Other electrical problem on the 2002 Nissan Altima
2 crashes 5 fires 3 injuries 10 of the 43 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 2002 Nissan Altima report other electrical problem at a median of 47,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 26 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 7,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 152,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 143,400 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
46% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,600 miles | 20,750 miles | 48,166 miles | 129,000 miles | 152,000 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, 2 a crash, 5 a fire and 3 an injury 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 2002 has 43. 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.
While traveling 70mph on highway and without prior warning engine check light appeared on dashboard, indicating that vehicle caught on fire. The dealership was aware of the problem. *ak there was a sudden loss of power, there was also a clicking sound as if it were coming from the fuel injection system, the oil light, and the light had illuminated. *cc
On different occasions, 08/07/03 being the latest, my car has stalled, or shown poor accelleration while driving. It has happened while driving over 65 MPH, soon after starting the car and putting it into drive, and a small time period after driving it. On one occasion I exited out of a parking lot onto a busy two-way traffic road, to cross to the other side and it stalled while there was oncoming traffic. I was very reluctant that the traffic speed wasn't high, for they may not have had the time to slow down. I have taken my car in several different times to my dealer, and other car maintenance shops, and they say that they can't find the problem, and in order to fix the problem, they must duplicate it. But the problem that comes from that is, it doesn't happen on a recurring basis. It can happen hours apart to 2 months apart. It gives no warning, and it goes back to running normal as if nothing has ever happened. The first time it happened was approximately 3 months after.*ak
No start - car towed for third time - dec. 30, 2002 ; feb. 19, 2003 and june 9, 2003 - each time given a different reason--rented car2 times-reimbursed once. On 12/30-told problem due to cold damp weather;2/19 charged $113. By legend nissan--said no start my fault because I moved car for plow and did not run long enough before turning off; 6/9-returned from 4 day vacation-again no start. *ak
Also reported on the 2002 Nissan Altima
Other engine problem
Excessive oil consumption
Catalytic converter failure
Other body or interior problem
Head gasket failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 43 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 2002 Nissan Altima?
Across 26 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 47,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 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 2002 Nissan Altima?
43 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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