2013 Nissan Frontier problems
The 2013 Nissan Frontier has 65 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (23%) concerns air bags. After that come electrical system (12%) and drivetrain & axles (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 65 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 27,000 miles 49 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 18 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 0 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 49 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 27,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 38,000 miles (11 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 3 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2013 ranks 16th most-complained-about out of 27 model years of the Nissan Frontier with enough data (42 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My son had an accident, driving at 65 MPH and hit a parked car on the freeway. He hit the windshield so hard with his head that the windshield has a cup shaped dent even with seat belt on and deployment of airbags. I contacted nissan, and was dismissed. I was told by [xxx], the person assigned to the case by nissan, that since insurance had paid. There was nothing else to be done. I will attach photos of the truck. I feel that the airbag and sit belt should have kept driver in place.
Yesterday while running errands my frontier burst into flames under the hood. The fire seemed to innitiate from the fuse box under the hood.
I was driving in a parking lot approximately 15 20 miles per hour, I applied the brake to slow down to an appropriate speed in order to go around a corner, the truck then accelerated causing me to jump the curb and hit the mail boxes. The truck accelerated to approx. 30-40 MPH.
Transmission won't go into gear forward or reverse at times. When driving on the road transmission won't shift out of 3rd gear into over drive, after topping a hill and going back downhill. Truck will do a jerking motion when pulling out from a stop. On interstate I81 truck speed was 50-55 MPH the rpm's was 6,000 and the rpm's would not shift into higher gear. When it did shift it was a very hard shift. It has been going on since the day I bought this truck brand new.