2021 Nissan Altima: owner complaints and recalls

Owners have filed 68 complaints about the 2021 Nissan Altima and NHTSA has issued 2 recall campaigns. The most-reported system is forward collision avoidance, named in 22 of them.

68
Complaints
2
Recalls
6
Crash reports
1
Fire reports
4
Injuries
91.2
Severity index

Severity index 91.2 - Medium. It weights crashes, fires, injuries and fatalities per 100 complaints, so a vehicle attracting serious reports scores above one attracting many trivial ones (how this is calculated).

Middle half of all tracked vehiclesThis vehicle: 91.2p25 35p75 96cleanestworst
Where the 2021 Nissan Altima sits against the quartiles of every vehicle we track.

Among the 90 2021 vehicles we track with at least 40 complaints on file, the 2021 Nissan Altima ranks 17 of 90 by severity, where 1 is the worst. Its severity is higher than 81% of its model-year peers. See the full 2021 ranking.

What actually fails

Forward Collision Avoid…Forward Collision Avoidance: 22 complaints (32.4%)22 32%Service BrakesService Brakes: 20 complaints (29.4%)20 29%Electrical SystemElectrical System: 20 complaints (29.4%)20 29%Unknown Or OtherUnknown Or Other: 12 complaints (17.6%)12 18%SteeringSteering: 7 complaints (10.3%)7 10%EngineEngine: 6 complaints (8.8%)6 9%SuspensionSuspension: 5 complaints (7.4%)5 7%Back Over PreventionBack Over Prevention: 4 complaints (5.9%)4 6%
Systems named in complaints. One complaint can name several, so shares overlap.
ComponentComplaintsShare of complaints citing it
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE2232.4%
SERVICE BRAKES2029.4%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM2029.4%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER1217.6%
STEERING710.3%
ENGINE68.8%
SUSPENSION57.4%
BACK OVER PREVENTION45.9%

Complaints filed per year

010192021: 22022: 62023: 142024: 122025: 192026: 15 (partial year)21222324251926
Complaints filed per calendar year, not model year. The hatched bar is the current year and is still incomplete.
YearComplaints
20212
20226
202314
202412
202519
2026 (year to date)15
Complaint volume is rising - the last three years carry 5.6x the filings of the three before them, which usually signals a wear-related defect surfacing with age.

Recall campaigns

CampaignReportedComponentSummary
21V13800004/03/2021STEERING:LINKAGES:TIE ROD ASSEMBLYNissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Nissan Altima vehicles. The tie rod ball joint fastener was not tightened properly, which could result in the tie rod ball joint detaching from the steering knuckle.
23V62800008/09/2023BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERANissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2019-2021 Altima and 2020-2021 Sentra vehicles. Damage to the camera harness can cause distortion or loss of the rearview camera display image. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor
Source. US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration public complaint and recall APIs (api.nhtsa.gov), retrieved 2026-07-25. Complaints are unverified consumer reports; volume is influenced by how many units were sold and how long the vehicle has been on the road. Not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer.