Steering column or shaft failure on the 2009 Nissan Altima
When steering column or shaft failure gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Nissan Altima report steering column or shaft failure at a median of 91,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 117,000 miles, from 114 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 44,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 96,050 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.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43,650 miles | 69,875 miles | 91,000 miles | 117,000 miles | 139,700 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 $600–$2,500 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 300 miles, and latest on the 2013 at 90,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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 bought my 2009 nissan altima new and have done all the required maintenance. Then I went out to the car to start it up and nothing. It was towed to the nissan dealership and I was told the electrical portion of the steering column was fried. It will cost me usd 800.00 to have fixed. The car is three years old! Unfortunately this is a common problem with this year make and model yet nissan has not issued a recall or offered to fix the malfunction without cost. *tr
Drove my altima to work, as usual and parked at my work parking lot. Once it was time to leave, got into my car to drive home but car wouldn't start. Blinking key light in upper left and corner and car/key light in upper right hand corner. Had to get vehicle towed to a nissan dealership by work (30 miles away from home). Nissan has had my car for two days now and just figured out it was the faulty steering column actuator. Quote given over the phone was $777 plus towing and car rental fees! Why the heck is this not covered under a warranty if my car is only 3 years old and not even 48,000 miles!!!! So disappointed with nissan. I'm so thankful that I wasn't stranded by myself at night in a large city with no where to go - which is what would have happened when I was out of town just days before. I have friends with altima's and I sincerely hope this doesn't happen to them however, based on the number of people this has happened too, it's basically a guarantee that it will happen!!!! *tr
Have had this car for 2+ years now, lived in arizona and florida. I now live in maryland. This morning was slightly colder than normal, with sleet coming in last night. My wife attempted to start the car this morning while I was away at work and could not get it to start. Looking at the dash indicators, it showed the orange intelligent key light on, and when I tried to start the car, the ignition button would not switch out of lock. Tried to get the car into neutral, but brakes appear to be firm in place and will not unlock the shifter out of park. Looked online for a few solutions, but none have worked so far (unhooking battery, moving the steering column). Called the nissan dealership near here and they want me to tow it in before they can even guess at the cause (which I would have no issue with if this was an uncommon thing, but there are numerous reports of this online, most pointing to the same thing: a shoddy part that I need to pay $500 plus labor to replace ). Eventually this will have to get fixed, but what is most disheartening is the fact that this could have happened anywhere and left my wife stranded for some time. I…
Also reported on the 2009 Nissan Altima
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 143 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 steering column or shaft failure happen on the 2009 Nissan Altima?
Across 114 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 91,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 117,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering column or shaft failure on the 2009 Nissan Altima?
143 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 22 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