2013 Nissan Frontier problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Air Bags (8) · Seat Belts (5) · Electrical System (5)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Nissan Frontier model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
37 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (1)
Electrical System:wiring:fuses And Circuit Breakers 2014-02-12 · campaign 14V052000 · 13,535 vehicles
Defect: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2012 through 2014 Frontier vehicles manufactured from November 28, 2012, through December 17, 2013. In the affected vehicles, a circuit breaker may have been installed incorrectly causing the main wire harness connected to the circuit breaker to face outward, potentially contacting a metal bolt located on the A-pillar.
Risk: The bolt may wear through the wire harness covering, resulting in an electrical short which could cause a fire.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the circuit breaker orientation. If the circuit breaker orientation is incorrect, dealers will repair the vehicles free of charge. The recall began on March 17, 2014. Owners may contact Nissan at 1-800-647-7261.
Service bulletins (128)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Structure:body 2026-04-13 · NTB09-131C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
certification label and vin plate replacement service information because of collision damage or other vehicle repair, a replacement “certification label” or “vin plate/label” may be needed. hint: certification label = fmvss (federal motor vehicle safety standards) label. these items may be availabl
Structure:body 2026-04-13 · NTB09-131C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
certification label and vin plate replacement service information because of collision damage or other vehicle repair, a replacement “certification label” or “vin plate/label” may be needed. hint: certification label = fmvss (federal motor vehicle safety standards) label. these items may be availabl
Air Bags 2024-07-08 · NTB23-081C · Service Campaign
voluntary safety recall campaign 2005-2013 frontier, pathfinder, and xterra; driver air bag cover campaign id #: pc945 and pc948 applied vehicles: 2005-2013 frontier (d40) 2005-2012 pathfinder (r51) 2005-2013 xterra (n50) check service comm or dealer business systems (dbs) national service history t
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB13-107G · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
vehicle key not detected / authenticated, engine will not start this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB13-027D · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
can communication – network diagnostic flow chart this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB10-066C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
can communication codes – diagnostic tips and guidelines this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Showing the 6 most recent of 128 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-03-16 · Air Bags · 113,000 mi“the contact owns a 2013 nissan frontier. the contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the air bag sensor located in front of the radiator had failed and needed to be replaced; however, the vehicle was not repaired because the part number: 98581-9bd8a…”
2025-11-10 · Electrical System:instrument Panel:speedometer/Odometer · 183,101 mi“odometer fraud. the contact purchased a 2013 nissan frontier. the vehicle was purchased in a private sale. it was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. at the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 98,107, and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was 183,101. the carfax report and the last report were in 2…”
2024-05-10 · Air Bags“air bag light will not go off. afraid will deploy. dealer no problem just censor. did not have part to fix.…”
2023-12-13 · Seat Belts“in summer 2023 driving on uneven country road in upstate new york hit a pothole and my airbag warning light came on. then started to flash. truck is still drivable but now the seatbelts no longer lock in place during a sudden stop did research online nissan has a voluntary service campaign for this exact issue. campaign id p7318 i made appoin…”
2023-08-21 · Steering“i felt like i was loosing control of my steering it was so scary i took my car to the closest service place which was meineke which was 3 months ago well the same problem is back with my steering wheel and definitely isn't safe. i am reporting this to make sure that there isn't a safety issue i should be aware of on how to resolve this…”
2023-06-18 · Engine“this is an intermittent problem sometimes this problem will happen as far apart as a month, then for two days then go away. when accelerating the truck will starting bucking, not getting to enough fuel, this will sometimes not stop the next day i take it to the mechanic it is running fine no check engine light comes on. he runs a diagnostic, no …”
2023-01-29 · Unknown Or Other“my daughter backed out of our driveway, put the truck in reverse. she was then unable to put the truck into drive. it got stuck in the middle of the street. thankfully we live on a quite street with not much traffic during the day. however if this happened in a parking lot it would have been much different. my husband was able to come home from wor…”
2022-10-10 · Air Bags · 💥 crash“on a dark road going 40mph i hit a large deer on oct 7. the front end of my truck was damaged. air bag went off but never inflated, and i smelled smoke briefly. i was able to drive home and in the morning i noted there were two quarter size burn holes in the air bag, which probably explains why the bag did not deploy. there was absolutely no e…”
2021-04-12 · Wheels · 76,000 mi“purchased 4 new general grabber hts tires size 25/75r15 less than 4 months ago. tires were installed at a reputable dealership. i now have 2,600 miles on the tires. last week the first tire blew out at the bead, where the tire meets the rim. i installed my full size spare while the first failure is investigated. now two days later, a second tire is…”
2020-08-13 · Seat Belts · 115,000 mi“one morning i arrived at work and my seat belt would not disengage after struggling with it for 10 minutes i had to cut it to get out i had no prior problems with seatbelt until that morning i took my vehicle to nissan but they are saying they will not cover it apparently because i had cut it and they are also saying that something could of been st…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.