Worried about potential repair costs? An extended warranty can provide peace of mind.
Chart based on 49 repair trips. The repair cost chart excludes repairs made under warranty, do-it-yourself repairs, and repair trips that include maintenance.
2013 Nissan Altima 4dr Sedan
270-horsepower 3.5L V6 7-speed shiftable CVT FWD
18000 mi
Heated seats not working properly
Replaced wiring in seats
1200 mi
Infamous airbag sensor malfunction. Airbag off light comes on when a pssenger is in the front pass seat-intermittently-regardless of weight of passenger. Right tail light and dash lights went out-turned out to be a blown fuse. Repaired.
2000 mi
Lemon Buyback due to faulty design of airbag sensor.
14000 mi
Airbag sensor still randomly indicates AIRBAG OFF when with a front passenger in the seat. 2nd trip - 1st was for the related recall
16000 mi
Airbag sensor and passenger seat rail replaced to try and remedy airbag off light. Have not replicated since repair but this was infrequent before as well Backup camera was flickering; replaced head-unit and camera; problem resolved
17000 mi
Airbag light still comes on after seat, seat frame and OCS replaced
5000 mi
Reprogram the passenger seat occupant sensor for airbag. (Fixed under warranty/recall.)
18000 mi
Factory recall for passenger airbag sensor. Sensor reprogrammed
19300 mi
Navigation malfunctioned.
52018 mi
C $1100
Radio & NAV system Head Unit dead; replaced with aftermarket Pioneer 2300NEX
57000 mi
Nav unit randomly not reading map SD card. SD card replaced first no help. Car has extended warranty dealer replaced whole Nav unit at no cost. Issue resolved.
20000 mi
GPS blinking and would go out for 10 minutes at a time
13000 mi
11,000 miles: Ticking sound was coming from the glove box area only when the climate control was on. We removed the glove box and then lowered the blower fan down. Leaves and twigs were then cleaned out of the blower fan and engine bay.
1000 mi
Heated seat problem. On high setting only seat bottom would heat up. On low setting only the seat back would heat up.
The service dept. got an approved fix to rewire the
connectors under the seats. Repair (if performed) NOT successful. Technician noticed that abs or brake indicator flashed
after using emergency brake. Known problem , needed
re-flash of ABS computer.
6500 mi
Returned for warantee - covered repair of heated seat problem (along with oil change and tire rotation).
Also, a recall check was performed on spare tire. Pressure was ok, but I need to return for software update. I need to test seats more.
13300 mi
manuf. recall to reprogram due to air bag off indicated intermittently. when it should not have done so . I did experience this 2 or 3 times in first 14k miles.
19000 mi
Dealer changed intelligent key battery due to my report of seeing message 'incorrect key ID'
This cleared the problem
57000 mi
US $24
Excessive deposits on battery terminals. Mechanic merely poured the bicarb solution over posts. I later observed that the clamps should have been removed from the posts to maximize the result.
touchscreen becomes unresponsive randomly, audio stuck in same volume USB port not working randomly
22320 mi
USB not working randomly
22320 mi
Problems with starter, sometimes could not start car, looked like electric fail. needed to wait 10-20 mins to be able to start.
19000 mi
Heated seat back stopped working. Replacement appeared used so dealer kept car until the new one came in
13000 mi
Bad battery
11000 mi
US $85
Passenger airbag sensor defective. Replaced. under warranty
50000 mi
US $250
Turn signal sporadically comes on indicating a left turn after a right turn was made
1000 mi
Bluetooth keeps dropping my calls or doesn´t connect to my phone.
1000 mi
Battery suddenly died on my car it was brand new. Supposedly I left it on just the electric part.
15000 mi
Airbag failure. Airbag light on constantly. Needed to order replacement parts.
15000 mi
Airbag system sensor replacement. Warning light on all the time
37000 mi
Passenger front Bose speaker blown, replaced under warranty.
105000 mi
US $112
Low beams replaced
5300 mi
Instrument cluster blew out.
9700 mi
Passenger side airbag sensor fault.
23000 mi
Passenger air bag sensor was not working properly. Fixed under recall
12000 mi
Alternator was making noise, replaced under warranty
80000 mi
US $100
Back Up camera goes dark or dims significantly at times
67300 mi
US $878
Alternator replacement
70000 mi
US $160
Car wouldn't start after listening to radio for approx. 10 mins. while engine shut off. Battery replaced.
42000 mi
Nav unit randomly stopped working half screen was black frozen, Came back to normal after 1 day. Rear backup camera sone days wont work sone days perfect and some days fuzzy. Since my warantee ran out i have not taken to dealer.
