2005 Nissan Pathfinder
Complaints about this year name fuel far more often than the other years of this generation — 24% of them, about 9× the usual rate of 2.5%.
First year of a new generation. The Nissan Pathfinder 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.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,050 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 101 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 16.5 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- tank — 13% of complaints, 33× usual
- fuel gauge — 11% of complaints, 27× usual
- gauge — 16% of complaints, 7× usual
What owners wrote
WHEN THE FUEL TANK WAS HALF FULL OR MORE, THE FUEL GAUGE WOULD INACCURATELY READ THAT IT WAS EMPTY. THE CONTACT TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALER WHERE THE FUEL SENDING UNIT WAS REPLACED. THE FAILURE WAS CORRECTED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 86,000 AND THE CURRENT M…
THE FUEL GAUGE DISPLAYED THAT THE FUEL LEVEL WAS FULL; YET, THE FUEL TANK WAS EMPTY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHO STATED THAT THE VEHICLE COULD REPAIRED FOR $500. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE AND THE CONTACT IS WAITING FOR A RESPONSE. THE V…
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
- 07E046000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Pathfinder 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 Pathfinder? What happened to yours?
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