How many miles will a 2002 Nissan Frontier last?
Half of the 72 NHTSA owner complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier that list mileage came after 68,000 miles, and 1 in 10 after 141,000 miles. NHTSA's complaints file of November 11, 2026 holds 124 complaints on this model year; each mileage is the odometer when an owner reported a safety problem, not how long the vehicle lasted.
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See what the paid report includes →Of the 72 complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier that list mileage, the middle half came between 28,000 and 115,000 miles; 21 (29%) came after 100,000 miles, 6 (8%) after 150,000 and 1 (1%) after 200,000.
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How many miles will a 2002 Frontier last?
The 72 mileages owners gave run from 25 to 225,000 miles. A quarter are at or under 28,730 miles, half at or under 69,000, three quarters at or under 115,000 and nine in ten at or under 142,000; 21 (29%) came after 100,000 miles, 6 (8%) after 150,000 and 1 (1%) after 200,000.
These mileages say when owners reported a problem, not when a 2002 Frontier wears out. NHTSA's file holds only vehicles whose owners complained; one that ran without a problem never appears in it, so it gives no lifespan and no cutoff, and how a vehicle was maintained matters more than any one odometer reading.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Lowest mileage listed | 25 miles |
| 25th percentile | 28,730 miles |
| Median (50th percentile) | 69,000 miles |
| 75th percentile | 115,000 miles |
| 90th percentile | 142,000 miles |
| Highest mileage listed | 225,000 miles |
| Complaints after 100,000 miles | 21 (29%) |
| Complaints after 150,000 miles | 6 (8%) |
| Complaints after 200,000 miles | 1 (1%) |
Every model year together: Half of the 2,391 NHTSA owner complaints on the Nissan Frontier that list mileage came after 75,000 miles (NHTSA complaints file of November 11, 2026). How many miles will a Nissan Frontier last? →
Common problems with the 2002 Frontier
NHTSA's file holds 124 owner complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier. Owners named the electrical system most often: 13 complaints, and half of the 9 that list a mileage came after 39,000 miles. A complaint can name more than one component.
| Component (NHTSA category) | Complaints | Listing mileage | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical System | 13 | 9 | 40,000 |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 13 | 5 | 4,099 |
| Steering | 13 | 10 | 93,898 |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 13 | 6 | 36,000 |
| Fuel System, Gasoline | 12 | 8 | 92,000 |
Of the 124 complaints, 12 report a crash, 2 report a fire and 8 report an injury (9 people reported injured). These are owners' reports to NHTSA, not findings.
Is the 2002 Frontier a good year?
Complaint counts cannot say whether the 2002 is a good or a bad Frontier: they rise with how many were sold and how long they have been on the road. They show how the 2002 compares with the other model years in NHTSA's file.
With 124 complaints, the 2002 ranks 8th of the 29 Nissan Frontier model years from 1998 to 2026 with 10 or more complaints, counting from the most. The most: the 2006 (617). The fewest: the 2025 and 2026 (11 each).
Recent model years have had less time to collect complaints, so their counts are still growing. No year is ranked by mileage here, because a year's median mileage mostly follows its age.
| Model year | Owner complaints | Listing mileage | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 Frontier | 129 | 33 | 110,000 |
| 1999 Frontier | 78 | 26 | 80,000 |
| 2000 Frontier | 189 | 84 | 86,250 |
| 2001 Frontier | 134 | 76 | 73,200 |
| 2002 (this page) | 124 | 72 | 69,000 |
| 2003 Frontier | 77 | 60 | 61,000 |
| 2004 Frontier | 66 | 47 | 61,000 |
| 2005 Frontier | 532 | 476 | 90,000 |
| 2006 Frontier | 617 | 556 | 80,000 |
| 2007 Frontier | 520 | 457 | 82,000 |
| 2008 Frontier | 136 | 108 | 85,000 |
| 2009 Frontier | 37 | 33 | 60,097 |
| 2010 Frontier | 59 | 43 | 41,000 |
| 2011 Frontier | 64 | 50 | 46,500 |
| 2012 Frontier | 80 | 65 | 43,000 |
| 2013 Frontier | 48 | 37 | 27,000 |
| 2014 Frontier | 42 | 31 | 35,000 |
| 2015 Frontier | 33 | 19 | 29,000 |
| 2016 Frontier | 44 | 24 | 30,000 |
| 2017 Frontier | 38 | 24 | 10,000 |
| 2018 Frontier | 25 | 11 | 9,745 |
| 2019 Frontier | 28 | 11 | 12,000 |
| 2020 Frontier | 23 | 11 | 28,000 |
| 2021 Frontier | 21 | 4 | Under 10 mileages |
| 2022 Frontier | 112 | 17 | 2,000 |
| 2023 Frontier | 68 | 11 | 4,500 |
| 2024 Frontier | 23 | 2 | Under 10 mileages |
| 2025 Frontier | 11 | 0 | Under 10 mileages |
| 2026 Frontier | 11 | 3 | Under 10 mileages |
The linked 2015–2022 pages show NHTSA's September 15, 2026 collection, so their counts can differ from this table's.
