NISSAN FRONTIER · model year

2013 NISSAN FRONTIER

64 NHTSA complaints, 8 crash reports, and 1 active recall for this specific cohort.

NHTSA overall rating

Not crash-tested

New Car Assessment Program

The 2013NISSANFRONTIER carries 64 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 8 crashes, 1 fire, 3 injuries, and 0 fatalities. For crash performance, NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program gave this cohort an overall Not Rated/5 rating, with Not Rated/5 front crash, Not Rated/5 side crash, and 3/5 rollover scores derived from standardized barrier and dynamic tests.

Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2013 FRONTIER is air bags with 14 filings, followed by electrical system (6) and power train (6). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 1 active recall campaign, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle, the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.

NHTSA currently has 1 investigation file overlapping the 2013 FRONTIER. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page, a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.

64
Complaints
8
Crashes
1
Fires
3
Injuries
0
Deaths

Total Complaints

64 filings

Crashes Reported

8 reports

Source

NHTSA ODI

Federal complaints database

Complaints vs. fleet median (215)

At or below the fleet median complaint volume.

NHTSA NCAP overall: Not Rated/5 - Not rated · Front: Not Rated/5 · Side: Not Rated/5 · Rollover: 3/5

Complaints by Component

ComponentCount
AIR BAGS14
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM6
POWER TRAIN6
UNKNOWN OR OTHER6
SEAT BELTS5
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL4
ENGINE4
WHEELS3
SERVICE BRAKES2
STRUCTURE:BODY2
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:PEDALS AND LINKAGES1
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC1
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INTEGRATED TRAILER BRAKE CONTROL1
TRAILER HITCHES1
VISIBILITY:GLASS, SIDE/REAR1

Recalls (1)

14V05200012/02/2014

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:FUSES AND CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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 circ

Recent Complaints

20251110ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:INSTRUMENT PANEL:SPEEDOMETER/ODOMETER

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 2022.

Mileage: 183,101

20240510AIR BAGS

Air bag light will not go off. Afraid will deploy. Dealer no problem just censor. Did not have part to fix.

20231213AIR BAGS

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 appointment with Koeppel Nissan. Had to wait weeks then They canceled my scheduled appointment on September 4 and reschedule for September 12. Probably not safe to drive truck with airbag light on and seatbelt issues. I go to my regular mechanic. He tells me seatbelt retractors do not seem to be working. He tests them by extending seatbelt slowly. Then tugging hard. He said they should lock in place. They do not. He also put a scan tool into OBD port. There are zero codes Nothing showing why airbag light flashing. Informs me there is a 10 year Warranty on seatbelts. He said wait for dealer to do their replacement of air bag diagnostic sens

20231213ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

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 appointment with Koeppel Nissan. Had to wait weeks then They canceled my scheduled appointment on September 4 and reschedule for September 12. Probably not safe to drive truck with airbag light on and seatbelt issues. I go to my regular mechanic. He tells me seatbelt retractors do not seem to be working. He tests them by extending seatbelt slowly. Then tugging hard. He said they should lock in place. They do not. He also put a scan tool into OBD port. There are zero codes Nothing showing why airbag light flashing. Informs me there is a 10 year Warranty on seatbelts. He said wait for dealer to do their replacement of air bag diagnostic sens

20231213SEAT 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 appointment with Koeppel Nissan. Had to wait weeks then They canceled my scheduled appointment on September 4 and reschedule for September 12. Probably not safe to drive truck with airbag light on and seatbelt issues. I go to my regular mechanic. He tells me seatbelt retractors do not seem to be working. He tests them by extending seatbelt slowly. Then tugging hard. He said they should lock in place. They do not. He also put a scan tool into OBD port. There are zero codes Nothing showing why airbag light flashing. Informs me there is a 10 year Warranty on seatbelts. He said wait for dealer to do their replacement of air bag diagnostic sens

20230821STEERING

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

20230821AIR BAGS

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

20230618ENGINE

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 error readings this has been going on for 6mos.. Once it was so bad by the time I got it home it had fried the converters. The mechanic changed the converters replaced all the censors on the engine and converters clean the injectors, replaced the plugs, and changed fuel filter, tested the fuel pump, good. I need help, don't know what to do. Had another shop run a diagnostic check after all of this could find no problems, but the problem is still there. Afraid of stalling in an intersection and getting killed.

