2006 Infiniti QX56
This year drew an ordinary 79 complaints for a Infiniti QX56 — the model's median is 32. What they were about is the unusual part: 35.4% of them mention grinding, against 7.7% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 79 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 32 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 14 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- grinding — 35.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the model's other years (4.6×).
- noise — 35.4% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the model's other years (3.5×).
- pads — 16.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the model's other years (8.6×). Owners wrote it as: pads, brake pads, slip, once car.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE BRAKING SYSTEM WOULD EXHIBIT ABNORMALLY LOUD NOISES. AFTER INSTALLING NEW BRAKE PADS, THE NOISES CONTINUED AND THE BRAKE WARNING LIGHT WOULD ILLUMINATE CONSTANTLY. THERE WAS ALSO A GRINDING SOUND COMING FROM THE BRAKES. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A CERTIFIED…
I HAVE OWNED THE CAR SINCE IT WAS NEW. WHEN THE CAR IDLES FOR LONG TIME, HIGH TRAFFIC OR RUN IN A LONG DISTANCE, THE BRAKE LIGHT COMES ON, SLIP LIGHT AND THE BRAKES CHATTER AND STOPPING CAR BECOMES ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. NUMEROUS TRIPS TO THE DEALER OVER THE YEAR…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 10E019000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 08V284000 EQUIPMENT
- 10V517000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 10V074000 FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Infiniti QX56 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Infiniti QX56? What happened to yours?
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