If you are living in a climate zone where it becomes cold in winter, you are likely to get annoyed by the warning message in your Nissan Altima (and pretty much all other modern Nissan cars) that will inform you about the cold temperature outside. It says “Low Outside Temperature” and accompanies this warning with a chime and you need to press OK to dismiss the message. Really annoying.
In short, the “Low Outside Temperature” message in your Nissan Altima will go on the dash when the temperature is moving below +37 degrees Fahrenheit (+3 Celsius). It means that the car warns you and you need to take into account that the road conditions may change, the road may become slippery and you better have winter tires on your wheels.
Also, you can turn off the chime and message so that you wouldn’t need to press the OK button every time it informs you about the low temperature. But let’s go step by step and see why Nissan Altima makes you annoyed with this message.
Why is the “Low Outside Temperature” popping up in my Nissan?
Although I’m writing about the Altima now, I have to say that this applies to every Nissan model.
So, the message pops up when the temperature is lower than 37 Fahrenheit because at this point roads may start freezing. Also, this is the turning point for summer tires to become less responsive to braking and turning – they become harder and may not work the way you expect them to work.
This means you have to take into consideration that the road conditions are changing. For example, here’s what Nissan engineers thought you would be doing:
- reduce your speed if you are driving on the highway;
- when turning, pay attention to the traction of your vehicle;
- make sure your car has winter tires;
- ensure the interval between your car and the vehicle that is going in front of you is bigger than usual;
- pay attention to the road conditions that may change rapidly now – some ice may form on the roads.
While it’s not possible for ice to form at this temperature, it may form very soon, especially on highways where the temperatures are lower than in cities. So, it’s actually important to understand that the temperature outside requires more attention.
Also, after this message pops up, you may see a constant warning light saying that the temperature is low and you need to take care. It’s not displayed in all generations of the Altima though. But just know that this is not something you need to go to the dealer with. Just a warning light that carries the informing function.
Can you turn off the “Low Outside Temperature” warning?
So, when it’s getting colder and the temperature may jump between 35- and 40 degrees F or 2-5 degrees Celsius, the warning message will pop up all the time and it will drive you crazy because to see any other trip information, you will need to clear this message by pressing OK every time. Also, the chime may distract you from the road.
The majority of Nissan Altima drivers as well as owners of other vehicles made by Nissan and Infiniti will want to turn this function off so that the car wouldn’t show this message at all or at least wouldn’t scream about the low temperature.
Here’s how you can do that:
- first of all, you need to clear that message by pressing OK or Skip depending on the generation of the Altima or another Nissan car you are driving;
- then, you will need to go to settings on your dash using the buttons on your steering wheel or on the dash itself;
- in the settings section, find the “Alerts” box and go to it;
- you will see a couple of alert types that you may turn on and off – look for the temperature alert that may be called “Icy”, “Low Outside Temp” or something like that depending on the year of your vehicle;
- press Select and then press again Select to change it from ON to OFF.
That’s all, the next time you start your car, this annoying message will not pop up. But you need to know that if your Nissan shows some warning lights like a snowflake under the low outside temperature, this light will still be going on whenever the temperature is lower than 37F or 3C.
Turning this warning off will also solve the problem of your Nissan Altima sometimes beeping on the road and distracting you from careful and attentive driving. This is how some of our readers describe this problem. They say “My Altima is sometimes just beeping in the autumn and I can’t read this message because it just goes off before I can safely move my eyes away from the road.” In most cases, this is about the “Low Outside Temperature” warning.
Why is the “Low Outside Temp” warning showing in Altima when it’s warm?
You may notice that the warning message informing you about the low outside temperature may appear on the dash of your Altima even though the actual temperature outside is far from cold. I’ve even heard some people in Florida reporting this strange message that they laugh at.
There are basically three reasons for the faulty displaying of this error message and these reasons are funny only until you learn how much is it to repair your car.
Here are these reasons:
- Your outside temp sensor is malfunctioning. Just look at the outside temperature that your dash shows and if it’s far from the actual temperature, you will need to replace the sensor. It’s not that expensive, by the way.
- Your battery is too low. Whenever the battery is too low, some sensors may get glitchy and send some wrong readings to the ECU. This causes such funny situations when your car tells you it’s cold when it’s actually not cold. Check the battery voltage and decide whether you may charge it or you need to replace the battery.
- The ECU is glitching. This may happen very often after your car was damaged by a flood or just went into a deep puddle and was damaged by water. If water gets to the ECU, things are bad. All your electric system may start malfunctioning and glitching and repairing this is close to impossible.
Now you know that before laughing at how dumb your Nissan Altima is after it tells you that it’s cold when it’s not cold, you should count your money and think how much you will spend on the repair.
If this happens to your Nissan, just plan a visit to a dealership. You may not want to repair your Altima in the dealership due to high prices, but their professional equipment for diagnostics will help you locate the issue in the course of minutes. And then you can choose another repair shop to do the job.
By the way, I’ve also written the article tellin you about the “Key ID Incorrect” error message in the Altima. Have a look to know what to do in such a case.
Should you turn off the “Low Outside Temperature” message?
This is an open question and you should answer it yourself. For me, personally, it doesn’t play any role, it would only distract me from the road and annoy me if it popped up several times an hour. So, I would obviously turn it off.
Maybe, for some drivers who only start getting some experience behind the steering wheel of the Altima, getting this warning is a good idea that will help them be safer on the road. It’s totally up to you to decide whether you need this warning.
Also, remember that you can turn it on anytime. Just go to the settings, choose Alerts, go to Low Outside Temp, and choose ON.
I hope I answered your question and now you know what to do with this annoying low-outside-temp message in your Nissan Altima. But if you still have some questions, please ask them in the comments below.