general problems of the 2003 Nissan Altima

While traveling at speeds of 75 miles an hour the car abruptly start to shake in the front end losing control and power with a no warning stall. I was in the passing lane on the freeway . And was horrified to be in the way and with no options to be anywhere beside 2 trucks that were blaring their horns. I was then stuck on the freeway for over 5 hours in 107 degree weather I love this car and it has had very little problems I've had it diagnosed twice in the last week with no luck or any replication of the issue. Please advise thank you jasmin 5204431911.

Faulty crankshaft and camshaft sensors unkown.

My exhaust system is to low that it hits every bump even when driving slow ,when they lifted the car underneath the car there's a yellow mark from all the speed bumps . Also the door handles from the drivers n passenger snap off when I try to enter my vehicle . The shocks don't know if this is why the car is so low .

Nhtsa shows 10 recalls for my car, went to Nissan bridgewater and they only found one recall to reprogram ecm and perform idle air volumn learning procedure, after this 2 days later service engine light went, now they want me to pay 140 for diagnostic test, they didn't want to see that my car has 10 recalls and to look into those issues, the car has no power while driving in on the highway, headlights keep going on and off, the gas gage fluctuates, the car goes through gas real fast, Nissan bridgewater needs to fix these issues, if not I will report Nissan bridgewater dealer to the better business bureau, this car has 90,403 miles.

After about two months of having my vehicle to repair recalls, my service advisor informs me that the recalls will not be completed due to the absence of a specific code. I was informed of the recalls and the risks they create without repair; however, Nissan is still refusing to do them. This specific recall can cause the engine to stop running without warning during operation which would result in a crash. I have been compliant and patient with Nissan, and I feel taken advantage of. The service manager and my service advisor have both seen the problems first-hand while driving my car themselves. After speaking with corporate Nissan, Nissan still wants me to take my vehicle back to drive until the code appears. Having common sense, and a toddler, I do not think this is a Smart or safe decision. I would like the recalls completed as I was originally promised.

Dash camera recorded what had happened. Watch until the end of the video to show the broken piece that came off from my car. . Read more...

Vehicle stalls when idle. It has stopped working while I was at a stop sign. Car would not go on park and was stuck on drive. Car has stopped under red light on busy intersection. It will start eventually. Maybe 5 minutes, but it does this without warning. My car has 158,000 mi. This has happened three times so far and it's intermittent. Mechanic not sure what the issue is as diagnostic test shows no problems.

Owner of a 2003 Nissan Altima. On 2/18/2016, I took my vehicle to a car wash in linden, NJ. When the car wash was completed, I put my vehicle on drive and proceeded slowly towards the car wash employees as they instructed me to stay on my left side, as the other vehicle was on the right side. While I still had my foot on the brakes, and as the employee placed the towel to dry out my vehicle, my vehicle immediately started to jolt twice while I still had my foot on the brakes and immediately unintended accelerating at a high speed. Smoke started to come out of the front hood and air bag came out. I had to control the steering wheel not to hit any one as there were several parked vehicles and people vacuuming/cleaning their vehicles. Not sure how many parked vehicles were hit and my vehicle hit a parked SUV. Ambulance and police arrived. I was in shocked, surprised and cried and told the police about my vehicle unintended accelerated so quickly without any warning while my foot was still on the brakes. All I kept saying is OH my god, how could my vehicle unintended accelerated while I still had my foot on the brakes. Were there any recalls? I told the officer that my foot was on the brakes and the more I pressed on the brakes, the faster my vehicle unintended accelerated at a high speed with no control of stopping. There were no indicator lights. My vehicle was totaled and taken away by the tow truck. I had injuries swollen/bruised on my knees, ankles, head, neck, should, hands and back. Police report was taken and not available as this takes a couple of days.

Passenger and driver side floor pans, due to rust/corrosion have failed. This appears from on line resources to have been a manufacturing flaw of 2002 - 2006 Altimas. A rusted through floor pan certainly affects the structural integrity of the car as well as the safety of the passengers. Road objects or passengers feet could easily puncture through what is remaining of the floor boards. Ironically, I remember having an issue similar to this on a 1979 chevette. I would have thought engineering and manufacturing process would have eliminated such a design flaw in more recent autos. While the vehicle is older such a substantial failure in sub body structure should not occur.

Both the driver side and passenger side floorboards are heavily rotting out. The passenger side seat is even moving.

Car suddenly stops while your fmdriving at a low speed. Check engine comes on andturns vehicle off. This is very dangerous and I font understand why it hasnt been recalled. Most of the comments are said to be either the camshaft or crankshaft. They replaced the part and it was fine for 3 months and it ccontinues to do it. Im going to end up causing an accident and Nissan doesnt even care. . . .

Like many others my 2003 Nissan Altima has stalled in traffic while driving. It reads no codes. There could have been a serious accident! this is a major concern I could have been on the interstate or in having traffic. I called Nissan and they state there was a recall for a problem to this affect and it was already fixed on this vehicle in 2007. They will not fix it again. Unbelieveable! also like many other my floor board has rusted. I had a patch repair to pass inspection. This car is a saftey hazord. After reading numerous reports that others have experienced similar situations of cutting off in traffic! I have not read any fatalities yet thank goodness! recall this car befor someone is killed!.

