2012 Nissan ALTIMA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2012 Nissan Altima received an overall safety rating of 4 out of 5 stars, which indicates above-average safety features. In terms of crash ratings, it scored well in front crash tests with a 4-star rating for both the driver and passenger sides. Furthermore, it excelled in side crash tests, achieving a 5-star rating for both the driver and passenger sides. The Altima also performed well in the rollover test, receiving a 4-star rating.

One notable safety feature that the 2012 Nissan Altima offers is electronic stability control, which can help drivers maintain control of the vehicle in challenging driving conditions. However, it does not come equipped with forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems, which are becoming increasingly common in newer car models.

In terms of complaints and recalls, the Altima has had 411 complaints reported and 4 recalls issued. While the number of complaints is relatively high, it's essential to consider the overall safety ratings and features of the vehicle when evaluating its safety performance.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

411

Recall Count

4

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

4/5

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Safety Features

2012 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2012 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2012 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2012 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 4 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 4

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 3 4 4
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 3 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 4 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 4 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 4 5
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2012 Nissan ALTIMA

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"i have a 2012 nissan altima that i purchased in 2018. in florida. check engine light appeared first. it currently doesn't run because of the transmission. it doesnt excelerate above 20mph. is there is a nationwide recall because of the cvt transmissions going bad?. i already tried to fix 2 separate parts on the transmission the code i'm getting is p1778. i changed the stepper motor and valve body and it's still won't go above 20mph. i don't have 5,000 to replace a transmission. we've been stuck on the road twice in traffic when it doesn't want to excelerate above 20mph"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-12-09

Complaint:
"transmission spudders at times. it is very delayed when pulling out sometimes. turning the car off and back on might help sometimes. car will go in limp mode. nissan dealer said it was the transmission. there is a big safety concern because when you push the gas trying to cross an intersection, it might lag behind and not go. this could result in being hit. this has been a great car but the cat is complete junk and nissan should be ashamed of themselves for this. if they get enough law suits they may change something. well maybe, they don't care about peoples lives."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2020-01-06

Complaint:
"vehicle when in drive or reverse would barely move and almost got stranded in traffic. finally will not move at all"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-04-11

Complaint:
"after making right turn onto very busy 4 lane road with cars traveling 55 mph, the car failed to accelerate and had no power. car acted as though it was in neutral. fortunately, the road was downhill at this point and after turning on emergency blinking lights was able to coast about 3/4 mile to next street and turn right. i was almost rear ended three times during this coasting period at about 15 mph. on this part of the highway there was no place to pull over as the curb was next to the right hand lane. had the car towed to a nissan dealer the next day and was told that the transmission had "totally disintegrated" and was "unrepairable." cost $4800 to repair. was told that this was a "common occurrence" with the 2008-2014 cvt nissan transmissions. nissan has recalled many cvt transmissions but not 2012. service manager also said that we were "lucky that disintegrated the way it did as some cars locked up in geared and immediately stopped." there was no prior warning of a transmission problem. no lights, no noise, no nothing. there was no way to know a problem or potential failure was imminent. this car is a danger. had this occurred on a freeway in los angeles where we were driving just prior to this failure, it could have caused a major injury accident. this transmission should be recalled. the car had 97,000 miles. nissan should be required to recall and reimburse owners who have suffered this failure in 2012 altima transmissions."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-05-04

