1999-2017 Nissan Quest Problems: 14 Known Issues

NHTSA opened preliminary evaluation PE14-012 in May 2014 after complaints that 2007 Quest vans ran out of fuel with the gauge still showing fuel remaining; by the time it closed, the agency had counted 136 unique complaints. Nissan traced the fault to one of two resistors in the combination meter's voltage-divider circuit for the fuel sender opening or lifting, which makes the gauge and the distance-to-empty display read high once the tank drops below about a quarter. Owners reported the DTE readout showing more than 70 miles of range immediately before the engine stalled from fuel starvation - a genuine safety exposure, because the stall happens without warning in traffic. Nissan's own investigation found the same circuit in 2008 and 2009 vans, and the agency closed PE14-012 on Nissan's agreement to run a service campaign covering approximately 68,003 model year 2007-2009 Quest vehicles.

On 2011-2012 model year Quest vans, Nissan determined that the fuel pump control module could fail to command enough pump capability at low speed and low torque once the tank was down to about a quarter or less, starving the engine and causing it to stop running without warning. Nissan filed this as a safety recall - NHTSA campaign 12V076000 - because an unannounced stall in traffic is a crash risk. This is a control-module calibration defect on the V43 and is distinct from the mechanical sender-resistor fault that affected the earlier 2007-2009 vans; owners with a low-fuel stall should check which of the two their model year falls under.

Nissan ran a voluntary service campaign, ID P0A08, covering roughly 320,616 vehicles including 2011-2015 Quest vans (alongside 2010-2014 Murano and Murano CrossCabriolet). The cause is a chemical reaction between the chromate surface coating on the ABS actuator's normally-closed valve and DOT3 brake fluid, which forms a gel around the valve. The gel can hold the normally-closed valve open, making brake fluid pressure fluctuate and giving the driver noticeably increased pedal travel when the ABS activates; Nissan states normal braking is unaffected. Because the defect is chemistry between the fluid specification and the valve coating, it develops with time and fluid age rather than with any particular driving pattern, and it recurs if the van is refilled with DOT3 after the repair.

NHTSA campaign 10V072000 covers a manufacturing defect in the brake pedal assembly on 2008-2009 Quest vans: the end of the brake pedal pivot pin was not spin-formed to specification during production. A pivot pin that is not properly formed can allow the pedal to shift on its pivot, and the resulting misalignment reduces the braking force actually delivered to the master cylinder for a given pedal effort. Owners experience a pedal that feels wrong or a van that does not stop as it should - a straightforward crash risk. This is a build defect at the pedal box, entirely separate from the hydraulic ABS-actuator problem that affects the later V43 generation.

NHTSA campaign 04V103000 covers 2004 Quest vans equipped with the automatic airbag suppression option, in which the front passenger seat uses a seat-cushion bladder and sensors to detect who is in the seat. Nissan found that with a certain child test dummy positioned as required by the federal test, automatic suppression may fail to occur - meaning the passenger airbag stays armed with a child in the seat, contrary to the advanced air bag requirements of FMVSS 208. The consequence is exactly the scenario the suppression system exists to prevent: a full-force passenger airbag deploying against a child. Owner notification began June 23, 2004.

NHTSA campaign 05V474000 covers 2004-2006 Quest vans in which moving components of the second-row seat adjustment mechanism are left exposed. Because the second row of a minivan is where children climb in, out and between rows unsupervised, an exposed pinch point in the adjuster is a real injury exposure - fingers can be caught in the mechanism as the seat is slid or folded. Nissan filed it as a voluntary safety recall in October 2005. It is worth flagging on any used V42 purchase precisely because it is a passive hazard rather than a driveability fault: nothing about how the van drives will tell an owner whether the remedy was performed.

