Nissan Maxima
Reliability, NHTSA Complaints & Recall History
10 model years analyzed (2013–2023). All data sourced directly from the NHTSA public complaints and recall database — the same data used by federal regulators.
Checking a specific Nissan Maxima? Run a VIN check for its exact history.
⭐ NHTSA NCAP Crash Test Ratings
New Car Assessment ProgramNCAP crash tests measure how well a vehicle protects occupants in controlled frontal crash, side crash, and rollover scenarios. Stars are awarded per category (5 = safest). These laboratory results are independent of owner complaints and are performed by NHTSA engineers on new production vehicles.
NCAP crash test ratings for this model are not yet loaded or this vehicle was not tested in the years analyzed. NHTSA tests a subset of new vehicles each year. Check nhtsa.gov/ratings directly for the latest results.
AI Reliability Analysis
AverageThe Nissan Maxima (2013-2023) has a moderate number of complaints, with powertrain issues being the most common, followed by air bag and electrical system problems. The 16 recalls and 34 crash-related complaints indicate some safety concerns, but overall reliability is average for its class.
Check for any open recalls and ensure the transmission has been serviced regularly. Consider a pre-purchase inspection focusing on the powertrain and air bag systems.
- Powertrain issues (transmission, engine)
- Air bag system problems
- Electrical system malfunctions
🔔 NHTSA Safety Recalls
16 recalls foundSafety recalls are mandatory repair campaigns ordered by NHTSA when a vehicle defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety. Manufacturers are required to fix recalled vehicles free of charge. Always verify open recalls before buying a used car.
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Source: NHTSA Recalls Database. Data covers model years 2013–2023. Always run a VIN-specific check below for the most up-to-date open recall status.
🔧 Most-Reported Problem Areas
Based on component keywords extracted from all 82 NHTSA complaints.
📋 NHTSA Complaint Reports
82 totalThese are consumer-submitted safety complaints filed directly with NHTSA. Each complaint describes a real owner's experience. Complaints flagged as crash-related or fire-related are highlighted.
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine. The vehicle jerked before stalling in the middle of the road. No warning lights were illuminated. The Police were called to block traffic. The vehicle was towed. The tow truck driver had issues while attempting to tow the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission had failed and needed to be replaced. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, the vehicle failed to start. The contact would turn on the engine, and several minutes later, the vehicle stalled. The failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. It was unknown if the contact's husband had replaced the battery. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was informed that the vehicle warranty had expired. The failure mileage was approximately 106,000.
When I start driving the front collision light comes on and off and then they'll stay on
Nissan dealership said the front control arms are cracking and recommended having them replaced.
Forward collision warning turns on about 20 seconds after the car starts. There was no accident or obstructions to the sensors, this apperas to just be equipment failure on a car with only 30k miles on it.
The sunroof inexplicably blew out while driving on a 3-lane interstate normally taken to work every day in the morning, windows were up. This movable portion of the sunroof is part of the panoramic sun roof. The sun shade was open, it is normally left open. Some small pieces of the glass fell onto me and seats but most was sucked up and away from the car. Thankfully, no glass hit me in the face and no cars were around me. I have rear cam footage of the glass flying out behind the car. Front footage shows nothing hit the car, no one was near enough to suspect otherwise. A picture is attached of what is left.
When I start driving, sometimes I randomly see Key System Error and DAS Malfunction. All other warnings such as emergency brake, traction control, blind spot detection light up. Engine RPM meter keeps going to 0 and back and forth (see video in the link below). When this happens, driver assistance features like forward collision warning, blind spot warning and lane departure warning stops working. Sometimes, I cannot turn off the engine by pressing the Stop Engine button. I have to hold the button for about 5 seconds to stop the engine. Sometimes there's a Chasis Control System error (Attached a picture from last year). This started happening about a year ago and has occurred at least a dozen times so far. I have taken this to different dealerships, and none have been able to identify the issue. I haven't had any accidents on collisions on this vehicle. Please see link below for a video of the behavior. You can see different warnings coming on and off in the video. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH and changing lanes, the hood unlatched, flew open and struck the windshield. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer and was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 84,214.
Was getting into the car. As we closed the doors, we heard the sunroof shatter. the edges of the broken glass were pushed up as if the air pressure inside the car broke the glass. If the inside cover was open, we would have been showered in glass. The manufacturer inspected and replaced the glass.
My transmission is bad.
