Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (battery, alternator, wiring, ignition, instrument cluster, infotainment).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2000 Nissan Altima owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The gauges all go dead in the dash on my 2000 Nissan Altima. This is really very scary as I have really no idea how fast I'm going and just try and go with the flow of traffic when this happens. Living in a very busy city and taking the expressway when necessary poses a threat to myself and other drivers. I have had to pull over and let the car cool and then complete my trip so as to have working gauges. No Nissan dealer or mechanic has been able to offer a solution to the problem and based on my research this seems to be a widespread issue with Nissan. Also, the o2 sensors and the gaskets are bad on this car.
I just bought a 200 Nissan Altima. I was driving to hilton head and 2 hours into the trip the cruise control went off and then the air bag light came on. I kept giving it gas and it just started slowing down. We got hit from behind and spun around. I broke my nose and my girlfriend broke her hip in 3 places.
Gauges shut off, freeze, and advance while in motion, confusing the drivers. Causing unknown speed, gas, temperature, and others metering. This is happening since I bought the car. Sometime work fine. Most of the time gages are down.
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%. …
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. …
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. …
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.
Tl contact owns a 2000 Nissan Altima. While driving approximately 60 MPH, all the gauges except the fuel gauges stopped functioning; they displayed the last reading they indicated before the failure. Approximately five minutes later, all of the gauges dropped to a reading of 0 except the fuel gauges. The contact stated that after shutting the vehicle off for a few hours, the gauges began to function properly again. The failure continued intermittently. The vehicle was taken to a local repair shop but the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The last time the failure occurred, the fuel gauge also malfunctioned. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000 and the current mileage was approximately 182,000. The VIN was unavailable.
My car stalls while driving. It sputters, meaning I will have my foot on the gas, the rpms will drop to 500, then with my foot off the gas the rpms jump all the way to 2500! This sudden acceleration can plow me right into a car, pole, busy intersection, etc. It happens often. It has happened to me while driving on the freeway at 60 MPH, and on local streets at 25 MPH. This is very dangerous! If the car suddenly loses acceleration and my foot is still on the gas, the guy behind me is going to hit me. And when the car accelerates on its own all of a sudden, im going to rear end the guy in front of me. This is horrible!
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.
Electrical complaints in other Altima years
Frequently asked questions
How common are electrical problems on the 2000 Nissan Altima?
NHTSA has 25 complaints about the electrical system of the 2000 Nissan Altima, 16% of the model year's 160 complaints. The component named most often is ignition (2 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2000 Nissan Altima electrical problems?
No. NHTSA lists no electrical system recall for the 2000 Nissan Altima, though it has 1 recall for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2000 Nissan Altima electrical problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 96,000 miles, and 6% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 1 fire and 3 injuries to electrical system problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.