4.1

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
28,588 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2013 Nissan Frontier drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2013 Nissan Frontier Owner Comments

problem #6

Jan 292023

Frontier

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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 notice to all owners. Thank you

- Arvada, CO, USA

problem #5

May 312019

Frontier

  • 59,697 miles
I was told that the transmission cooler is defective during a regular maintence of the transmission.

- Gainesville, FL, USA

problem #4

Dec 272014

Frontier

  • 3,800 miles
Transmission won't go into gear forward or reverse at times. When driving on the road transmission won't shift out of 3rd gear into over drive, after topping a hill and going back downhill. Truck will do a jerking motion when pulling out from a stop. On interstate I81 truck speed was 50-55 mph the RPM's was 6,000 and the RPM's would not shift into higher gear. When it did shift it was a very hard shift. It has been going on since the day I bought this truck brand new. I have had it to the dealership numerous times and they can not find out what it is. The truck doesn't through a code, so they can't work on it till it does. I pull a small pop up camper at times and it acts up more when the truck is under stress. I have where the Nissan dealership has seen the truck and their comments. They did offer me an extended warranty till 2020. I don't feel safe driving the truck on the road and especially when my family in the truck. I only have a little over 23,000 miles on the truck as to date. Nissan denied my request for another truck because they said my claim falls outside the time period for filing claims. I have the repair paper work and letters from the Nissan group.

- Pilot, VA, USA

problem #3

Nov 172017

Frontier

  • 56,728 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The vehicle would not shift into drive from neutral. After a few minutes of holding it in drive, I managed to get it to move forward. Then, I could not get it out of drive. It only moved forward. The problem fix is described in this youtube video perfectly. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=xf-qfaasmwo it was extremely scary to leave my vehicle running for fear I could not move it again and the what if this part malfunctioned in traffic while down shifting into 3 2 or 1. which is what caused mine to stick behind drive. It was the loose screw that allowed the part to bind.

- Wyoming, DE, USA

problem #2

Aug 282015

Frontier

  • 20,500 miles
My clutch has prematurely failed at 20500 miles. The truck is less then 2 years old and I have had continuous issues with the clutch including a service appointment at 3000 miles. The dealer ship told me this is not covered because the part is considered normal wear and tear. I have driven a clutch my entire life and have never had any issues like this before. It seems to me that some of Nissan clutch's are "lemons" and they do not want to take the responsibility to fix them because it is a high use part. I think the company should be held accountable for this issue and no one should have to go through what I am going through right now.

- Bel Air, MD, USA

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problem #1

Mar 232015

Frontier 6-cyl

  • 30,801 miles
Transmission shifter will not go into drive driver and vehicle were stranded on the side of the road. Multiple documented failures for this shifter assembly.

- Pennsauken, NJ, USA

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