1-Clips that secure the front grill and font quarter panels have broken for no apparent reason. 2-Body parts can fall off during driving if not repaired 3-Inspected at dealership 4-No warnings - the front camera looked "cloudy" because it had fallen when the grill clips broke and became loose The entire grill has to be replaced. All parts are on backorder with no date for restock. This is my daily driver with a mix of town and highway driving, so I typically drive 30-70 MPH daily and only about 10 miles per day to and from work. There is very little wear on this car, it has less than 12,000 miles on it and has not been involved in any collision.
Was at a four way stop. Other driver pulled out in front of me and I tried to not hit their vehicle but couldn’t avoid it. I was going around 15 miles per hour. The air bag discharged so hard it broke my windshield and injured my head, neck and lower back.
The front passenger side A-pillar molding flew off while driving in windy weather. This piece could have hit another vehicle and impeded their vision while driving. The molding was not otherwise compromised.
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated the collision sensor system on the vehicle was malfunctioning, causing the vehicle to brake on its own while reversing in parallel parking. The contact stated the vehicle would always make buzzing sounds while parking. The contact stated while he was reversing out of a parking space on a hill, the vehicle inadvertently stopped, causing him to hit the vehicle in front of him. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 25,000.
While driving 2020 Nissan Maxima Sv the emergency park brake light up and rear brake light up and traction control light up on dash and it act like it looses power and when you go to settings on sonar it big green light in front of car And check engine light came on
My emergency brake comes on any time I drive after a heavy rain.. it starts to illuminate vaguely,then eventually the brake light will come on and then eventually it’ll start indicating to pull over. The first time I was in rush hour traffic on a busy highway. Was able to push down on the brake and release long enough to come off an exit before it came back on. Had to let the car sit for over 20 minutes. The second time we had heavy rain I got in the car the following day after 15 mins of driving the brake light started to illuminate and I could not get it to go off I had to pull over several time eventually sitting on the side of the ride for 20 mins again for it to go off. I could smell a burning smell when I exited the vehicle
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Maxima. The contact stated that while driving at 50 - 55 mph, the vehicle lost motive power, and the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) System, Slip indicator, and Rear Automatic Braking warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but the dealer could not replicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that they would not authorize the dealer to perform the repair and could not replace or repurchase the vehicle. The failure mileage was 8,296.
WINDSHIELD CRACKS RANDOMLY WITH NO POINT OF IMPACT. FRAYS OUTWARD. SEEMS TO BE STRESS FRACTURE FROM THE FRAME. HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES WITH 2020 NISSANS
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2020 NISSAN MAXIMA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT 55 MPH, WHEN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL BEGAN FLASHING RED AND THE VEHICLE FORCEFULLY BRAKED INDEPENDENTLY. THERE WERE NO VEHICLES NEARBY AND A CRASH WAS AVOIDED. THE CONTACT STATED HE WAS ABLE TO DRIVE TO HIS DESTINATION. THE FAILURE OCCURRED ON THREE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A LOCAL DEALER (SOUTH SHORE NISSAN LOCATED AT 200 SUNRISE HWY, AMITYVILLE, NY 11701, (516) 269-8338) AND WERE UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE FAILURE. THE MANUFACTURER HAD BEEN INFORMED OF FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 3,200.
