NHTSA has received 23 owner complaints about the 2020 Nissan Frontier, or 3.4 per year on the road — far fewer complaints than typical (complaint index 0.08, where 1.00 is the average of all tracked vehicles). Among the 83 model-year 2020 vehicles we track, it ranks #3 of 83 by complaints per year (#1 = fewest). Against other Nissan models its rate is 88% lower; against other Midsize pickups it is 83% lower.
Counts are normalized by time on the road, not by sales volume: a popular model generates more reports than a rare one, and complaints are not verified individually. How we count
Limited data: fewer than 30 complaints, so shares and indexes are unstable.
Complaints filed between 2021-03-10 and 2026-07-10. Median delay from incident to filing: 8 days.
23Complaints
3.4Complaints per year on the road
0.08Complaint index vs. all tracked vehicles
2Recalls
13.0%Share involving a crash or fire
3Last 12 months
Analysis
The previous model year (2019) drew 3.6 complaints per year, more than this one. The following model year (2021) drew 3.5 per year, about the same.
The most common problem area is Transmission / powertrain (39.1% of complaints), followed by Engine (21.7%) and Brakes (13.0%). Transmission / powertrain complaints are 3.4 times as common here as across all tracked vehicles. 3 reports (13.0%) describe a crash or fire; owners mention 1 injury and 0 deaths.
Half of the reported incidents happened within 48 months of the model year's start; the busiest period was after five years (30% of incidents). 3 complaints were filed in the last 12 months.
NHTSA lists 2 safety recalls for this model year.
Complaint index
vs. all tracked vehicles0.08
vs. other Nissan models0.12
vs. other 2020 models0.09
vs. other Midsize pickups0.17
Complaints in first 2 years on the road · vs. same-year average (2)0.04
The contact owned a 2020 Nissan Frontier. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V671000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available.
Transmission / powertrain · 2024-10-07 · ODI 11618524 · Crash
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Frontier. The contact stated that the vehicle was in the park position, but while exiting the vehicle it began to roll and crashed into the garage door. There were no reported injuries. There was no fire or police report filed.
Transmission / powertrain · 2022-12-13 · ODI 11497294 · Crash
Crank bolt snapped causing me to loose power steering, a part failed that shouldn't have .I have the bolt looks like in was cracked when they put it together, it was only on by about three threads, my mechanic and the one from nissan said they'd never seen…
Engine · 2026-07-10 · ODI 11749618
Nissan Frontier won’t engage into park parking prowl issue I’ve looked it up on google but my vin doesn't say there is a recall for my truck. Can we get a full recall for the 2020’s ?
Brakes · 2026-06-30 · ODI 11747458
UNKNOWNI want to report my repossessed car and hold Santander Consumer USA responsible because they sold my car without my consent and not only that, report the fraud of the sale of the same car that I bought and that neither the DMV Nissan of Orange nor…
Engine · 2025-09-28 · ODI 11690226
Excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length. The ODI number is NHTSA's record identifier.
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION Campaign 22V671000 · 2022-09-07
Summary: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2020-2023 Titan, 2020-2022 Frontier, and 2023 Z vehicles. The transmission parking pawl may not engage when the vehicle is shifted into park, which can result in a vehicle rollaway.
Risk: A vehicle rollaway increases the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Owners are advised to apply the parking brake every time they park their vehicle. Dealers will perform the applicable repairs below, free of charge: Model Year 2020-2022 Frontier vehicles: reprogram Transmission Control Module (TCM) Model Year 2020-2022 Titan vehicles: reprogram TCM and Engine Control Module (ECM) Model Year 2023 Titan vehicles: reprogram TCM Model Year 2023 Z vehicles: reprogram TCM. Owner notification letters were mailed October 28, 2022. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669.
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION Campaign 22V457000 · 2022-06-24
Summary: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Frontier and Titan vehicles. The transmission parking pawl may not engage when the vehicle is shifted into park, which can result in a vehicle rollaway.
Risk: A vehicle rollaway increases the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Owners are advised to apply the parking brake every time they park their vehicle. Dealers will replace the transmission parking pawl pin, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 2022. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R22A2 R22A3.
