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What 10 owners told NHTSA about the 2015 Nissan Xterra

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (10)Transmission & drivetrain (6)Suspension (3)Body & structure (1)Brakes (1)Electronic Stability Control (esc) (1)Parking Brake (1)Speed control (1)

1 of 10 complaints match · Electronic Stability Control (esc) · clear filters

Jun 28, 2015Transmission & drivetrainSpeed controlElectronic Stability Control (esc)

NISSAN XTERRA 2015 PURCHASED ON 3/14/2015. ODOMETER AT 4200 MILES. VEHICLE HAS LOSS OF POWER FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS. VDC DASH INDICATOR TURNS ON. SOMETIMES ACCOMPANIED BY METALLIC GRINDING NOISE AS IF THE ABS SYSTEM HAS TURNED ON. THIS HAS OCCURRED SEVERAL TIMES ALWAYS ON DRY ASPHALT PAVEMENT. USUALLY AFTER A 90 DEGREE TURN. ALTHOUGH HAS ALSO HAPPENED PREVIOUSLY FOR A SECOND OR TWO WHEN MODERATELY ACCELERATING FROM A STOP CONTROL. CHECKED TIRE PRESSURES AND IT IS WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS (I.E. 38-40 PSI) THIS HAS OCCURRED 3 TIMES PRIOR FOR SHORTER INTERVALS. HOWEVER THE PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE SINCE IT HAS NOW SUBSEQUENTLY OCCURRED TWO TIMES ON 6/28/2015 FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS EACH TIME. NOTE, I HAVE VIDEO RECORD OF BOTH OCCURANCES ON 6/28/2015 OF THE DASH PANEL AND ROADWAY SHOWING THE PROBLEM, VDC INDICATOR LIGHT, ACCOMPANYING GRINDING NOISE, AND LACK OF ACCELERATION. THE SECOND TIME THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT ACCELERATE PAST 10 MPH AND I HAD TO PULL OVER TO THE SHOULDER TO ALLOW A FOLLOWING VEHICLE TO SAFELY PASS. THE VEHICLE SPEED IN INITIATING THE TURN IS USUALLY AROUND 20 MPH. TOOK VEHICLE PREVIOUSLY TO STOCKTON, CA NISSAN DEALER SERVICE DEPARTMENT ON 6/23/2015. THEY HAD THE VEHICLE FOR 3 DAYS. SERVICE TECH TEST DROVE VEHICLE AND REPLICATED PROBLEM, BUT ACCORDING TO THE SERVICE REP FOR ONLY A VERY SHORT TIME AND IN A U-TURN. THIS IS INDICATED ON THE SERVICE PAPERWORK. SERVICE REP SAID NO OBD2 CODES WERE RECORDED. SERVICE TECH CALLED NISSAN TECH LINE WHO TOLD HIM THIS IS "NORMAL". IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT SERVICE TECH DID NOT GET NOISE AND LOSS OF POWER TO OCCUR FOR 30 SECONDS SO PROBABLY TOLD NISSAN TECH LINE THAT IS WAS ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME IN A U-TURN.

NHTSA ODI 10730843

Working with the data? Download all 10 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 28, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2015 Nissan Xterra verdict →