2024 Nissan Altima: What to check before buying

A sudden tightening or locked-up feel at the wheel is the most serious pattern. Two complaints describe a loss of steering control that ended in a crash, with 2 injuries. Other reports describe an intermittent vibration in the wheel, a skipping feel when backing out of a parking space, and a clicking noise on the passenger side while turning. Some owners connect their symptoms to a steering recall on 2024 models and want the recall repair. A dealer could not reproduce the vibration.

A transmission housing bolt missing from the factory lets the remaining bolt shear off, and the drive shaft drops into the catalytic converter. The car makes a long noise, shakes, and becomes undriveable, with no warning beforehand. The reported failure happened at low speed on a residential street. A drive shaft falling out at highway speed carries an obvious crash risk. The remaining complaint mentions engine and transmission problems but gives no detail.

Both complaints here say the airbags did not deploy in severe collisions. Each describes another vehicle traveling around 80 mph striking the car hard enough to total it, yet neither the front nor the side curtain airbags went off. Both are crash-related, with 2 injuries to front occupants who needed medical treatment. No warning lights were reported beforehand, and the cause was not determined. One failure occurred at 3,200 miles.

Brakes that fail to stop the car lead to a collision in both reports. Both are crash-related, with 1 injury. One describes a loud clinking noise and a burning rubber smell before the brakes stopped working at a stop sign. The other describes the car accelerating down a steep hill with no brake response until it hit a hillside and set off the airbags. That second case involved a rental car.

Bubbles on the sidewall and slow leaks are the reported tire problems. The bubbles show up while the tread still looks new, and owners describe them as air getting between the layers of the tire. In one case the first tire bubbled at 20000 miles and the other 3 followed soon after. The other complaint describes a small leak from the sidewall of a rear tire.

Rear seat belt sensors give false unbuckled warnings and beep repeatedly even when the back seat is empty. The constant alert distracts the driver and may point to a faulty occupant detection system. The other complaint in this category is really about water getting in. A new car arrived with a mold odor in the cabin and water in the trunk, which the owner blames on defective weatherstripping or sealing. The car went back to the dealer more than once.

Sudden failures across many systems at once are the pattern here. The dash fills with warnings for brakes, emissions, and other systems, and the car either stalls or slows and cannot go faster than 20 mph. The gas pedal stops responding and the brake pedal becomes very hard to push, which nearly led to rear-end collisions. One stall happened in snow at about 13,000 miles.

The backup camera image goes blank, turns pink or orange, or shows a white foggy haze. The haze gets worse at night and in garages, so objects behind the car are hard to identify. A dealer mechanic reportedly said the haze affects all 2024 models and that Nissan offers no repair or replacement. Because the screen sometimes goes blank, drivers say they cannot rely on the camera when reversing.