5000 mi
Passenger air bag warning light malfunction - sometimes on, sometimes off when passenger in seat. Learned it was a recall but have not received notification from Nissan. Dealer fixed
5500 mi
Blind spot indicator malfunction - Doesn't always work? Took dealer two weeks to try to fix problem. Indicated it was fixed - NOT! Will return again!
13000 mi
Continuing problems with blind spot detection. Dealer says it is not supposed to work "all the time".
14900 mi
Recall for passenger airbag sensor.
41300 mi
Recall for passenger seat OCR sensor.
23000 mi
Air bag light was on. They were supposed to reflash the control unit with new software. Still acts up. I think it has to do with the weight sensor acting up.
Airbag light was still acting odd.
16200 mi
Recall performed replaced air bag weight sensors.
17600 mi
reinstalled airbag software.
Passenger airbag light coming on.
22000 mi
Air bag light coming on.
Dealer cleared code. No repair attempted.
6000 mi
My Blind spot monitoring and lane detection do not work properly, and malfunction by going off when there is no car or if i am in my lane. This happens during clear weather, when it rains it happens all the time My passenger airbag off swich is on, while i am sitting in the passenger seat and i weigh 180lbs, I have had it repaired 3 seperate times under their recall but it is still occuring. I do not feel safe in this car My heated seats were not working, they had a recall and they replaced the harness.
4000 mi
A/C system would not cool down. Dealer determined A/C clutch would not engage, replaced compressor, evacuated and recharged. Retest OK.
21000 mi
US $200
Alternator
Seat heaters only heat seat bottom on HI and only heat seat back on LO. Took to dealer they ordered new wiring harnesses waiting for call back.
7000 mi
Seat heaters only heating half of the seat.
15800 mi
Dealer noticed rattle coming from alternator solution: replace alternator. This has addressed the issue.
19500 mi
Brake light came on occasionally without E-brake applied. Addressed from TSB, ABS module reflashed.
24600 mi
Windshield washer pump intermittent. Dealer could not duplicate issue. A/C smells foul when warm outside. Dealer sprayed evaporator with cleaner. Smell came back.
24000 mi
Windshield washer pump failed to work when below 20 degrees out. Dealer Insisted fluid was frozen, I proved otherwise. They found stalk switch at fault, replaced. Works fine now.
33000 mi
Windshield washer pump quit working when it was below 20° again, stalk switch apparently wasn't the issue. Vehicle out of warranty so owner diagnosed issue and replaced failed pump. All works fine now.
3000 mi
Nav Screen Blacks Out
18000 mi
This vehicle was replaced by the manufacturer with a 2014 model due to lemon law issues with the front passenger air bag alert system.
10000 mi
Several service bulletins addressed the heated seat wiring, alternator replacement to reduce/eliminate rumble in drive belt
64000 mi
US $119
A/C not cooling enough. Only cooled well while car was moving.
67000 mi
US $1400
AC not cooling well. Dealer finally says that compressor is failing. Replaced compressor. AC works great again. GEICO paid all but the $250 deductible. I had 'breakdown' insurance with them. Cool!
20000 mi
Driver seatbelt on backwards.
8000 mi
Recall due to seat heater wired incorrectly. Backup camera seemed extremely blurry
38000 mi
Cold air not blowing, fixed a seal under warranty and recharged system under warranty
Back up camera and blind spot warning system malfunction. Dealer unplugged and rebooted system and problem was resolved.
4000 mi
Heated seats not operating correctly. Low setting heats only the seat-back, high setting heats only the seat bottom.
10700 mi
Heated seats: Low setting heats back, high setting heats bottom. Both settings were high heat.
8100 mi
changed alternator per TSB to try to quiet the rumble/vibration noted at 1500 rpm Heated seats did not work properly
Used the car one day and the next day battery was dead, nothing left on. Dealer checked battery and said all was ok but could not explain cause of dead battery.
8000 mi
Loud shrill whistle sound coming form under hood.Went directly to dealer so they could hear the noise.Was told it was coming from the body control module.Made appointment to further diagnose noise, appointment day noise gone has not returned
9000 mi
Module under hood was replaced that had been giving a shrill whistle from time to time.
15000 mi
Problem with gas feed got so bad I had to take back to dealer. They finally, after three other tries, found the problem, switch on brake pedal was out of adjustment. Computer thought brake pedal was still applied which led to hesitation.
See our lemon odds and nada odds page to see vehicles with no repairs or vehicles with more than three repairs. To see how
frequently 2013 Nissan Altima problems occur, check out our car reliability stats.
