1997 Nissan Altima problems
NHTSA has received 141 complaints about the 1997 Nissan Altima, and 26% of them involve air bags. After that come electrical system (11%) and brakes (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 141 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 40 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 31 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 120,000 miles 27 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 | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 27 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 120,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 40 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 31 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 97% 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 1997 ranks 27th most-complained-about out of 32 model years of the Nissan Altima with enough data (69 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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.
Vehicle was stopped at a red light and involved in a sandwich crash, vehicle was hit by other vehicle traveling about 42 MPH, there was no deployment of the driver's or passenger's air bags. The vehilce is being repaired.
No deployment of the driver or passenger side air bags during front end collision, the three occupants of the vehicle suffered minor injuries. Nlm
Owner was drivimg his 1997 nissan altima se on the center lane along meadowbrook parkway, long island, ny. The BMW 7.4 on the right side (first lane) merged into the center lane and made a sudden brake. Owner of the nissan altima applied a sudden brake but because of the short distance in between two cars, the altima hit the BMW on the rear. Both cars were traveling at approximately 40-45 miles per hour. Both the driver and passenger airbags were not deploy.
My son was in a head on crash in my vehicle. He was traveling approximately 30 MPH when he hit the back of another car. His air bags did not deploy nor did his seatbelt lock. His chin hit the steering wheel. His head and hand both went into the windshield which is cracked. He was driving a 1997 nissan altima. I also have photos of the car and the windshield.
The left rear tail lights are leaking I had the repaired at the nissan dealership, 2 weeks later they started to leak again. The trunk is rusted at the bottom and the dealer says there is no guarantee on the work, but after looking on the internet and talking to other people I am not the only one with this problem for 97 nissan altimas.