20230129UNKNOWN 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 work and manually push it forward, then drove it backwards into a parking spot (out of the middle of the street). He did an internet search and found a solution. Apparently one of the screws holding the gear shifter (park,neutral,reverse,drive...) came loose and was getting hung up on the plastic molding portion of the gear box. It was a simple fix - just pop open the cover and screw the part back in. However this was a terrible thing to happen, and could have really been a much bigger issue than it was. Had it happened in a busy parking lot, busy street, or on a boat ramp.... It would have been disastrous. Please consider sending a written noti

20230129POWER TRAIN

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 work and manually push it forward, then drove it backwards into a parking spot (out of the middle of the street). He did an internet search and found a solution. Apparently one of the screws holding the gear shifter (park,neutral,reverse,drive...) came loose and was getting hung up on the plastic molding portion of the gear box. It was a simple fix - just pop open the cover and screw the part back in. However this was a terrible thing to happen, and could have really been a much bigger issue than it was. Had it happened in a busy parking lot, busy street, or on a boat ramp.... It would have been disastrous. Please consider sending a written noti

20221010CrashAIR BAGS

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 evidence of fire under the hood, in the cab, etc. I understand that some kind of explosive is used to "project" the airbag but it looks like it may have also damaged it. What to do?

20210412WHEELS

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 SEVERELY DEFORMED AT THE TIRE BEAD AND LOOKS LIKE IT IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE JUST LIKE THE FIRST ONE. BOTH FAILURES ARE RIGHT UNDER THE 'GE' IN GENERAL AT THE TIRE BEAD. I BELIEVE THESE TIRES ARE COMPLETELY DEFECTIVE, THEY ARE A DANGER TO ANYONE THAT HAS THEM INSTALLED ON THEIR VEHICLE AND A DANGER TO THE PUBLIC. THE FIRST TIRE FAILED WHILE DRIVING AT 55MPH ON A FLAT, STRAIGHT, SMOOTH ROAD. THE SECOND TIRE HAS NOT COMPLETELY FAILED, BUT THERE IS A LARGE BULGE OR BUBBLE IN THE TIRE WHERE IT MEETS THE RIM, IT LOOKS LIKE IT COULD FAIL AT ANY MOMENT AND IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE. FIRST PHOTO OF FIRST FAILED TIRE IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT FAILED ON THE S

Mileage: 76,000

20210412UNKNOWN OR OTHER

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 SEVERELY DEFORMED AT THE TIRE BEAD AND LOOKS LIKE IT IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE JUST LIKE THE FIRST ONE. BOTH FAILURES ARE RIGHT UNDER THE 'GE' IN GENERAL AT THE TIRE BEAD. I BELIEVE THESE TIRES ARE COMPLETELY DEFECTIVE, THEY ARE A DANGER TO ANYONE THAT HAS THEM INSTALLED ON THEIR VEHICLE AND A DANGER TO THE PUBLIC. THE FIRST TIRE FAILED WHILE DRIVING AT 55MPH ON A FLAT, STRAIGHT, SMOOTH ROAD. THE SECOND TIRE HAS NOT COMPLETELY FAILED, BUT THERE IS A LARGE BULGE OR BUBBLE IN THE TIRE WHERE IT MEETS THE RIM, IT LOOKS LIKE IT COULD FAIL AT ANY MOMENT AND IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE. FIRST PHOTO OF FIRST FAILED TIRE IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT FAILED ON THE S

Mileage: 76,000

20200813SEAT BELTS

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 STUCK IN THE LOCKING MECHANISM U ASSURE YOU THERE WAS NOT IT'S AN EXCUSE THEY ARE USING TO NOT PAY FOR IT IF I HAD BEEN IN WRECK OR FIRE I COULD HAVE DIED .

