AutoUtility currently tracks 225 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Nissan Altima. Brakes & Traction Control issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 54 complaints (24% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 11 filings cite a crash, 5 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 225 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Brakes & Traction Control (54 reports • 24% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Air Bags & Restraints (37), Electrical System (37)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 11 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 5 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
225
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
11
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
5
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 Nissan Altima

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 24% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

54 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 4 crash reports
#2 Problem Area 16.4% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

37 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 16.4% of complaints

Electrical System

37 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report
#4 Problem Area 11.6% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

26 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 10.2% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

23 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Nissan Altima

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11759463
Filed: 08/25/2026

"The passenger‑side airbag warning light first appeared within the first year of ownership. During that visit, the dealership did not repair the defect. They only reset the warning light and told me it was not a problem. No diagnostic documentation or repair explanation was provided, and the..."

Incident Date: 04/05/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11757342
Filed: 08/17/2026

"While driving at regular road speeds, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic safety component failure. The primary hood latch disengaged, and the secondary safety backup latch failed to catch or secure the hood. This caused the hood to violently slam completely open against the front windshield..."

Incident Date: 08/16/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11748872
Filed: 07/07/2026

"I am currently experiencing CVT failure as of I have filed a case with the nissan consumer affairs unit, case number 56846043. I was advised that even though there was a class action suit in 2022 for CVT issues, my CVT Warranty Extension expired on 12/09/2024 for this class action suit. I purchased..."

Incident Date: 06/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11742900
Filed: 06/09/2026

"So I have the 2.5L QR25DE engine with the exact exhaust failure from campaign PC717, and I need Goodwill Assistance because the part failed identically."

Incident Date: 06/06/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11740728
Filed: 05/28/2026

"Transmission stopped working on me in the highway cvt code that comes up is P17f0 was in the highway going 45 mph then dropped 5 mph very dangerous. Almost crashed"

Incident Date: 05/27/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Nissan Altima

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Nissan Altima 947 45 10 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Nissan Altima 552 28 4 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Nissan Altima 390 24 3 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Nissan Altima Current Page 225 11 2 Current
2019 Nissan Altima 229 22 7 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Nissan Altima 178 16 6 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Nissan Altima 69 6 2 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Nissan Altima 20 4 0 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Nissan Altima 29 5 0 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Nissan Altima 41 7 1 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Nissan Altima 6 1 2 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Nissan Altima 0 0 0 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Nissan Altima

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 63 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 37 3 0 4 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 25 1 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 17 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 14 2 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13 0 0 0 0
Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 12 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 8 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 6 0 0 0 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 5 0 0 1 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 5 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 5 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 4 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 4 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 3 1 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 3 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 2 1 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 2 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 2 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 1 0 1 0
SERVICE BRAKES, AIR 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (225). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (4)

2 OPEN 2 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
OPEN Audit Query (AQ) ODI Action #AQ22003
Opened: 2022-12-16 • Currently Active

Hertz/Vehicles Rented with Open Recalls

Affected Component: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:HOOD:LATCH

NHTSA is opening this audit query to investigate whether The Hertz Corporation (Hertz) has complied with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Safety Act). The Safety Act requires, among other things, that a rental company shall not rent a vehicle subject to a safety recall unless the recall remedy has been performed. 49 U.S.C. § 30120(i).NHTSA is in receipt of information that indicates Hertz rented vehicles to...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
OPEN Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA21002
Opened: 2021-09-17 • Currently Active

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

Affected Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA19002
Opened: 2019-07-29 • Closed: 2025-06-16

Rear Suspension Control Arm Failure

Affected Component: SUSPENSION:REAR

On July 29, 2019, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened EA19002 to investigate instances of alleged rear lower control arm failures in 2013-2018 Nissan Altima and 2016-2018 Nissan Maxima vehicles. At the time the investigation was opened ODI had 91 consumer complaints alleging rear lower control arm failures in the subject vehicles.ODI was concerned about these complaints because many of them alleged an increased steering effort or los...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE18013
Opened: 2018-12-01 • Closed: 2019-08-21

Rear Suspension Control Arm Failure

Affected Component: SUSPENSION:REAR

PE18-013 was opened on December 1, 2018, with 4 complaints to ODI alleging incidents of the lower control arm fracturing at a connection point to the vehicle chassis due to corrosion. ODI has received an additional 87 complaints since the PE was opened. During PE18-013, Nissan indicated model years 2013-2018 shared a common rear lower control arm design. Nissan provided complaint and warranty data regarding 48 incidents of the subject failure. Th...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.