This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While driving down the highway at 60 mph, my 2006 Nissan Frontier suddenly was running very rough, it decelerated and I only had low gear enough to barely make it off the hwy and out of the way of high speed traffic. No dash/idiot lights came on identifying any problems, there was no warning at all. Truck was towed to Nissan dealership who said the transmission, and radiator, and thermostat all needed to be replaced!! they charged us $5,500. This truck only had 135,000 miles, and was kept in great condition, at time of it's failure. Nissan should be ashamed of making the consumer bear the cost of Nissan's faulty parts!! they are flat out lucky if no one's been injured, or killed due to this failure! had I been on the interstate as planned the very next day, in this truck, I wonder if I'd be here today. There should be no question or hesitation that this "transmission failure" is a safety issue and needs to be a full fledged recall. And we should not have to foot the bill for Nissan's screw-ups with our hard earned money. It is simply wrong.
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan Frontier. The contact stated that the vehicle would start independently with the key in his pocket and when depressing the brake pedal, the engine would fail. The contact also stated that when he disconnect or reconnect the battery, the engine would start up without the key in the ignition. The failure recurred three times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 71,000. Updated 04/14/16 updated 05/11/18
The vehicle has 86,700 miles, I always took care of it, changing oil at 3000 mile intervals, never towed with it, etc., etc., while driving the trans slipped out of gear, luckily I was able to pull over and nobody was in back of me, when I got it to the dealer, they said the timing chain and guides needed replacement plus the radiator leaked and the trans cooler contaminated the transmission and they both had to be replaced and it cost me near $5000 for total repairs.
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan Frontier. After taking the vehicle on a trip, it was witnessed that the vehicle was leaking transmission and radiator fluid. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that water was mixing with transmission fluid, which resulted in engine failure. Details of the repair were unavailable. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 142,000. Updated 1/21/16
Whining noise coming from timing chain or timing chain tensioner when engine running (both during idle or running on highway). The video below is the exact sound coming from my engine. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=iadr9xnazco
- Owensboro, KY, USA
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Bought the truck used at a Nissan dealership. Had under 50K miles. 2 months ago check engine light came on and heat was not working. Had it looked at several times spending money each time but they could not find problem. Last month truck started running rough. Found out this week it needs a new transmission/radiator due to a problem that Nissan has known about for years. There was a class action lawsuit about the problem. They said my truck is too old to qualify for help. According to sites I see we do qualify and I need some help. It overheated today and broke down on highway and is not drivable. I need someone to help me with this.
I was informed that there was a cracked radiator in my truck that was leaking fluids into my transmission. This was on Sunday 9/27/15. The employee of my local dealership informed me about this. The following I was informed by the service department that I would need to replace the radiator and transmission. I was told that this was an "ongoing" issue going on with vehicles that match my make and model.
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan Frontier. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, the vehicle independently switched into four wheel drive as the vehicle lost power. The four wheel drive light illuminated. The engine warning light also illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the ECM (engine control module) needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was previously repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 10V517000 (engine and engine cooling). The failure mileage was 124,000.
The transmission on my truck suddenly went out with no warning during my morning commute in heavy traffic on the 202 loop in phoenix. Shifting to a different gear had the same effect as stepping on the gas, which was that the engine revved with no increase or decrease in speed. I had to coast across 4 lanes of fast moving traffic. It was an incredibly dangerous situation. I am told by the Nissan dealership that transmission fluid mixed with coolant and that it was a catastrophic failure. I have received no notices of any kind from Nissan and was shocked to learn that this is a known, commonly occurring defect and that the defect manifests instantaneously and without warning most of the time. Nissan should be held accountable for the defective system and for not notifying me that I should have the dealer fix it before they put my life and property and that of every person around me at risk. Updated 09/15/15
Weather turned from rain to icy. South bound on street that overpass interstate. Truck spun around several times first in South bound lane hitting guard rail on West side, went over the curb and median into North bound lane spin again before coming to rest against 4ft high concrete divider on bridge. The driver side air bag is the only one that deployed. My wife was in passenger seat. No other air bags deployed. This truck had dual stage supplemental front air bags and Nissan aabs.. thankfully our seat belts were probably what protected us from being thrown from the truck. As I stated only the air bag in steering wheel deployed. This should be looked into with all the recalls going on. I had not received any notice about this problem. I went to emergency room the following Tuesday to get xray of chest because of pain. My wife went to her dr also.
In eight years I have changed two ZD30 engines in my Frontier, because of burned out pistons and bad cylinder heads, eight burned out pistons in total, and as of today December 3/2014 my Frontier lost power sending blue smoke from the exhaust and oil, my mechanic says the engine has to be opened again. My fuel pump went bad soon after the warranty was up.sent it over seas to be repaired, at a cost of $1500 the dangerous part is the steering going loose, lucky for my wife and self I was in traffic driving at 10 mph. The local dealer disclaimed everything. I am about to lodge a complaint to our local bureau of standards.
