2005 Nissan Frontier
Complaints about this year name radiator far more often than the other years of this generation — 35% of them, about 16× the usual rate of 2.2%.
First year of a new generation. The Nissan Frontier was redesigned for 2005. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
| Complaints filed | 1,064 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 46 |
| Involving a crash | 18 |
| Involving a fire | 16 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- radiator — 35.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the other years of this generation (7.5×).
- coolant — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (10.5×). Owners wrote it as: coolant, transmission fluid, coolant transmission, radiator coolant.
- transmission — 45.5% of this year's complaints, against 16.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
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
- gauge — 19% of complaints, 48× usual
- coolant — 21% of complaints, 32× usual
- fluid — 18% of complaints, 45× usual
What owners wrote
TRANSMISSION FAILURE CAUSED BY MIXING OF RADIATOR COOLANT WITH TRANSMISSION FLUID THROUGH CRACKS IN COOLANT TUBES. TRANSMISSION SLIPPAGE, LOSS OF POWER EXPERIENCED ON LOCAL TRIP, HAD VEHICLE TOWED TO MECHANIC.
TRANSMISSION FAILURE DUE TO RADIATOR LEAKING COOLANT INTO TRANSMISSION FLUID.I REPLACED THE RADIATOR A YEAR PRIOR TO PREVENT THIS PROBLEM FROM HAPPENING AT THE STRONG RECOMMENDATION OF THE DEALERSHIPS SERVICE DEPARTMENT AND STILL THE PROBLEM OCCURRED.
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.
- 08V690000 AIR BAGS
- 06E064000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 06V092000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 07E046000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Frontier 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 Frontier? What happened to yours?
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