Buyer Research

2021 Nissan Altima — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $16,000–$21,000. There are 2 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

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Kestrel Take

69 complaints is a small record, and it is still filling in — 35 of them arrived in 2025 and 2026 — so read this as an early sketch, not a reliability rating. What is there is concentrated: the automatic emergency braking (22 complaints, four crashes) and the brake cluster that overlaps it describe a car that brakes hard on its own under overpasses and in weather, and sometimes fails to intervene when it should; the electrical cluster is door lock actuators and a radio that spikes to full volume. Two recalls, one for a tie rod fastener that can let the ball joint detach. The CVT that dominated older Altimas is nearly absent here so far. We would buy a 2021 with both recalls closed, a clean start-up dash, and a highway drive that included overpasses with no phantom stop — and we would say plainly that the record on this year is too young to promise much more.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 69 owner complaints for the 2021 Nissan Altima, and 2 recall campaigns.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 32% of them are about one thing — the driver-assist and automatic braking systems. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.

2 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2021 Nissan Altima

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Emergency braking fires for nothing under overpasses and in weather — and did not fire in two crashesHigh — wallet impact

The two largest safety clusters on this year tell one story from both sides. Owners describe the front radar sensor 'malfunctioning' as they enter an underpass or tunnel and the car braking from 47 to 28 mph with alarms sounding and nothing ahead; others see the VDC light, then the front and rear AEB lights and a 'malfunction: see owner's manual' message several times a week, especially in rain or temperature swings. Two of the crash reports are the opposite failure — the driver expected the automatic braking to help in stopped traffic and it did not. Realigning or replacing the radar unit behind the grille is the usual dealer answer, and it does not always hold. Drive the car under a bridge and past parked trucks on the test drive; if any AEB or VDC light is lit at start-up, the system is already disabled.

Repair cost (estimate): $200–$600 for a radar recalibration; $900–$1,800 for a radar unit

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the driver-assist and automatic braking systems (22), the brakes (20).

Tie rod ball joint fastener left loose at the factory — can detach from the knuckle (recall 21V138)High — wallet impact

Recall 21V138 covers 2020–2021 Altimas: the fastener holding the tie rod ball joint to the steering knuckle was not tightened properly, and if it lets go the wheel stops answering the steering. Dealers tighten or replace the fasteners on both sides for free. One owner in the brake cluster heard a click on turns and a pop on getting in and out for a year, then found this recall — while the lookup showed zero open campaigns — so a closed recall is not the end of the check. With the car parked, have someone rock the steering wheel a few degrees each way while you listen at each front wheel for a click; on the drive, a clunk on turns or a wander in the steering gets the car onto a lift before money changes hands.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $200–$500 for a tie rod end and alignment if one is worn

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (7); 2 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Door lock actuators fail in sequence; radio volume spikes; fading touchscreenMedium

21 electrical complaints, and 'door' and 'lock' are the words that repeat. Owners describe one rear door actuator failing, the other side five days later, then the driver's door — each one a $200–$400 repair — and a passenger door that will not unlock by remote or by hand. One owner found a rear door open in a parking lot with the car supposedly locked. Also here: a volume knob that jumps the radio to full and cannot turn it down (an intermittent fault in the knob or the head unit), a touchscreen that fades in and out, and steering wheel buttons that stop working. Test every door from the fob, the switch and the handle, and spend a minute with the radio knob and screen.

Repair cost (estimate): $200–$400 per door lock actuator; $300–$1,200 for a head unit

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (21).

Rear camera image distorts or goes black — harness damage (recall 23V628)Medium

Recall 23V628 covers 2019–2021 Altimas: the rearview camera harness can be damaged where it passes into the trunk lid, and the picture gets lines through it, freezes or goes black — which fails the federal rear-visibility rule. Dealers inspect the camera and harness, replace what is damaged, and tape the harness against chafing. Free. Owners in the electrical cluster describe exactly this progression, dark then glitching then black. Put the car in reverse with the engine running and watch the screen for a full minute, then open and close the trunk and look again.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under back over prevention (4); 2 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

CVT and engine complaints are few so far — keep the fluid changed anywayLow

Seven ENGINE complaints and no POWER TRAIN cluster in the top eight is unusual for an Altima, and it is genuinely encouraging — but the cars are young and the CVT in this generation shares its family with earlier Nissan units that failed after 80,000 miles. It is not a finding either way. What is in your control: ask for a CVT fluid change receipt (Nissan NS-3) and drive the car warm through a dozen stop-and-go pulls looking for hesitation or shudder. If the seller has never changed the fluid, budget for it on day one.

Repair cost (estimate): $200–$300 for a CVT fluid service

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (7).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Any AEB, VDC or 'malfunction: see owner's manual' light at start-up
✗Car slows on its own passing under a bridge or beside a parked truck on the test drive
✗Click or pop from a front wheel when the steering is rocked, or on getting in and out
✗Door that will not lock or unlock from the fob and needs the handle pulled twice
✗Rear camera with lines, freezing or a black screen in reverse

Good Signs

✓Recalls 21V138 and 23V628 both closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓A dealer invoice for radar recalibration or replacement, with no warning since
✓Every door lock cycling cleanly from fob, switch and handle
✓CVT fluid changed with NS-3 and the receipt to show for it
✓A highway drive under several overpasses with no alarm and no phantom braking