Audited US model-year file

2003 NISSAN Maxima

Exact make, model and year evidence from official US sources. Recall campaigns, ODI investigations, complaint allegations and EPA estimates remain separate.

Model-year evidence is not a VIN check.

A campaign may cover only certain production dates, plants or equipment. A zero result here is not safety clearance. Use NHTSA’s official VIN tool for the individual vehicle.

Official VIN lookup ↗

01 · Safety actions first

4 NHTSA recall campaigns

Exact model-level NHTSA results for 2003 NISSAN Maxima. Campaign records are official safety actions; applicability to a particular car still requires its VIN.

01
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2020-01-09

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

Campaign 20V008000
Summary

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2001-2003 Maxima, 2002-2006 Sentra, 2002-2004 Pathfinder, 2007-2011 Versa Sedan and Versa Hatchback, 2001-2004 Infiniti I30 and I35, 2002-2003 Inifiniti QX4, 2003-2008 Infiniti FX35 and FX45 and 2006-2010 M35 and M45 vehicles. The vehicles are equipped with non-desiccated, frontal passenger air bag inflators containing phase stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) propellant that were used as interim remedy parts for previous Takata recalls. These inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.

Consequence

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflators with alternate desiccated inflators, free of charge. The recall began February 12, 2020. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 888-737-9511 or Infiniti customer service at 888-810-3715.

02
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2015-05-15

AIR BAGS

Campaign 15V287000
Summary

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2001-2003 Nissan Maxima, 2002-2004 Pathfinder, 2002-2006 Sentra, 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4 and I35, 2003 FX35 and FX45, and 2001 I30 vehicles. Upon deployment of the passenger side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

Consequence

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on June 15, 2015. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261. Note: On December 18, 2015 Nissan informed NHTSA of an amendment of this recall to remove 2004-2005 Infiniti FX35 and FX45 vehicles.

03
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2003-11-17

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

Campaign 03V455000
Summary

ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THE CIRCUIT BOARD FOR THE CRANK POSITION SENSOR OR CAM POSITION SENSOR MAY HAVE AN IMPROPER SOLDER JOINT DUE TO SOLDER DEFORMATION CAUSED BY HEAT STRESS ACCELERATED BY THE EXISTENCE OF FLUX RESIDUE DURING THE SOLDERING PROCESS.

Consequence

THIS COULD CAUSE THE "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" WARNING LIGHT TO COME ON, CREATE A NO START CONDITION, CAUSE REDUCED ENGINE POWER, OR CAUSE THE ENGINE TO STOP RUNNING WITHOUT WARNING DURING VEHICLE OPERATION, WHICH COULD RESULT IN A CRASH.

Remedy

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE CRANK POSITION SENSORS. CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR(S), AND IN SOME CASES, THE VARIABLE TIMING CONTROL SENSOR(S). VEHICLES INVOLVED IN A PREVIOUS RECALL CAMPAIGN, 01V357, ARE ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS NEW CAMPAIGN. THE REPLACEMENT SENSORS USED IN THAT CAMPAIGN ARE ALSO AFFECTED. OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN ON DECEMBER 22, 2003. OWNERS SHOULD CONTACT NISSAN AT 1-800-647-7261 OR INFINITI AT 1-800-662-6200.

04
NHTSA Recalls · US · received 2022-08-09

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

Campaign 22E066000
Summary

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain air bag inflator replacement service parts that may have been installed as part of a theft or collision repair. The parts include certain passenger-side air bag inflators designed to fit Infiniti 2002-2003 QX4, 2006-2010 M35 and M45; Nissan 2001-2003 Maxima, 2002-2006 Sentra, and both driver and passenger-side inflators designed to fit 2007-2012 Versa Sedan and Versa Hatchback vehicles. Please see Nissan's recall report for the specific part numbers. These replacement inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Consequence

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect and replace the inflators as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed September 14, 2022. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669.

02 · Owner allegations

206 NHTSA complaints

Counts are not adjusted for sales, vehicle age, mileage, publicity or reporting behavior. They are allegations, not defect findings or a reliability score.

Crash mentions
13
Fire mentions
2
Injuries reported
12
Most-reported component labels
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING54
ENGINE43
AIR BAGS35
EXTERIOR LIGHTING26
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM17
UNKNOWN OR OTHER10
Complaints across nearby Nissan Maxima model years

Totals for the same nameplate, scaled against its highest year here. They are not adjusted for how many were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received — an older or better-selling year will usually carry more reports. This shows where the reporting sits, not which year is better.

  1. 1722001
  2. 2052002
  3. 2062003
  4. 1,4252004
  5. 9482005
  6. 5762006

A dash means NHTSA holds no complaint record for that exact year, make and model. See all Maxima years with specs and fuel economy →

03 · Agency review

1 NHTSA ODI investigation

An investigation means ODI reviewed a possible safety issue for this exact model-year identity. Opening one is not a defect finding; closing one does not by itself clear a vehicle.

EA21002
Open in imported snapshot · opened 2021-09-17

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

NHTSA source ↗

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE · No associated recall campaign number was published in this investigation row.

04 · EPA configurations

Fuel economy & specifications

FuelEconomy.gov records are summarized as ranges where this model name has multiple engines, drivetrains or trims.

EPA configurations
2
Combined economy
20–21 mpg/MPGe
City / highway
17–19 / 24–26 mpg/MPGe
Engine displacement
3.5 L
Cylinders
6
Fuel type
Regular
Drive
Front-Wheel Drive
Vehicle class
Midsize Cars
Annual fuel-cost estimate
$3100–3250

05 · Evidence strength

Exact identity. Explicit limits.

No opaque score. Evidence strength is expressed through source availability, exact match method, jurisdiction and honest empty states.

exact match

Recall campaigns

4 exact US model-year records in this bounded view.

exact match

Complaints

206 exact US model-year allegations; narratives and VIN fragments are omitted.

exact match

ODI investigations

1 exact US model-year action numbers in the approved import snapshot.

canonical only

Model aliases

Only the exact NHTSA vPIC model name is published; unverified aliases are not merged.

not published

Manufacturer ownership

No rights-reviewed official ownership record is joined to this exact model-year.

PUBLIC EVIDENCE PASSPORT

Identity, freshness and provenance.

The canonical URL is this file’s permanent public identifier. Source IDs and timestamps show exactly what was matched and when; they do not turn the evidence into a verdict.

Permanent public ID
https://modelyearfacts.com/vehicle/2003/nissan/maxima
NHTSA make ID
478
NHTSA model ID
2302
Match key
2003 · NISSAN · Maxima · US
Live evidence requested
EPA publication catalogue
Complaint matrix snapshot
Imported safety snapshot
nhtsa-investigations · exact match

NHTSA ODI investigations

Action number, component, subject and open/close dates from the approved bulk import; long summaries omitted.

Open official source ↗
US-market boundary

Only NHTSA vPIC, NHTSA ODI complaints and investigations, NHTSA recalls and FuelEconomy.gov contribute to this vehicle claim. CPSC equipment notices are searched separately and never joined to vehicle fitment. UK MOT, Canadian, New Zealand and European records are not merged into this US claim.

06 · Research paths

Diagnose first. Confirm fitment.

These are transparent searches, not diagnoses or endorsed parts. Recall remedies come before purchases; exact part fitment requires VIN, trim, powertrain, production date and OE number.

Offers status: held

Awin US and R2 affiliate inventory are not published until a US programme, merchant and exact-fitment projection are approved. No offer currently has both merchant approval and exact vehicle fitment, so commercial links never count as evidence.