2018 Nissan MAXIMA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2018 Nissan Maxima has received an impressive overall safety rating of 5 out of 5, indicating excellent safety features and crash test performance. It excels in front and side crash ratings, with a perfect score in rollover protection as well. This vehicle is equipped with electronic stability control and forward collision warning systems as standard features, enhancing its safety capabilities on the road.

Although the Maxima does not have lane departure warning, its robust overall safety rating coupled with stability control and collision warning mechanisms make it a reliable choice for drivers prioritizing safety. Additionally, with a low number of complaints (27) and recalls (2), this car demonstrates a good track record in reliability and safety, giving drivers peace of mind on the road.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

27

Recall Count

2

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2018 Nissan Maxima 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2018 Nissan Maxima 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.

No

2018 Nissan Maxima 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2018 Nissan Maxima 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 2018 Score 2023 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 5

Side Crash Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2018 Score 2023 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 4 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 5 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 2018 Score 2023 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 4 5

Complaints for the 2018 Nissan MAXIMA

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:
"inappropriate function of the aeb system. filed a prior complaint with you a couple of months ago about the cruise control sensor and the aeb. cruise was fixed, but aeb keeps going off while using cruise inappropriately. did not get fixed. spent a lot of time working with nissan consumer affairs and vision nissan in webster ny and problem not found. there are numerous complaints on line about the same problem, but nissan consumer affairs (nca) keeps telling me there are no other complaints about this issue. the nca told me that unless the service department has the aeb go off while they are trying it out, they won't do anything. if i want the second opinion they are recommending, it has to be out of pocket cost for me. i have had it happen and drove to the dealer without turning the vehicle off, and they didn't pull any codes, so won't address it. i have asked to speak to a manager/supervisor at nca, but they refuse to let me talk to anyone. this has happened no less than 100 times and is very dangerous."
Components Involved: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2022-01-07

Complaint:
"i purchased this vehicle used a couple of months ago. the automatic emergency braking initiates inappropriately while using icc, it brakes without obstruction. also, the distance sensor isn't working properly according to the dealer. when i use icc, and sometimes when i am not using it, i get an "unavailable, front radar obstruction" message. the icc stops working when this happens. it happens every single time i drive. the dealer i bought it from (not a nissan dealer) won't address it. the nissan dealer i had to pay $160 to diagnose it said it has a faulty distance sensor, which will be repaired if i pay over $1000. i only have $13,000 miles on this vehicle, and it was 11,000 when i bought it. this has a nissan service bulletin easily found online, a known issue to nissan which is a safety issue, but it isn't recalled and should be."
Components Involved: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2024-02-05

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2018 nissan maxima. while driving various speeds, the collision avoidance system erroneously activated although no objects were present in front of the vehicle. the vehicle was taken to napleton nissan (10964 page ave, st. louis, mo) where the collision avoidance sensor wa recalibrated; however, the failure continued. the manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided case number: 2170186. the failure mileage was 40,000."
Components Involved: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2019-01-09

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2018 nissan maxima. while attempting to accelerate from a stop, the vehicle braked suddenly. hawkinson nissan (5513 miller circle dr, matteson, il 60443, 708-304-3645) and the manufacturer stated that there were no recalls. the failure occurred once. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was 4,098."
Components Involved: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Date of incident: 2021-01-06

Recalls for the 2018 Nissan MAXIMA

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2019 nissan altima, armada, frontier, kicks, leaf, maxima, murano, nv, nv200, pathfinder, rogue, rogue sport, sentra, titan, titan diesel, versa note and versa sedan vehicles, as well as infiniti q50, q60, qx30 and qx80 vehicles. additionally included are 2019 nissan gt-r and taxi and infiniti qx50, qx60, q70, q70l vehicles. the back-up camera and display settings can be adjusted such that the rear view image is no longer visible and the system will retain that setting the next time the vehicle is placed in reverse. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 111, "rear visibility.""
Consequence:
The lack of an image in the back-up camera display increases the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Nissan will notify owners in phases, having dealers update the back-up camera settings software, free of charge. The recall began November 11, 2019 and all affected VINs should be activated. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669 or INFINITI customer service at 1-800-662-6200.

Component(s) Involved: BACK OVER PREVENTION > SENSING SYSTEM > CAMERA
Date of incident: 2019-09-12

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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