Nissan Frontier reliability by year
33 recall campaigns and 509 owner complaints across 22 model years. Best year to buy: 2015. Year to avoid: 2022.
Worst model years to avoid → — the single year to avoid for every model line we track, ranked side by side.
At-a-glance: every year color-coded
Each cell shows the last two digits of the model year and its 0–10 reliability score from NHTSA data. Click any year to see the full record. ★ best year · ✕ year to avoid.
Year-by-year reliability 22 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 62, more than the 33 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Frontier aggregated across 22 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Nissan Frontier?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2015 Nissan Frontier scores 8.4/10 — the strongest in the 2005–2026 range. 33 complaints on file, 0 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Nissan Frontier year should I avoid?
The 2022 Nissan Frontier scores 6.6/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 110 owner complaints with NHTSA, 6 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2022 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Nissan Frontier should I avoid?
No Nissan Frontier model year currently rises to an "avoid" or "high-risk" verdict on the NHTSA data — either the record is clean or sample sizes are still too thin for a confident call. The year-by-year breakdown below shows what's on file regardless.
How many years of the Nissan Frontier are tracked?
22 model years (2005 through 2026) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 33 distinct recall campaigns and 509 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 62 model-year entries in total, because one campaign often covers several years at once — which is why per-year recall counts add up to more than the campaign count.
What's the most-reported problem on the Nissan Frontier?
airbags is the most-reported category — 88 complaints across 8 model years. Average shop repair runs about $1,100.