Mileage: 115,000

20200626ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

THE ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE WENT OUT ON MY VEHICLE AFTER ONLY 60,000 MILES. I TRIED EVERY POSSIBLE SOLUTION SUCH AS REPLACING SENSORS, REPLACED SPARK PLUGS, CRANK AND SHIFT SENSORS, ETC UNTIL MY LOCAL NISSAN DEALERSHIP RAN A DIAGNOSTIC AND DETERMINED IT TO BE THE ECM. THEY FOUND IT STRANGE TO HAVE THE ECM GO OUT SO QUICKLY. MY TRUCK WAS RUNNING FINE BUT THEN IT SLOWLY STARTED TO GIVE OUT WHEN I WOULD TRY TO START IT. I HAVE A MANUAL TRANSMISSION. *TR

Mileage: 60,000

20200226AIR BAGS

THE FRONT CRASH ZONE SENSOR IS IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT, THE PREVIOUS MODEL YEARS HAVE ALREADY BEEN RECALLED AND HAD THIS FIXED VIA A RECALL THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM HAS HAPPENED WITH MY 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER

Mileage: 120,000

20200226UNKNOWN OR OTHER

THE FRONT CRASH ZONE SENSOR IS IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT, THE PREVIOUS MODEL YEARS HAVE ALREADY BEEN RECALLED AND HAD THIS FIXED VIA A RECALL THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM HAS HAPPENED WITH MY 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER

Mileage: 120,000

20191025FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

WHEN PUTTING GAS IN THE VEHICLE IT WILL JUST BEGIN POURING OUT, HAPPENS OFTEN AND THE TANK IS STILL EMPTY

20191015ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

ABOUT A YEAR AGO MY SUNROOF WAS ACTING LIKE IT DIDN'T WANT TO CLOSE, I HAVEN'T OPENED IT SINCE, THEN A FEW MONTHS AFTER THAT, IT KEPT BLOWING FUSES BY THE GLOVE BOX THAT CONTROLS THE INTERIOR LIGHTS, CARGO LIGHTS AND TRAILER HITCH, THEN LAST WEEK, I THOUGHT MY TRUCK WAS GOING TO BURN TO THE GROUND WHEN I WAS DRIVING DOWN MY MOTHERS DRIVEWAY. SMOKE CAME IN BETWEEN THE WINDSHIELD AND DASH AND FILLED THE CAB UP VERY QUICKLY. I PUT THE TRUCK IN PARK, TURNED IT OFF AND RAN AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE THINKING IT WAS GOING TO BLOW UP. I ROLLED ALL THE WINDOWS DOWN TO LET THE SMOKE OUT. AFTER 10 MINUTES, CHECKING UNDER THE HOOD, UNDER THE VEHICLE, I DID NOT SEE ANY FLAMES. WHEN I GOT BACK IN THE TRUCK TO DRIVE IT HOME, THE WINDOWS WOULD NOT ROLL UP AND THE INTERIOR LIGHTS WOULD NOT WORK AND THE AIRBAG LIGHT IS FLASHING ON AND OFF AND WON'T STOP AND IT SMELLED HORRIBLE OF SOMETHING ELECTRICAL.

Mileage: 70,000

20190807ENGINE

MANIFOLDS BREAK APART 2 TIMES SINCE OWNING THE TRUCK

Mileage: 36,000

Compare 2013NISSANFRONTIER to Similar Vehicles

NHTSA Investigations

Frequently Asked Questions

How many complaints does the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER have?
The 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER has 64 NHTSA complaints, 8 crashes, 1 fires, 3 injuries, and 0 deaths reported.
What is the safety rating for the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER?
The 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER received an overall NHTSA safety rating of Not Rated/5, front crash rating of Not Rated/5, side crash rating of Not Rated/5, and rollover rating of 3/5.
Are there any recalls for the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER?
Yes, the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER has 1 recall(s). The most common affected component is ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:FUSES AND CIRCUIT BREAKERS. Recalls are issued by NHTSA and manufacturers must provide a free remedy.
What are the most common problems with the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER?
The most-complained component for the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER is AIR BAGS with 14 complaints. Other frequently reported areas include ELECTRICAL SYSTEM and POWER TRAIN.
Is the 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER safe to buy?
Review the complaint history, crash and fire reports, safety ratings, and recall status on this page to make an informed decision. The 2013 NISSAN FRONTIER has an NHTSA safety rating of Not Rated/5. Compare with other model years using the links above.
Where does this data come from?
All complaint, recall, and safety rating data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are filed by vehicle owners through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.

Vehicle Safety Guides

Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.