Other electrical problem on the 2001 Nissan Altima
1 crash 1 fire 2 of the 16 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Nissan Altima report other electrical problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 72,621 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22,430 miles | 44,500 miles | 54,205 miles | 80,000 miles | 95,051 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 1 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 152; the 2001 has 16. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Battery exploded when key turned to "on" position. Car was in garage. It was initial cranking of engine that day. A loud "boom" was heard. Upon investigation discovered top of battery in three pieces and a split in case next to neg terminal. Acid on underside of hood and surrounding area of battery. Pool of acid collected on garage floor.*ak
Car was parked overnight in garage. When key was turned in the ignition, explosion occurred under the hood. Smoke was coming out from under the hood and acid was dripping to the pavement. There is a dent on the hood from the inside directly above the battery location. There was also acid on the engine and local areas. *ak
In 2001 I purchased a nissan altima. It left me stranded on numerous occasions. I could be running errands and right in the middle of my errands the vehicle wouldn't start. I would call a tow truck and once it made it to the nissan dealer it would start right up (I thought it was an electrical problem). I contacted nissan in december of 2001 regarding this problem and they "could not duplicate" it and wouldn't do anything to help me out. I left it at my dealer for weeks on 2 separate occasions. Since nissan would do nothing to help me out and I live in minnesota where being stranded in cold weather could kill you, I had to trade it off. Then the other day I say an article that they had recalled all these vehicles for the same problem that I had. So I contacted them again and they told me my vehicle was not included in the recall. I have no idea how they designate what gets recalled and what doesn't, but it has the same problem as the other 2.56 million vehicles. *la
Also reported on the 2001 Nissan Altima
Other engine problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Misfire or rough idle
Other body or interior problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other electrical problem happen on the 2001 Nissan Altima?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2001 Nissan Altima?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed