2005 Nissan Armada
Complaints about this year name brake light far more often than the model's other years — 24% of them, about 59× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 373 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 19 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 14 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- brakes — 41.3% of this year's complaints, against 11.7% across the model's other years (3.5×).
- fuel — 19% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (3.9×).
- abs — 13.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the model's other years (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: abs, grinding sound, abs system, off turn.
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.
Also unusual this year
- grinding — 20% of complaints, 49× usual
- fuel — 19% of complaints, 48× usual
- brake — 50% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING 35 MPH, HE APPLIED THE BRAKES AND THE VEHICLE DID NOT RESPOND. THE BRAKE LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED AND AN ABNORMAL GRINDING NOISE WAS EMITTED AS THE FAILURE OCCURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED AND THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MI…
THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE! THE BRAKE LIGHT ON THE CONTROL PANEL COMES ON AND WHEN STEPPING ON THE BRAKES, THE CAR HARDLY BRAKES. IT FEELS LIKE THE BRAKES ARE GRINDING AND SKIDDING. I HAVE TO CAREFULLY PULL THE CAR OVER AND TURN THE CAR OFF AND BACK ON. LATE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 10E019000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 10V517000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 08V284000 EQUIPMENT
- 10V074000 FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER Fixed free of charge.
- 07E046000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Armada 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 2005 Nissan Armada? What happened to yours?
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