2016 Nissan Frontier
This year drew an ordinary 43 complaints for a Nissan Frontier — the model's median is 48. What they were about is the unusual part: 7% of them mention sitting, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Nissan Frontier, which began in 2005 and ran to 2021. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 43 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 48 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- sitting — 7% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation (9.1×).
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
LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE APPROVED A BODY SHOP TO REPAIR MY TRUCK FROM AN ACCIDENT (I WAS NOT AT FAULT) BY REMOVING ALL PARTS OF MY TRUCK FROM IT'S ORIGINAL FRAME AND PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER ON ANOTHER FRAME. I WAS SITTING STILL, WHEN I WAS HIT FROM BEHIND AND…
I HAVE A 2016 NISSAN FRONTIER WITH ONLY 68,000 MILES ON IT. THE AIRBAG LIGHT ON THE DASH STARTED FLASHING. I TOOK IT TO ANY MOHR NISSAN AND THEY DIAGNOSED THAT THE SENSOR INSIDE THE PASSENGER SEAT THAT TELLS THE SYSTEM IF SOMEONE IS SITTING THERE HAS FAILED AN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V181000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2016 Nissan Frontier? What happened to yours?
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