2021 Nissan ALTIMA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2021 Nissan Altima has an outstanding safety rating of 5, with impressive scores across all categories including front and side crash ratings, rollover protection, and overall side barrier rating. This indicates that the Altima provides excellent protection for both drivers and passengers in the event of a collision. Additionally, the Altima is equipped with standard features such as electronic stability control, forward collision warning, and lane departure warning, further enhancing its safety credentials.

Despite its high safety rating, it is worth noting that the Altima has received 23 complaints and has been subject to 2 recalls. While these numbers are relatively low compared to the overall number of vehicles on the road, potential buyers should be aware of these issues and ensure that any recalls are addressed promptly to maintain the vehicle's safety performance. Overall, the 2021 Nissan Altima offers top-notch safety features and impressive crash test ratings, making it a reliable choice for safety-conscious consumers.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

23

Recall Count

2

Investigation Count

2

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2021 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2021 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.

Standard
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.

Standard

2021 Nissan Altima 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2021 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 2021 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 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 2021 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 5 5

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2021 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 5 5
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2021 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:
"when traveling in a rental from sfo to concord ca, on the bay bridge at 9 am on the 26 of september 2023, just as i entered the underpass section near treasure island, the front sensor malfunctioned and auto braked from 47 mph to 28, generated audible, tactile, and visual alarms, even though the car in front was not decelerating (auto lights, tail lights in from of me as the car went into a dark section of road may have been misinterpreted). i was almost crashed into. scariest experience in 37 years of driving. no over ride."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2025-02-09
Complaint:
"1. the automatic emergency braking activated while approaching a railway crossing. and yes, it is available for inspection. 2. if anyone had been behind me, it very likely would have resulted in a collision. 3. not yet confirmed by the dealer, but has happened to me three times. 4. no. 5. no warning before the malfunction."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2023-05-08
Complaint:
"while driving, most times at higher speeds, the light with the car and lines behind it (vdc light?) will turn on, and then a minute later the front and back aeb lights turn on and the dashboard says “malfunction: see owner’s manual.” this happens multiple times per week, sometimes multiple times a day. there have been other recalls for this issue with other nissan altima years with this system."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2024-09-04
Complaint:
"i was driving on the interstate in a construction zone and begin reducing speed from about 62 mph after noticing brake lights from cars in the far distance. as the car start to reduce speed, i begin to apply the brakes as i'm approaching the stopped traffic and instead of stopping my car kept going. i pressed the brakes harder, and the car began to slide. after sliding about 9-10 car lengths, i was stopped by rear ending the vehicle in front of me. there was an error message on the dash "chassis control system error see owner's manual" that appeared on the dash. i was struck in the back by a toyota 4runner resulting in my car being totaled."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2024-01-05
Complaint:
"driving down the street a truck in front of the lady in front of me. it was a green light he decided to stop. she stopped i put i started to stop my brakes would not stop the car nor did the emergency front collision brakes work i could not stop the car."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2023-05-05
Complaint:
"the forward emergency braking system periodically will engage with no reason. i did not record the first date this happened. it was in july 2021. this first happened not long after i purchased the car last year on the interstate in heavy traffic with low speed and nothing close enough to set it off. sometimes just the emergency light will just appear and disappear quickly and sometimes it comes on and the brakes go on. the dealer service and the regional technician has inspected it a few times and could find no error but it only happens sporadically. i checked recently and there is a class action suit against nissan for the same problem in tennessee. there seems to be the same problem with other models from 2019 to present."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2023-07-07
Complaint:
"i bought the car in nov. 2021. i was at a store parked i put the car in reverse ,the car started to move, it made a lot of noise and it stoped. there was nothing behind me. this has happen about four times backing out of my driveway a lot of noise and the car stops. i took it to the dealer once and they told me that they could not find any problems."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2021-10-12

Recalls for the 2021 Nissan ALTIMA

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain 2020-2021 nissan altima vehicles. the tie rod ball joint fastener was not tightened properly, which could result in the tie rod ball joint detaching from the steering knuckle."
Consequence:
A detached tie rod ball joint can cause a loss of steering control, and increase the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will tighten the left and right-side tie rod ball joint fasteners, or install new fasteners as necessary, free of charge. The began March 31, 2021. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7769. Nissan's number for this recall is PC795.

Component(s) Involved: STEERING > LINKAGES > TIE ROD ASSEMBLY
Date of incident: 2021-03-04

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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