Other fuel system problem on the 2002 Nissan Altima
1 crash 2 fires 3 of the 23 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 fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Nissan Altima report other fuel system problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 138,313 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.
42% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 422 miles | 3,000 miles | 51,400 miles | 84,338 miles | 138,735 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 2 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 $300–$2,200 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 27; the 2002 has 23. 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.
I own a 2002 nissan altima, that my husband purchase for my 15 year anniversary, may 2002. In oct 2002, it started with lose belts that wasn't repaired until dec 2002. Well, in mar 2003, my car wouldn't start. So, the service guy told me to put it in neutral and try to start it, nothing!! So, when the tow guy arrived to tow to dealer, he tried with no success. So, my car was left at the dealer for 4 days, the service dept said it started for them. So, while I was checking out at the cashier, the service manager so happen to be standing by and over heard me talking to the cashier. So, he and I went out to my car and it started for him, but he stated that it's a delayed cranking and they've gotten a service complaint about the altima's not starting and they believe it's has something to do with the fuel injection, but before they can recall the car, they must know how to repair the problem. So, he said whenever it does it again, while cranking the car, push down on the accelerator and give it some gas and it should start. Well, in april, while in d.c., on vacation, coming out to start the car, it didn't start. So, I did what the…
"pure" gas smell in exhaust....vehicle fails to restarts after being driven short distances , turne off, and re-started. Has happened since I have purchased the vehicle....dealership/repair never finds any problems. This is the 5th time it has happened over a year. Car will not re-start, unless I wait 2-4 hours & try again. Dealership/service said may have something to do with where I purchase fuel....but I fill up at several places through out the week...so I know that's not the problem.*ak
"pure" gas smell in exhaust....vehicle fails to restarts after being driven short distances , turne off, and re-started. Has happened since I have purchased the vehicle....dealership/repair never finds any problems. This is the 5th time it has happened over a year. Car will not re-start, unless I wait 2-4 hours & try again. Dealership/service said may have something to do with where I purchase fuel....but I fill up at several places through out the week...so I know that's not the problem.*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 23 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2002 Nissan Altima?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2002 Nissan Altima?
23 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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