AutoUtility currently tracks 52 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2020 Nissan Pathfinder. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 14 complaints (26.9% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 52 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (14 reports • 26.9% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (12), Powertrain & Transmission (9)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2020 Nissan Pathfinder
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Engine & Cooling
Electrical System
Powertrain & Transmission
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech
Brakes & Traction Control
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2020 Nissan Pathfinder
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"The car stalled three times and died in active traffic. The breakdown was so hazardous that the police department had to intervene and push the car out of the road and had to tow the car more than 3 times and was at the Nissan Dealership for over one week. I paid Nissan dealership $5,000 to repair..."
"After only 110,000 miles, my local Nissan service center (Advantage Nissan, 5101 Auto Center Blvd, Bremerton, WA 98312) states that the timing chain is loose. The repair estimate is in excess of $6000. The expense is because it requires removal of the engine to effect repairs. Research reveals that..."
"A few months after purchase, the power cut off on me. Then it happened again the following year. Then the screen for backing up started going on and off. Then I started feeling like the car was loosing power. In the last 2 years the power cutting off has occurred 3 more times and the rear screen..."
"The vehicle has developed a persistent and progressively worsening rattling noise from the engine during cold starts, along with intermittent rough operation. The symptoms are consistent with a malfunction or defect in the engine timing chain system, including possible timing chain stretch, timing..."
"The back-up camera and display settings image is no longer visible and the dashboard indicates that it is off. The camera is black and does not display anything nor does it provides information that you are backing up. The safety of drivers and others are at risk. As such, the vehicle fails to..."
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 | 107 | 10 | 2 | View 2016 Problems → |
| 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 Current Page | 52 | 1 | 0 | Current |
| 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 2020 Nissan Pathfinder
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 31 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 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES, AIR,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tires NHTSA category: TIRES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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.