1998 Infiniti I30 problems
NHTSA has received 61 complaints about the 1998 Infiniti I30, and 33% of them involve air bags. After that come electrical system (18%) and brakes (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 61 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 7 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 90,000 miles 31 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 3 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 2 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 5 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 31 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 90,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 80,000 miles (12 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 7 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 3 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 84% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Infiniti I30 with enough data (21 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Alternator failed on nissan 1998 I-30. Reported to dealer a burning smell and loss of lights. Discoved two previous recalls for same make and model year but nissan consumer affairs said my VIN was not included although I encountered the same problem. Previous recalls were NHTSA campaign #99v129000 and NHTSA campaign #02v171000. I had the alternator replaced by a nissan dealer at a cost of 567.00.
Car was parked outside the house, and had been still for about an hour. We smelled something burning and when we opened the hood, there were flames coming from the alternator. The alternator started a fire internally. It was pure luck the car didn't burn completely. The dealer says that there was a safety recall for 1998 infiniti I30s, but because the VIN doesn't fall into the recall group, they refuse to fix it unless I come with $510. The car is a 1998 I30 infiniti with the VIN [xxx]. Updated 07/24/2012
After went through a drive-through to get a sandwich, I noticed the brake and battery light on my 1998 infiniti I30 came on. I drove to a nearby gas station and noticed that my car started smoking slightly. I checked my temperature light, it was normal. When I got out of the car and opened the hood, there was a small fire that was shooting straight up about 3-4 feet out of the alternator. After approximately a minute, there was a small explosion that caused coolant to spread all over the engine.
Air bag light flashing, dealership indicated "a very common problem" for this year and make infiniiti . Well a common problem to me seems like it should be a recall. I was told by dealership that it would over $1000 does this have anything to do with takata inflators that have been recalls on millions of cars but just skipped this year and make? I was told airbag will still deploy, well I was involved in a front end accident, air bag did not deploy!
I purchased this car, as the second owner, in 2001, and everything appeared fine. Within 6 months, my air bag light had come on. There was no accident/incident involved - I turned the ignition key and the light came on. I have asked a few mechanics about it, but they all said the only way to know if it is truly defective is to have it deploy, and there is no way of knowing unless I actually hit something. It had 81k miles when I purchased it in 2001, and now has about 153k.