2000 Nissan Altima acceleration problems

Filed Dec 26, 2011 · Acceleration, Electrical · 178,000 miles · KY

While going 75mph on cruise control all of a sudden all the gauges (RPM, MPH, fuel, engine temp) dropped down to zero. Only the cruise control lights remained on. All while a combination of #'s and letters came up on the odometer (even the odometer went blank). It was a shock and I did not know how to react to this. My first reaction was to turn off the cruise control via the buttons on the steering wheel, as soon as I did it this caused all the gauges to come back to life including the odometer. Very weird issue.

Filed Mar 14, 2011 · Acceleration, Electrical · 115,000 miles · FL

While driving the dashboard goes out completely. You can not tell how fast you're going or what the RPM is or anything, including the gas gauge. When this happens, sometimes the car begins to lose power as if the gas pedal isn't working and then all of a sudden it comes back and you get propelled forward. This happens very frequently and I'm afraid that I am going to get a speeding ticket one day because there is no way for me to tell how fast I am going when the dashboard goes dead and even worse I'm afraid I'm either going to lose speed and get rear-ended or gain speed and be propelled into the vehicle in front of me. I have researched this, and this is a very common problem with this year, make, and model vehicle. In all the other complaints that I have found online, they all go to the mechanics and they can not figure out the problem. I believe this is a vehicle defect and the electrical unit on the dashboard needs to be recalled and fixed before someone gets injured or killed due to this malfunction. Also, this electrical issue causes the service engine light to turn on and gives a misread when you take it in to be diagnosed.

Filed Sep 3, 2007 · Acceleration, Electrical · 124,505 miles · OH

I own a 2000 nissan altima gxe, and have been experiencing a failure in the speedometer, tach, odometer, and temp gauge while driving. The gauges will freeze up at any time and stay at their last position, while the car continues to operate as normal. The cruise control will also kick off if it is being used at the time. This leads to a vehicle that is only drivable by using the naked eye and judging your speed by other cars, and a failure in correct reporting of mileage. A solution is still under investigation, and a dealer has not been able to diagnosis it yet. I have seen many other reports of this same problem on several models of nissans of this year (frontier, sentra, pathfinders) posted at various online car forums. Obviously this is a dangerous issue that has been overlooked by nissan USA.

Filed May 7, 2007 · Acceleration, Engine · 32,000 miles · NY

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 nissan altima. The contact stated that the vehicle automatically accelerates when idle and he must slam on the brake pedal to keep the vehicle from moving. The failure occurs at random. The current mileage is 37,000 and failure mileage was 32,000.

Filed Mar 8, 2007 · Acceleration, Engine · 117,922 miles · CA

Throttle assembly continues to fall apart while driving vehicle, disengaging the throttle and rendering the vehicle helpless and unable to accelerate at all.

Filed Aug 3, 2005 · Acceleration, Electrical · 51,134 miles · OH

I bought this 2000 nissan altima new. Since approximately december of '03 the instrument cluster has repeatedly (too many times to keep track of) malfunctioned at arbitrary times giving either no info (gauges all go to 0) or incorrect info (130 MPH at 1k RPM w/no water temp and suddenly full tank of gas). Problem can last any where from minutes to 24 hours+. The cruise control also malfunctions whenever this occurs. First took to dealer on 12/31/03, they could not diagnose problem, told me to bring it back while malfunctioning. Finally was able to get the car while malfunctioning to same dealership on 8/1/05. Problem has started to increase in frequency and duration. The second they hooked diagnostic equip to it the cluster corrected. They kept for 2 days, did not malfunction again so they could not diagnose 100%. They want to try replacing the speedometer head at $320, but 1) can't guarantee it will solve problem and 2) can't get part. They estimate 6-8 wks minimum to get part. When I went to leave dealership cluster malfunctioned showing no information, but no technician was available to diagnose. Showed zero on all gauges except gas which arbitrarily read 3/4 tank for entire 20-25 mile trip home. This car is an accident, or worse, waiting to happen.

Filed May 10, 2005 · Acceleration, Electrical · 63,000 miles · OH

My vehicle is a 2000 nissan altima se. (also I have heard there are other nissans with this problem not just altima) the problem is the guages on the instrument panel failing during operation, ie. Speedometer, tachometer, gas guage, and temp guage. The first time it happened and just like every other time it happens there is nothing different the guages will just shut off and normally fall to the zero postion. Sometimes the will freeze in place. After the first month I owned the car (bought as a preowned vehicle) the check engine light came on during the guage failures I had the code checked and it was determined the speed sensor was bad. I bought and replaced the speed sensor with an oem part. However the guage failure was not fixed it still happens. The incident date started 21feb2003 and still persists and the numbers of failures I haven't kept count but about average of everyother day it goes out.

Filed Oct 1, 2004 · Acceleration · 65,500 miles · CA

The accelerator connecting rod came off while driving.upon inspection I noticed the socket was cracked.

Filed Jun 25, 2004 · Acceleration, Engine · 40,900 miles · FL

When driving, gauges suddenly stop working. The tachometer, engine temperature gauge, fuel gauge freeze in place. The speedometer registers the max and the digital odometer went to zero.

Filed May 5, 2004 · Acceleration · 40,000 miles · NC

I have experienced 2 dangerous incidents of sudden unanticipated acceleration with my 2000 nissan altima se [xxx]. The first, witnessed by my husband & son, occurred on december 26, 2003. Approaching a red light, I slowed to a stop with my foot squarely on the brake. The engine suddenly raced alarmingly and the car tried to lurch through the light. I put the car in neutral and the engine racing increased. I turned the car off. The head mechanic at our local dealership had no ideas. Against my better judgment, I took the car back. The next weekend, it happened again. I pulled backwards out of a parking spot, put the car in drive, and the engine suddenly took off. The rpms registered within seconds up to 6500 rpms. Put in neutral, the rpms increased to 7000 rpms. I turned the car off. I told our local nissan dealership that I would not drive the car until this dangerous problem was diagnosed and fixed. On the nissan hotline (1-800-nissan-1), the customer relations representatives told me: (1) their technical services department was unfamiliar with this problem (nissan later said that, although they had received customer complaints, they had never been able to replicate the problem in a shop); and (2) if the problem could not be "replicated" in shop, then, in effect, "there was no problem" and no remedy. I went online and found that s.u.a. Is a major problem nationally. I could not drive this car, could not allow a family member to drive this car, and could not sell the car. After almost six weeks without my car, I traded it back to the local dealership at considerable loss with the understanding that they would continue to try to replicate the problem and would not re-sell the vehicle to an uninformed consumer. I have 35 years of solid driving experience. There is no possibility of driver error here. The public needs your help.*ak updated 07/26/2012 *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)