TO HAPPEN THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE T…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V315000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 19V654000 BACK OVER PREVENTION 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 2018 Nissan Altima? What happened to yours?
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