2003 Nissan Altima 2.5 review from North America

The car just lost power with my wife driving down the road. She had to get out and push it to the side of the road with my 8 year old steering. When I got there it started, but since it had died and the service engine soon light was on, we decided to take it to the Nissan dealership that night. I was driving it across the intersection to enter the dealership and it died on me. Scary! The dealership called the next day and told me that it had 2 recalls, the headlights and the ECM reprogram. The problem with the ECM could cause the car to loose power and crash the guy said. Only problem was that they said my CAM & Crank Shaft sensors had to be replaced?? Even though my car only has 33,174 miles it was 3.5 years old so not covered. Cost me $213. I filed a complaint with Nissan and got a call back from some Tech type guy who was very sorry for the problem, but Nissan could do nothing since the ECM recall could not cause the sensors to go bad, yea right. He even admitted that they had numerious problems with the CAM & Crank sensors and it was extreemely dangerous. He suggested that I file a complaint with the NHTSA which I did. He said that if enough people complained maybe Nissan would do something. I haven't heard anything back that's why I writing this now.

This car looks good on the outside, but inside you can see where they got cheap. The Altima was not my first or second choice, but it was what my wife wanted. After experiencing what we have and reading a lot of reviews on this and other problems with the 2003 Altima, I wish we had not bought it.