2001 Nissan Altima

midsize car / 4-door sedan

2001 Nissan Altima 4-door sedan
2000 Nissan Altima shown

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2000-01 models

Tested vehicle: 2000 Nissan Altima GXE 4-door

The Nissan Altima was redesigned for the 1998 model year and modified beginning with 2000 models to change airbag characteristics.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Dummy movement wasn't well controlled. During rebound, the dummy moved toward the driver door, which had bowed outward, and its head approached but did not hit the window sill. Then the head moved up and back and hit the B-pillar. Plus there was too much upward movement of the steering wheel.

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test -- plus footwell intrusion -- indicate the driver's survival space wasn't maintained well.

Smeared red greasepaint shows where the dummy's left shin hit and broke the plastic knee bolster, exposing a sharp edge of the underlying metal plate that gashed the vinyl "skin" just below the knee.

Close-up of the gash in the vinyl "skin" just below the knee.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF00004
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 28
Left (cm) 37
Center (cm) 34
Right (cm) 26
Brake pedal (cm) 26
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 15
Right (cm) 13
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 11
Rearward (cm) 9
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 15

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF00004
Head
HIC-15 316
Peak gs at hard contact 8
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.3
Extension bending moment (Nm) 20
Maximum Nij 0.26
Chest maximum compression (mm) 32
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.5
Femur force - right (kN) 2.2
Knee displacement - left (mm) 16
Knee displacement - right (mm) 10
Maximum tibia index - left 0.68
Maximum tibia index - right 0.87
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.4
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 5.0
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 68
Right 94

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

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