2020 NISSAN MAXIMA SR. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS GAS CAP DOOR LOCK FUNCTION. *LD THE CONSUMER WAS CONCERNED THAT THE BACK UP CAMERA WOULD NEED A SYSTEM UPGRADE DO TO POOR VISIBILITY. *JS
NISSAN IN THE 2020 MAXIMA MODELS REMOVED THE LOCKING FEATURE OF THE GAS CAP DOOR. THIS IS A SAFETY CONCERN FOR POSSIBLE VANDALISM TO THE VEHICLE A PERSONAL SAFETY CONCERN BECAUSE IS A KEYED LOCKING CAP IS INSTALLED THE INDIVIDUAL HAS TO FUMBLE THROUGH UNLOCKING THE CAP IN ORDER TO FILL THE TANK. NEITHER THE SALES PERSON OR SERVICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL KNEW THIS FEATURE HAD BEEN REMOVED IN THE 2020 MODEL. IT'S AVAILABLE IN THE 2019 MAXIMA MODELS. THE REMOVAL OF THIS FEATURE, EVEN THOUGH ITS STANDARD ON MOST VEHICLES SOLD IN NORTH AMERICA SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISCLOSED BEFORE THE VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED. FURTHER, THE FACT THAT NEITHER THE SALES PERSON AT THE DEALER, SERVICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL OR MANAGEMENT AT THE DEALER KNEW ABOUT THIS, SHOWS THAT NISSAN PURPOSELY WITHHELD THIS INFORMATION FROM THE CONSUMERS. HAD I KNOWN THIS FEATURE WAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, EVEN THOUGH IT'S STILL AVAILABLE IN LESS EXPENSIVE MODELS IN THE NISSAN BRAND, I MAY HAVE OPTED TO PURCHASE A DIFFERENT VEHICLE. NISSAN MARKETS IT PRODUCTS AS BEING OVERLY SAFE, HOW DOES THE REMOVAL OF THIS KEY FEATURE MAKE THE NISSAN AS SAFE AS NISSAN MARKET THEIR PRODUCTS? THE REMOVAL OF THIS FEATURE MAKES THE SAFETY OF THE VEHICLE AND THE PERSON FUELING THE VEHICLE QUESTIONABLE! *JS
Showing 20 of 82 total NHTSA complaints. Source: NHTSA Complaints Database
Check a Specific Nissan Maxima
This page shows fleet averages across all 10 model years. Enter a VIN to see the exact accident history, odometer records, title brands, and open recall status for a specific car.
📖 Understanding This Data
What is an NHTSA Complaint?
An NHTSA safety complaint is a report filed directly by a vehicle owner or driver describing a safety-related issue. Anyone can submit a complaint at NHTSA.gov. The number of complaints is a signal of how common a problem is — but complaints per model-year matter more than raw totals, since popular vehicles naturally receive more reports. The Nissan Maxima has 82 complaints on record across 10 model years.
What is a Safety Recall?
A safety recall is a mandatory campaign issued by NHTSA when a vehicle component poses an unreasonable risk to safety or does not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards. Unlike complaints (which are owner-reported), recalls are formally investigated and confirmed by regulators. Manufacturers must fix recalled vehicles free of charge. The Nissan Maxima has 16 recall campaigns in the NHTSA database.
What Are Crash Complaints?
Crash complaints are NHTSA filings where the owner indicates a crash occurred as part of the incident. 6 of the Nissan Maxima's 82 complaints involved a crash. This metric is particularly important because it indicates how often defects resulted in actual collisions — a key safety signal beyond general reliability.
How Is the AI Rating Calculated?
The AI reliability rating (Average) is generated by analyzing the vehicle's total complaints, recall history, crash complaint ratio, fire complaint ratio, and top component failures relative to class averages. The rating provides a plain-English summary for buyers who want a quick verdict without parsing raw numbers. It is one input in your buying decision — always verify with a VIN-specific report.
Why Do Newer Years Have Fewer Complaints?
Newer model years appear to have fewer complaints because there has been less time for owners to file them. Complaints accumulate over years of ownership. A 2020 model year vehicle will typically show fewer complaints than a 2015 model year even if it is less reliable — simply because fewer owners have had time to report issues. Focus on complaints per year of market presence when comparing across model years.
Fleet Data vs. Individual VIN
Everything on this page reflects aggregated data across all Nissan Maxima vehicles on the road — not any specific car. Two Nissan Maxima vehicles of the same year can have very different histories: one may have been in three accidents and have an open recall; another may be clean. A VIN check gives you the individual car's history: accidents, title brands, odometer records, service history, and real-time recall status.
What Are NHTSA Investigations?
When NHTSA receives a pattern of related safety complaints, it opens a formal investigation. A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is the first stage — NHTSA determines if a safety defect may exist. If evidence is strong, it escalates to an Engineering Analysis (EA), which can result in a mandatory recall. The Nissan Maxima has 0 investigations on record (0 active). Investigations listed above may have already led to the recalls shown on this page.
Is This Data Saved in Firebase & Indexed by Google?
Yes — intentionally. When you first visit this page, our server fetches live data directly from the NHTSA public API (no key required), processes it, and caches it in Google Firebase Firestore for 24 hours. The fully rendered HTML — with all NHTSA complaints, recalls, NCAP ratings, and investigations — is then indexed by Google Search. This is by design: caching real government data in Firebase lets us serve comprehensive vehicle safety pages instantly, while giving Google Bots rich structured content to rank for searches like "Nissan Maxima reliability" or "NHTSA recalls." No personal data is stored — only public NHTSA records are cached. You can always verify everything directly at nhtsa.gov.