2006 Nissan Frontier
Complaints about this year name fuel gauge far more often than the other years of this generation — 22% of them, about 56× the usual rate of 0.4%.
Generation 1 of the Nissan Frontier, which began in 2005 and ran to 2021. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
| Complaints filed | 1,232 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 46 |
| Involving a crash | 26 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- gauge — 30.7% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (12.9×). Owners wrote it as: gauge, fuel gauge, gas gauge, tank fuel.
- fuel — 38% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the other years of this generation (5.4×).
- radiator — 32.8% of this year's complaints, against 7.8% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: radiator, fluid, transmission fluid, transmission radiator.
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.
Also unusual this year
- fuel — 38% of complaints, 6× usual
- radiator — 27% of complaints, 12× usual
- fluid — 16% of complaints, 39× usual
What owners wrote
FUEL SENDING UNIT WORKING SPORADICALLY AND TRIGGERED CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. FUEL GAUGE IS MARKING HALF TANK THEN SLOWLY WENT UP, BUT FUEL TANK WAS FILLED UP. THERE IS ALSO A RECALL ON RADIATOR LEAKING ANTIFREEZE INTO TRANSMISSION BUT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET.
RADIATOR/COOLANT HAS MIXED INTO TRANSMISSION FLUID CAUSING TRANSMISSION FAILURE.
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.
- 10V075000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 08V690000 AIR BAGS
- 06E064000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 06V092000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 07E046000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Frontier 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 2006 Nissan Frontier? What happened to yours?
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