Rusted floorboard- driver and front passenger. Section of floorboard has completely rusted--all that remains between driver/front passenger and street surface is auto's carpet. I strongly believe this is a safety issue. I feel that rusting of the floorboards compromises the auto's integrity, and the weakening of the auto's structure can definitely lead to an accident and result in injury to driver and others. Nissan contends they have no responsibility, since the auto is out of warranty. Such rusting which compromises the auto's integrity and safety should be indefinitely warranted. Also, in this day and age of technology, I feel that the consumer should have confidence that an auto's floorboard won't rust out under the consumer. Nissan advertises quality/safety and should stand behind its products. I realize this is a 2003 model. But, with today's technology, 2003 is not really old for a vehicle. Should I expect another crucial part to fail?? maybe, the hood of the auto will fly off. Another comment-----is this problem an Altima issue, or do other vehicles have the same floorboard issues?.

Rusted passenger side floorboard. 13" by 10" hole.

The car has given repeated problems starting and the check engine light has shown a crank and cam positon sensor error. I have paid to have these sensors changed with genuine Nissan parts and the car will not start at all.

We purchased the vehicle from a private individual. It had 105000 miles on the odometer, it is a 2003 Nissan Altima with a 2. 5l (4 cylinder engine) shortly after purchase. . We noticed a very foul smell coming from the exhaust and into the passenger cabin. Also the engine consumed 1 quart of oil per 50 to 60 miles. No exaggeration ! I discovered a recall on the Altima concerning it's precat/catalytic converter could over heat, break into pieces and some of the pieces could be sucked back into the engine, scoring the cyclinder walls and causing excessive oil consumption. I emailed Nissan with my concerns. They assigned a case # to my concern. They asked for a Nissan dealer to evaluate the problems and give them a formal diagnostic of the issues. The Altima had a new catalytic converter installed in 2007. A oil consumption test was done on the car and the oil topped off and we were told to come back in 250miles so they could check the oil. In 160miles we returned and there was no oil on the dip stick! also the check engine light was on and a code for "catalyst" problems was in the computer. This was all sent to Nissan via email. Now instead of a rep. Handling the issues. . They have sent it to a regional rep. And we are awaiting their "goodwill" decision. That year Altima and engine has repeat issues even after recall repair. Tpart of the recall states that if the owner does not check the oil often and ignores engine noises that it could result in a fire! supposedly a exhaust hanger catchs debris and causes the fire??? lol who are they kidding?.

Takata recall.

While replacing front rotors/brakes, it was discovered that a fairly large rust hole in the floorboard, passenger side was discovered. I called a collision shop seeking advice and was told it would require a complete replacement costing approx. $2,100/$2,500, as this was their policy. I called another shop looking for at least a patch replacement. Per their inspection, their estimate is approx. $700. 00/$800. 00, taking at least 1 full day to work on repair. Decided to check on similar issues on-line and much to my surprise there are many, many, many complaints regarding rusted floorboards. Nissans' response was that salted roads was the problem. However, many complaints were from states that use sand and/or in sunshine states. I called Nissan, my reference no. 15121312. Presently car at suburban troy dealership, as there were recalls on my car. No word from dealer or Nissan on rusted floorboard issue being replaced/repaired. What is needed for issuing recalls, as we all believe problem is from defected steel and/or poor design ??? should I (and all of us) contact our local state and/or washington elected officials ???, as this would be the perfect time to do so, being that this is an election year !!! I'm hoping that this will not be a case of waiting for a serious injury and/or death(s) to occur before corrections to this issue gets resolved and immediate attention is given to these rusted floorboards. Thank you in advance for looking into and resolving the "rusted floorboards" problems !.

In may 2014 I started to run my ac unit and was getting a very bad smell from the ac unit- the ac unit was replaced last year. I took the car back to the mechanic that replaced the ac unit last year and he found dead mice up in the ac unit so he replaced the ac filter and sprayed out the car good. My husband went underneath the car yesterday to find that the floor boards on both sides of the car are rotted and they are two large holes. We looked online at 2003 Nissan Altima's to find out that it is a car defective and we are not the only ones experiencing this problem. I plan on contacting Nissan tomorrow to make them aware of this issue as well. There is a 99. 9% that Nissan's floor boards rot out over time for it is manufacture's flaw. Nissan should recall all Nissan's and replace all their floor boards.

I have the notorious floorboard rust problem. A recall needs to be made. I have a foot size hole on the driver side floor board. It is rusted out all the way to the interior carpet. This is a huge problem Nissan needs to pay to fix. Not the consumers. This is obviously a defect on how the car was made.

My passenger floor board is completely rusted out. This is where my younger daughter sits. We had no idea that it had been that way for the last year until we could hear the highway coming up through the floor. I am a single mom and had to go to a neighbors who pulled up the carpet to find no floor underneath. This is extremely dangerous and Nissan needs to take responsibility!!!!!!!!!!!!.

2003 Nissan Altima (122,000 miles) - passenger and driver side floor boards are completed rusted. Nissan is not helping with this known defect.

