2012 Nissan Maxima problems
Owners have filed 137 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Nissan Maxima. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 20% of complaints. After that come electrical system (15%) and drivetrain & axles (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 137 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 10 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 12 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 54,000 miles 104 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 | 11 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 23 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 26 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 14 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 11 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 10 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 104 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 54,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 31,000 miles (22 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 10 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 12 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 15th most-complained-about out of 30 model years of the Nissan Maxima with enough data (68 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.
The airbags failed to open in a car accident. The front bumper was smashed and my daughter could have prevented injuries if the airbags had open. I have lost trust in nissan and this crushed my faith in their products! !!!
Me and my wife were traveling northbound in our 2012 nissan maxima around 30MPH on western avenue in chicago when suddenly a ford focus 2007 that ran a stop sign traveling east bound on rosemont avenue t-boned us on driver's side. As our car was moving at a significant speed it stopped after crashing into a fire hydrant which was on the corner of the intersection. My wife was taken to a hospital in an ambulance with arm and back injuries and I also had injuries on my left arm, shoulder and lower back.
There is a new recall for airbag senser misinterpreting the weight in the front passenger seat in many nissan models. According to the dealership where I bought my car, my car is not included in the recall - but I have had the same issue. When my wife, who is around 130 lbs, sits in the seat, about half of the time the airbag light indicates that the airbag is disabled. She always sits all the way back in the seat. Speed or driving environment do not appear to have any effect on the issue.
While driving my car at extremely slow speeds my car completely turned itself off and was unable to start back up for 15 minutes. During this time there was no power to the entire car, thus resulting in having to unlock my door manually and crawl through the back to get my son out. 2 months later my car started losing all power when I stopped, once again resulting in having to manually unlock my car and unable to lock the doors behind me.