Two problems related to steering column have been reported for the 2005 Nissan Altima. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2005 Nissan Altima based on all problems reported for the 2005 Altima.
I own a 2005 Nissan Altima, and I recently took the car in because the power steering seemed to be going out. The steering is very difficult once you turn the wheel more than 1/4 to the right or left. When the weather is warmer, the problem is not as serious; but in cold weather, the car becomes very hard to steer. The Nissan service department indicated the u-joint on the lower section of the steering column is going bad and needs to be replaced. I did a search to see if other owners were having a similar problem, and I found several blogs indicating other owners are having the same exact problem at approximately the same mileage (75,000 miles).
Nissan part #480808j000 called the coupling shaft & column locked up on me, causing my steering to go out in my vehicle. Vehicle was not drivable as it was, tried to do a u-turn, steering went and all most hit a building. I was told this part was on back order nation wide and they had no idea when the part would be in. I do have the new part, kept the old part and if you try to move the bottom shaft portion, that should move freely, you have to wrench on it to move the part, it is rusted. If you are driving this vehicle it might go at 21,000 or 50,000 miles, I have 51,000 miles on my vehicle and it went, the shop had a vehicle that matched mine except for mileage 21,000 and the part went out 6 weeks before mine did and that owner was still waiting on the part.