We noticed over the weekend that the floorboards under the front seats are completely rusted. I could have been walking my car like the flintstones anytime soon.

We recently were informed that the flooboards on our Nissan were completely rusted through on both the driver and passenger side of our vehicle. The estimate to have this fixed is around $2,000 and our car is in perfect condition otherwise. We have always taken extremely good care of our vehicle taking it in for maintenance every 3-5,000 miles so I cannot understand how this could happen. I have read on-line that this is happening to Nissan Altimas everywhere and it sounds like an issue that Nissan should have put in a recall and fixed the cars. Now we are left to either pay thousands to fix the car or get rid of it.

Passenger side floor board completely rusted right through. This is not normal for this to happen to a car that is 10 years old. There really needs to be a recall on this situation with these cars. It seems that it is happening to quite a bit of the Nissan Altima's which is very dangerous especially if you have purchased it for your child. Nissan doesn't seem to be taking any responsibility to this.

Car stalls at red light twice. Later, stalls but doesn't go dead. Gas won't work. Month later crankshaft sensor, transmission oil, fluid and screen was replaced, but when driven afterwards it stalled again.

We live in PA. We took our 2003 Nissan Altima in for inspection and were told the driver and the passenger side floor panels were rusted though to the car. Car was bought new, has been garage kept, and our winters have been mild. Nothing ever has been spilled in the car and the carpet have never been wet. Had 4 local body shops give estimates (from $900 to $1500), all that said that this shouldn't happen to a 10 year old car and the rest of the car looks good. Spoke with Nissan customer affairs who had us take it to a Nissan affiliated body shop. One of the body shops researched the problem and found numerous complaints regarding this problem. I was told there is a design flaw with the drainage of the sunroof or windshield, forcing water between the floor pan and rocker bottom. Mentioned that a plug isn't sealed or installed correctly. I called Nissan and the case was sent to a regional customer affair representative. After two weeks of 2-3 calls per day leaving messages with my contact number, I finally heard back today and was told that "the decision is final and they are not willing to give any help in fixing the problem" or stand behind their product/defect/design flaw.

I drove my car from ms to GA. When I reached my hotel and turned my car off and tried to leave again the service engine light came on and the car would not start. I had the light checked the next the and it came back reading the crank position sensor. When I made it back to ms I got the part replaced and the check engine light was turned off. 8 months later my car started cutting off at red lights and not starting again. The check engine light came back on. When I had it checked again the mechanic said it was reading for the crank position sensor again. Once I explained to him that I just had that fixed he figured it was something else. Replaced my battery, battery cables, alternator, and starter. Cars still shuts off and wont crank. When I called Nissan they said my VIN wasnt included in the recall. My car stalls on me daily and shuts off at red lights.

No crash or injury - the floor has rusted out all the way through. Nissan refuses to acknowledge the issue and there are tons of forums and complaints regarding this issue.

I have a 2003 Nissan Altima. This car is burning oil like crazy. There's no smoke or anything of that sort, but I have to keep an eye out and put oil in my car to keep it running at least every 4-5 days or so. Gas is high and oil is getting higher; I have to keep at least 2-3 quarts in my trunk. The check engine light has been on for sometime now. While driving on the interstate if I go over 70mph the check engine light starts blinking. When I take my foot off the accelerator the check engine light stops blinking, but continues to stay on. However, I just had my spark plugs changed and now the car won't start. Please I need some help ASAP. . . . I don't have money to purchase a new one at this time, but wish someone can tell me what is going on. The dealer is no help whatsoever. They get you in there and tell you that this, this, and this is the problem. It seems that nothing is under warranty with Nissan, and I don't own the car as of yet I'm still making monthly payments. I think that Nissan needs to go over the engine, electronic, and etc. Because canton, mississippi is the home of Nissan and you have some big problems on your hands!!!.

A few years ago approx. 2009 or so I noticed a whole in my passenger side floor board while getting an oil change. It seemed like it came out of no where. It is a very large rusted out whole under the passengers side where your feet would be. I have no other rust on or under the vehicle but in one spot!!! my mechanic looked into it and said that when Nissan made these vehicles they positioned a tube that carries liquid to in the car versus out of the car. I then called and went to Nissan and spoke with them. There a man told me that it is a big issue with 2003-2005 Altimas but Nissan would not recall it so it would cost $1600 for a new floor board. While searching the internet I find that this is a huge issue! and quite the safety concern. There is a whole in hundreds of vehicles if not thousands and Nissan will not take responsibility. I would love for someone to do something about this before someone falls through a moving vehicle. Most people do not look under their car on a monthly or bi monthly basis and it's very dangerous. My hope is that if everyone who owns this vehicle finds out about this they will take necessary precautions to make sure that their passengers are safe. And also shame on Nissan for not caring enough of their customers to not want to admit their mistakes!!.

Nissan Altima 2003 - vent blows hot air over 100 degrees when temperature outside is comfortable (80's) . Manufacturer checked car & claims everything within specs. - their solution is to always use ac. Have brought car several times since purchase new & they will not resolve. My concern is are there future problems to the car connected to this & of course the uncomfortable of the heat.