Federal complaint record · Nissan Altima · model year 2002

2002 Nissan Altima

Owners submitted 1,047 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 89th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2000 to 2004 midsize sedan cohort. The largest reported component group is engine. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Engine · 57% · group n = 752Structure · 10% · group n = 130Electrical · 6% · group n = 79Fuel system · 4% · group n = 57Other · 4% · group n = 46
1,047
Complaint records on file
88,164
Median mileage at the reported problem · 800 complaints reported mileage
57%
Of classified component reports name engine · group n = 752
89th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 41 model years

Engine · 6 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Engine57%

Engine reports

Nissan Altima · model year 2002

Reports in this group752
Share of classified reports57%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2001
0.1complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
159 matched incidents
This car
2002
0.3complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,047 matched incidents
2003
0.3complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
883 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Stalling or shutdown · 178 reports

Reports describe the vehicle stalling or shutting off while driving

Cluster 1 of 32002 Nissan Altima
Fire or smoke · 144 reports

Reports describe smoke, burning smells, or fire

Cluster 2 of 32002 Nissan Altima
Engine damage · 77 reports

Reports describe engine damage or oil consumption

Cluster 3 of 32002 Nissan Altima

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

Published model-year records · free · no login

Check the next car before the test drive

NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

Browse all Nissan records How the index works