1998 Nissan Altima problems
NHTSA has received 141 complaints about the 1998 Nissan Altima, and 15% of them involve fuel system. After that come air bags (11%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 141 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 20 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 11 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 120,000 miles 36 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 | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 7 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 0 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 36 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 120,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 20 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 11 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 25th most-complained-about out of 32 model years of the Nissan Altima with enough data (80 complaints in that window).
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.
While driving consumer was involved in a collision. Air bags deployed. However, consumer hit head on windshield hard enough to spider crack it. Consumer sustained a minor concussion and bruising of the forearm and elbow, and strained her neck muscles.
Consumer was pulling out a parking lot when another vehicle struck his vehicle on the right corner. Then when consumer tried to drive vehicle away from the other vehicle, he stepped on the brakes to stop, but vehicle did not stop. Vehicle went over the sidewalk.
Brakes locked up causing loss of control and consumer crashed into cement median strip causing injury to consumer. *mjs
The car was idle at a red light when it shut down completely (engine, radio, lights, etc). It would not start again. I got a jump and it started. The next day it started fine. I let it idle for about 15 minutes and it was okay. I drove it for a few minutes and it died again. I had it towed to a repair shop. None of the diagnostic tests showed anything wrong (battery, alternator, etc. Were okay). They drove it and it did not die again. I took it to a nissan dealer and they cannot find any problems either.
My car was all over the road while driving at 55, 60 MPH. It does it at slower speeds too but we were almost killed this time. It seems to want to go to the left or right when ever it feels like it. I just bought it from a private person not too long ago.