2020 Nissan Kicks
Complaints about this year name check engine far more often than the model's other years — 14% of them, about 35× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 92 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 33 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 33 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- lane — 9.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: lane, departure, lane departure, own vehicle.
- police — 9.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: police, arm, crashed, vin available.
- doesn — 9.8% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: doesn, car doesn, hesitating, death.
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
- engine light — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
- engine — 25% of complaints, 4× usual
- control — 18% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
For months the front/rear collision sensors warning lights are on. The ABS and traction control warning lights are also on. The check engine light will come on for weeks at a time then go away.
The dash board lights up and the check engine light comes. It’s hard to accelerate or reverse and its idles high. I have replaced coils, spark plugs, censors and it’s costs me thousands of dollars and it’s still not fixed.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Kicks 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 2020 Nissan Kicks? What happened to yours?
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