AI DamageNissan Diesel CLA83 reliability: problems, complaints, recalls
Summary for the Nissan Diesel CLA83 across 2 model years: 66 owner complaints and 0 NHTSA service bulletins, plus repair videos. Pick a year for details.
Model years
What fails most often
- 1 Equipment 98% of all complaints
- 2 Service brakes 2% of all complaints
- Equipment: 65 complaints (98% of all), 3 of them with a crash reported by the owner.
- Service brakes: 1 complaints (2% of all).
Symptoms owners describe
How many of the 66 NHTSA complaints mention each symptom (automatic count from complaint text; one complaint can mention several).
Components owners complain about
| Component | Owner complaints | involving a crash | Technical service bulletins (TSB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | 65 | 3 | 0 |
| Service brakes | 1 | 0 | 0 |
What owners report
Short excerpts of NHTSA complaints in the original wording. These are owner statements not verified by NHTSA; personal data removed.
I have had this vehicle in the shop for brake failure numerous times. I recently had a car accident in the vehicle because of brake failure. This vehicle was damaged , and the vehicle I hit was also damaged, and sustained injuries.
I have also experienced the same thing with the lights cost around 800 to fox kept changing the lights not to mentions the tickets I recieved from the cops , I explained to them the light keeps going out, they are like this is a 02 that doesn't happen, if they only knew!!!
Car vibrates at speeds of 60 and greater. The car has been to the dealer numerous times without satisfaction. This vibration was due to inferior rotors. After I replaced the rotors with another non-nissan brand at 50,000 miles, the problem went away. All this frustration was due to the poor quality of nissan rotors.
At 25,000 miles the 2002 altima rear brakes froze up and discontinued operating. I was told by a nissan service mgr. That this was due to nissan using faulty material. I had them repaired by an independent service garage and was told that he has seen a lot of this. Brakes not designed for northern weather.
The sound package cost $1800 dollars, but the simple radio sounds like a five dollar stereo. Also the sytsem is supposed to be made by rockford fosgate, but the amplifier is labeled made by clarion, the subwooofer is labeled made by clarion, and the headunit/changer is labeled made by panasonic.
The 2002 altima started to stall. I took the car to the dealership. I was advised that the car had 3 recalls on it and I should have been notified a year in a half before. I took the car back 3 times and on the third time I was adivsed that the car would need a new motor. That was on mar 15,2004.
When owners complained
NHTSA complaints by filing year. The peak shows at what age the problems show up most.
What to check before buying
- Service brakes. Pedal feel, ABS operation, leaks, discs and hoses.
Read also
Sources: public NHTSA data (USA): service bulletins and owner complaints; YouTube: links to videos credited to their authors. Complaints are owner statements not verified by NHTSA, and describe defects rather than crash damage. Data updated 2026-11-06.