AutoUtility currently tracks 107 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Nissan Pathfinder. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 27 complaints (25.2% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 10 filings cite a crash, 2 report one or more injuries.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 107 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (27 reports • 25.2% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Air Bags & Restraints (21), Brakes & Traction Control (14)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 10 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2016 Nissan Pathfinder
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Engine & Cooling
Air Bags & Restraints
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #16V244000 AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Brakes & Traction Control
Electrical System
Powertrain & Transmission
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Nissan Pathfinder
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"Driving along and it felt as if I were driving over a rumble strip. It stopped after a while, but later that evening I felt it again, but this time the shudder was stronger and it sounded almost like a loud bird chirping. I slowed and the noise stopped, but drove home slowly through the..."
"The crossmember aka- K frame, mfc part #55400-3JA2C. It completely rotted away where the suspension trailing arm connects from the wheel causing uneven and excessive wheel wear and poor handling while driving Yes it is available for inspection. Reproduced unknown Not inspected by authorities No..."
"My 2024 Nissan Frontier has experienced repeated complete power loss more than three times. The vehicle shuts off unexpectedly while on the street and cannot be restarted. During some incidents, even the emergency hazard lights did not work. I had to use jump cables to restart the vehicle. I first..."
"The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated and sputtered while depressing the accelerator pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where DTC: P17F1 (Internal CVT failure was retrieved)...."
"Around 160,000 miles my CVT transmission went out. I almost got into a wreck no warning lights just stopped on me. When I took it to my local dealership in waco, Texas they told me I'll be good to wait over the weekend that they first opening wasn't until Tuesday. I came by on a Thursday. The car..."
Complaint History for Nissan Pathfinder
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Nissan Pathfinder | 320 | 11 | 5 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Nissan Pathfinder Current Page | 107 | 10 | 2 | Current |
| 2017 Nissan Pathfinder | 185 | 7 | 2 | View 2017 Problems → |
| 2018 Nissan Pathfinder | 77 | 3 | 3 | View 2018 Problems → |
| 2019 Nissan Pathfinder | 75 | 4 | 2 | View 2019 Problems → |
| 2020 Nissan Pathfinder | 52 | 1 | 0 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2022 Nissan Pathfinder | 133 | 3 | 5 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Nissan Pathfinder | 102 | 4 | 1 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Nissan Pathfinder | 73 | 1 | 2 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Nissan Pathfinder | 48 | 2 | 1 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Nissan Pathfinder | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2026 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Nissan Pathfinder
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 36 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AIR BAGS,SEATS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| CHILD SEAT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE,OTHER/UNKNOWN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,WHEELS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,WHEELS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,WHEELS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VISIBILITY,EQUIPMENT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)
Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
Hood Latch/Bell Crank Assembly
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this preliminary evaluation to investigate consumer complaints alleging hood latch failures occurring on certain model year (MY) 2013-2016 Nissan Pathfinder vehicles. Complaints received indicated a sudden and unexpected opening of the hood while the vehicle was in motion, blocking the driver's visibility.During this investigation Nissan collected parts from the field to analyze for root cause of t...
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.