Other fuel system problem on the 2005 Nissan Altima
When other fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Nissan Altima report other fuel system problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 112,005 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.
36% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,265 miles | 9,825 miles | 57,500 miles | 80,013 miles | 115,270 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
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 2005 has 17. 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 purchased my vehicle 3 months ago. At approxiamately 2950 miles, my service engine soon light came on. Immediatly after that my car became sluggish and is having acceleration problems and feels like it is dragging. Brought to dealer service and they said the problem is with the throttle body and they have to order a replacement part. They released the car to me. I asked them if it were okay to drive, and if doing so would it make the problem worse, they advised no, it is okay to drive. I called in 3 days later to see if the part was recieved, they stated it was not, they claim the part is on back order.
Dt*: the contact stated the gauges that turn on the defroster cause the driver to take their eyes off of the road. The gas cap is at an awkward angle and too hard to turn. The contact has back problems and must sit in the driver seat at a 90 degree angle, causing the contact to be too close to the airbag. Updated 03/17/06. *jb
2005 nissan altima has defective crank sensor. The throttle stops working not allowing fuel to the engine therefore stalling the car even in motion. Nissan has redesigned replacements but are incorrectly redesigned. Even with warranty nissan refuses to remedy leaving people without cars. *jb
Also reported on the 2005 Nissan Altima
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Engine sensor failure
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 2005 Nissan Altima?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 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 fuel system problem on the 2005 Nissan Altima?
17 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