Every Frontier year compared on NHTSA’s complaints and recalls: Nissan Frontier years to avoid →
2002 Nissan Frontier recalls
NHTSA's recall files of November 11, 2026 list 8 recall campaigns that name the 2002 Nissan Frontier (4 vehicle campaigns and 4 equipment or tire campaigns that name this model year, often for aftermarket parts). A campaign covers a production range, not every vehicle of the model year: check the VIN with NHTSA's free recall lookup.
| Campaign | Report received | Component |
|---|---|---|
| 10V554000 | Nov 11, 2010 | STEERING:COLUMN |
| 09E025000 | May 11, 2009 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS |
| 09E012000 | Apr 7, 2009 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING |
| 06E064000 | Jul 17, 2006 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING |
| 06E023000 | Mar 13, 2006 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS |
What these figures can and cannot tell you
- Complaints are owners’ reports to NHTSA. NHTSA publishes them without verifying them: a complaint is an allegation, not a defect finding.
- The mileage is what the owner wrote on the complaint; NHTSA does not check it against the odometer.
- The make, model and model year are the ones on the complaint. NHTSA records them as filed, so a few complaints sit under a model year the name was not sold in.
- They are not a lifespan study. The file holds only vehicles whose owners reported a problem, so these figures do not say how long a typical 2002 Frontier lasts.
- A complaint count rises with how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road, so it is not a rating of the 2002 Frontier.
- Nothing here describes one vehicle: its title brands, odometer readings, accidents and open recalls are in the records for its own VIN.
- 52 of the 124 complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier give no usable mileage (blank, zero, a filler such as 999999, or over 500,000) and are left out of every mileage figure.
- NHTSA name counted: FRONTIER. NHTSA files some vehicles under several names (a series name and a trim name, for example); this page counts only this one.
- Recall-file name matched: FRONTIER.
Primary sources behind this page
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
- NHTSA complaints flat file (FLAT_CMPL.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Complaints file field layout (CMPL.txt)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recalls flat file (FLAT_RCL_PRE_2010.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recalls flat file (FLAT_RCL_POST_2010.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Recalls file field layout (RCL.txt)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recall and complaint datasets: scope and documentationNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Recalls Lookup by VINNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
NHTSA’s complaints file was downloaded on November 11, 2026 (FLAT_CMPL.txt, dated 2026-11-11 10:15, 2,265,416 rows), with its recall files (FLAT_RCL_PRE_2010.txt and FLAT_RCL_POST_2010.txt, dated 2026-11-11 08:02). Each complaint is counted once, by its NHTSA number, with the model year and mileage of its first row; a model year has a page only with 10 or more complaints. The collection script and its rules are in scripts/collect-nhtsa-model-year-longtail.mjs.
2002 Nissan Frontier questions
How many miles will a 2002 Nissan Frontier last?
Half of the 72 NHTSA owner complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier that list mileage came after 68,000 miles, and 1 in 10 after 141,000 miles. Of the 72 complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier that list mileage, the middle half came between 28,000 and 115,000 miles; 21 (29%) came after 100,000 miles, 6 (8%) after 150,000 and 1 (1%) after 200,000. These are mileages at a reported problem, not a lifespan: the file holds no 2002 Frontier that never had one.
What are the most common 2002 Nissan Frontier problems?
NHTSA's file holds 124 owner complaints on the 2002 Nissan Frontier. Owners named the electrical system most often: 13 complaints, and half of the 9 that list a mileage came after 39,000 miles. A complaint can name more than one component. Of the 124 complaints, 12 report a crash, 2 report a fire and 8 report an injury (9 people reported injured). These are owners' reports to NHTSA, not findings.
Is the 2002 Nissan Frontier a good year?
Complaint counts cannot say whether the 2002 is a good or a bad Frontier: they rise with how many were sold and how long they have been on the road. They show how the 2002 compares with the other model years in NHTSA's file. With 124 complaints, the 2002 ranks 8th of the 29 Nissan Frontier model years from 1998 to 2026 with 10 or more complaints, counting from the most. The most: the 2006 (617). The fewest: the 2025 and 2026 (11 each).
How many recalls does the 2002 Nissan Frontier have?
NHTSA's recall files of November 11, 2026 list 8 recall campaigns that name the 2002 Nissan Frontier (4 vehicle campaigns and 4 equipment or tire campaigns that name this model year, often for aftermarket parts). A campaign covers a production range, not every vehicle of the model year: check the VIN with NHTSA's free recall lookup.
How do I check a used 2002 Nissan Frontier before buying?
Take the 17-character VIN from the vehicle and compare the odometer with the readings on file for it: title transfers, inspections and auction sales record the mileage on the day. VIN Lookup (free-vin-lookup.com) sells the original ClearVIN PDF for $14.99 (3 reports for $29.99, 5 for $44.99): odometer readings, title brands and auction records on file for the VIN. Check the VIN before buying a used 2002 Nissan Frontier.