Complaint:
"i have a 2012 nissan altima. four years ago i drove from sacramento, ca, to reno, nv, with two friends in my car. as i was driving over the summit on highway 80 my car started to lose power. this was extremely scary as the highway is only two lanes and since it was a saturday there was a lot of traffic. i was driving in the slow lane and as my car continued to lose power and slow there was noplace to get off the road. i pulled onto the narrow sholder between the slow lane and the concrete barrier and my car came to a complete stop. since there were cars whizzing by i was not able to open either the drivers side door or the passenger side door, which was inches away from the concrete divider. at this point i was shaking uncontrollably and in a panic i called nissan of sacramento to tell them what happened. the technician suggested that my transmission may have over-heated. he suggested that i wait for the transmission to cool and see if i was able to then make it to the nearest freeway offramp, which i did. after exiting the freeway we waited for an hour or so and were then able to proceed to reno, nv. once there, i took my car to a mechanic who checked the other systems and could find nothing wrong. once back home in sacramento i took my car to nissan of sacramento and was then informed that my transmission had burned and would need to be replaced. they contacted nissan and were informed that there were no recalls and that i would need to pay for a new transmission out of pocket and the cost would exceed $4,700. after contacting nissan myself, they informed me that they would not cover the cost of a new transmission. since i am a retired, single senior citizen living on a fixed income, i have not been able to replace the transmission and subsequently have not driven more than 20 miles from my home. i have read that cvt transmission problems are very common with nissan altimas. why would they deny my claim when this is such a serious safety issue?"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-01-07

Complaint:
"had transmission fluid changed now starts bit doesn't go in gear took it to shop and was told i need a new transmission don't understand why new fluid would cause this and have heard nissan has had numerous problems with cat transmission"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-04-01

Complaint:
"while driving the car stopped accelerating. thankfully this happened on a 2 lane road while no other vehicles were around and there was a driveway to pull into. my husband and child were also in the car when this happened. no warning lights/noises alarmed before this happened. we had to have the car towed home. it will turn on but will not drive. this car is notorious for transmission issues. now we have a car that we can't drive but still owe way more than it's worth to fix. we are unable to trade/sale either. it has been very frustrating situation. we will never own another nissan."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-08-06

Complaint:
"transmission lost power (reduced power) after 65000 miles. initially i was not aware of the nissan 2012 altima having transmission issues. now the repair rather replacement cost is about $5000 as per estimats iave approached local nissan dealerships and national customer service hot line and there has bee zero help from them. 2012 is know to have cvt transmission and its related performance and repair issues. still that year, 2012 , nissan is not covered under warranty beyond 60k nor there is help for customers who purchased this vehicle"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2021-11-04

Complaint:
"in mid-may 2021, noticed that the altima (at 105,000 mls) had little power when accelerating. at one point, pulled out from from a stop at an intersection and basically "crawled" through. barley made it up to the top of our driveway. "check engine" light came on. not safe to accelerate in traffic. local aamco, and local nissan dealer, both diagnosed transmission failure. have learned that apparently nissan knew of this problem."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-03-05

Complaint:
"the car started slowing down in the freeway and it lost power while i was in the carpool so i drove carefully to the emergency lanes on the side risking getting hit by a car cause it didn't have any power or shifting. i though the transmission went bad. i turn off the car for five minutes and started it again and i try to move the car again and it went well. after couple days or weeks i don't recall i call the dealer requesting a recall on my vehicle which they ask me how many miles it had i told them 83,000 miles and they told me i don't qualify to get the transmission replace cause it has over 80,000 miles already. it seems that nissan makes faulty cvt transmission manufactured by jatco. i wanted to know if i qualify for the recall for the transmission. when i reset the car on the freeway for five minutes it ran and hasn't happened again but it's super sluggish. the car should have a recall no matter the mileage. forgot to mention they said i don't qualify also cause the car is salvage and it voids every recall whatsoever."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-01-10

Recalls for the 2012 Nissan ALTIMA

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"nissan is recalling certain model year 2012 altima and versa vehicles. these vehicles may be equipped with side curtain air bags that contain an incorrect propellant mixture for the initiator component used, resulting in insufficient output of compressed gas."
Consequence:
THE SIDE CURTAIN AIR BAGS MAY NOT DEPLOY, INCREASING THE RISK OF INJURY.
Remedy:

NISSAN WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND DEALERS WILL REPLACE ONE OR BOTH SIDE CURTAIN AIR BAG MODULES, AS NECESSARY, FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON MARCH 12, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT NISSAN CUSTOMER SERVICE AT 615-725-1000.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > SIDE/WINDOW
Date of incident: 2012-02-14

NISSAN Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

NISSAN ranks 5 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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