I purchased my vehicle directly from the manufactured on June 27, 2006. On or about September 26, 2014 my 2006 Nissan Frontier started having a strong vibration causing my steering the be unstable and the automatic transmission seemed to slip and then catch when my car changes gears from 30-35-40-45-50-55 mph. On October 3, 2014, I took my vehicle into the Nissan dealership here on kauai and after 5.5 hours I was informed my radiator had a crack and was leaking into my transmission. I was told there was a class action lawsuit file regarding this issue and there was now extended warranties on these parts for failure. The extended warranty for no cost to customer is 80000 miles/8 years. My vehicle is under the 80000 miles, but I am over the 8 years by 3 months. I spoke with the manager and he called Nissan North America to see if there was anything they would do regarding the fact my truck was only 3 months over the 8 years and below the miles on the extended warranty. I received a call back from him stating they would not cover anything additional and I would need to cover the $2500 co-payment to replace the radiator and transmission. I was however told if I wanted to trade in my vehicle for a new one, they would deduct the $2500 from the price of a new vehicle. I told him I would not buy another Nissan sine they do not stand by their product. There are hundreds if not thousands of people who bought Nissan with this issue. Nissan is aware of the problem and there should be a recall on this item as it could cause the transmission to cease. I now have to drive this vehicle with the vibration I believe is unsafe until the parts come in. I guess they are going to wait until this causes an accident and someone gets hurt to recall the defect in their automobiles.
Follow up to complaint 10584635 -- timing chain failure resulting in catastrophic engine failure. Known issue by Nissan, but hidden from consumer. Nissan has issued several service bulletins related to defective timing chains, and noted that these can result in catastrophic engine failures, exactly as occurred. Dangerous. No warning and complete failure on a busy roadway, with loss of the ability to maneuver and extremely hindered ability to get to safety in time. Had I been going faster than 35mph, or had I been on a freeway, this could have been deadly. I discovered a class action lawsuit regarding this issue, and it appears this is affecting thousands of people. Nissan sold vehicles after it knew about the timing chain defects (the bulletins went out in 2005, and this vehicle was a 2006). Nissan deceptively kept this from consumers. Timing chain defects occur typically after warranty expiration, and they do not make you aware of the potential prior. Consumer unfairly burdened with full loss of engine and nearly the entire value of their vehicle.
While returning home, the vehicle lost all power and power steering. Difficulty navigating to safety on the side of a busy roadway. The engine in the vehicle had completely seized. Complaints to Nissan that something was wrong with this vehicle had been ongoing. The entire fuel system had failed at 40K miles. Both catalytic converters failed at 55K miles (thought to be related to an engine problem, but they would not fix it even under warranty). At 63K miles, the engine started to show signs of problems. Repeated analysis, for which I paid, resulted in no conclusion. Only that "something was wrong". tried to engage Nissan multiple times to fix this. They refused. Now, the engine has failed entirely. Nissan will not acknowledge defective manufacturing. The vehicle was purchased brand new and has been meticulously maintained. The engine failure and the resulting loss of the ability to maneuver or operate the vehicle was, thankfully, on a road that had a low speed limit. Subsequent research related to this issue shows that there is a class action against Nissan for premature engine failures in these vehicles, and that they allegedly hid known issues and were deceptive to consumers.
We bought this Nissan new in 2006 -great little truck. But recently the engine would stall and all the lights on the dash came on. Took it to our mechanic he said it was a tran code took it to the Nissan dealership and they said the coolant had gotten into the trans or vise versa (a lot to take in),so I needed a new transmission and radiator. I found this issue on your website for a recall but my vehicle was within the years of the recall but it has over 100,000 it has130 so the dealership said there was nothing they could do to help with the $5500 bill they just quoted me. Is there any help out there for me on this issue"?" please.
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan Frontier. The contact stated that on multiple occasions, the fuel level indicator would register the fuel tank as empty when it was full. The service engine light was illuminated intermittently when the vehicle was driven with the fuel tank full. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign id number: 10V517000 (engine and engine cooling) and had experienced the failure recurringly however, the vehicle was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 98000.
Driving going 50 trunk shut off, luckily I was able to get off the highway.it happened around 10 more times over a month before it just quit.not having high mileage on the truck now or at the time of receiving a warranty notification back in 2012 never thought of it.so we had it towed to put on a fuel pump that it did not need $400 still will not start.I started looking up reviews on Nissan to find out that Nissan has known about this in 2007.I still owe $3600 on this truck, bought it new with 24 miles on a lease... loved it...so after my lease was up I refinanced 2010 with 41501 miles bought a 3 yr extended warranty, never used it.now after learning about a co - pay for a truck really Nissan...my truck has 81000 miles..I don't have $2500 to put in it.time for Nissan to recall it, and face it you have a problem Nissan.please I need help.
My 2006 Nissan Frontier has automatic transmission fluid in the radiator, and radiator coolant in the automatic transmission. The transmission is now shifting improperly.
At low speeds the transmission stutters / hesitates. I've been told by Nissan that I need a new valve body. I believe my vehicle suffers from the radiator / transmission issues as experienced by many other customers.
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- Fort White, FL, USA