2016 Nissan Pathfinder
This year drew an ordinary 107 complaints for a Nissan Pathfinder — the model's median is 101. What they were about is the unusual part: 25.2% of them mention radiator, against 8.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Nissan Pathfinder, which began in 2013 and ran to 2020. 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 | 107 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 101 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- radiator — 25.2% of this year's complaints, against 8.7% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: radiator, common, reports, failed needed.
- heater — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.5% across the other years of this generation (14.3×). Owners wrote it as: heater, temperature, believe nissan.
- sitting — 15% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: sitting, red, sitting red, red light.
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
Every year when it warms up, the brakes fade. I've had new pads, rotors, new fluid. Still have brake fade. Took it to mechanic, he tried a new master cylinder. Still have brake fade. This is a known issue for these vehicles. Something needs to be done. Nissan…
I WAS DRIVING MY VEHICLE WITH THE HEAT ON. A RANDOM NOISE APPEARED THAT I HAVEN'T HEARD BEFORE SO I TURNED OFF THE RADIO AND STILL HEARD THE NOISE. AFTER SHUTTING OFF THE HEATER, THE NOISE STOPPED. I TURNED THE HEATER BACK ON AND THE NOISE APPEARED AGAIN BUT S…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V244000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V420000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 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 2016 Nissan Pathfinder? What happened to yours?
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