NHTSA campaign 23V067000, filed in 2023 and covering 404,690 vehicles including 2008-2009 Quest vans (alongside 2008-2011 Titan, Frontier, Xterra, Pathfinder and Armada), addresses the resin Nissan emblem on the driver's airbag cover. The emblem, supplied by Autoliv, can develop cracks with age and heat cycling and detach during airbag deployment - launching a hard plastic fragment directly at the driver's face at deployment speed. This is a separate defect from the Takata inflator recalls and is not resolved by any Takata remedy. Owner letters were mailed December 8, 2023, so many owners of these older vans - especially second and third owners whose address is not on file with Nissan - have never been notified.

The Quest's power sliding doors suffer from motor failures, broken cables, and latch mechanism issues. The electric motor that drives the door wears out, leaving the door stuck partially open or unable to power-close. The latch assembly also fails, preventing the door from staying closed. In some cases, the door opens unexpectedly while driving, creating a serious safety hazard.

On the third-generation (V42) Quest, Nissan moved the instrument pod to a center-dash location, and that pod is the single most complained-about component of the generation. Owners report the LCD segments for odometer, fuel level and coolant temperature going blank or showing only dashes, gauges and warning lamps cutting out intermittently, and in many cases the whole pod losing power while driving. A recurring owner observation is that when the cluster drops out the transmission simultaneously reverts to 'O/D OFF' and the van jolts on the next shift, because the same feed/ground path also carries transmission signaling. The failure is a solder-joint and internal circuit-board fault in the cluster itself plus, in some cases, a failing body control module - swapping in a used cluster from a donor van typically reproduces the same symptom because the donor unit has the same aged board.

The Quest rear A/C system fails prematurely, most often because the long rear A/C line set running under the van leaks, and the rear evaporator can also develop leaks. Because the rear circuit shares refrigerant with the front, a rear leak drains the whole system and cooling at the front also suffers. The rear expansion valve can also stick, preventing proper refrigerant flow. Repairing the rear A/C requires significant disassembly.

The third-generation Quest used the RE5F22A five-speed automatic behind the VQ35DE on upper trims of the 2004-2006 vans and on all 2007 vans (lower 2004-2006 trims used a four-speed automatic) - a transmission shared with the contemporary Maxima and Altima 3.5, and the subject of a class-action complaint filed in 2011 alleging premature failure in 2004-2007 Quest vans. This is a conventional planetary automatic and is a DIFFERENT unit from the JATCO CVT fitted to the 2011-2017 V43; do not conflate the two failure stories. Owners report slippage on light throttle, flare between gears, a harsh 1-2 or 2-3 engagement, and the SLIP indicator illuminating - often followed by the van losing drive entirely. The mechanism is clutch-pack wear accelerated by fluid overheating; drained fluid comes out dark and burnt. The center-dash cluster fault can also strand the transmission in O/D OFF, so confirm which of the two is actually occurring before quoting a rebuild.

NHTSA campaign 00V292002 covers second-generation Quest minivans in which one or more of the five bolts mounting the rack and pinion steering gear to the vehicle may have been tightened incorrectly at the factory. The first sign is looseness in the steering, often with a knock, clunk or vibration felt through the wheel. Left in service, a loose bolt can work out entirely, and the recall remedy replaces bolts found missing. This is a V41-era defect on the Ford-co-developed Quest/Villager platform - it does not carry forward to the V42 or V43 vans, whose steering was a clean-sheet design.

Both the V42 (2004-2009) and V43 (2011-2017) Quest use the VQ35DE 3.5L V6, and this engine family has a well-documented timing-drive wear pattern discussed at length in Nissan owner communities. Three distinct parts fail: the plastic primary chain guide cracks and breaks up, the secondary (bank) chain tensioners lose their hydraulic bleed-down control, and the primary tensioner plunger sticks. The signature is a loud rattle or buzz for a few seconds on cold start-up as oil pressure builds, plus a rattle on throttle between roughly 1,500 and 2,500 rpm; worn secondary tensioners instead produce a constant whine from the front of the engine. It is a mileage-and-oil-quality failure, most often surfacing past 120,000-150,000 miles and much earlier on engines run on extended or neglected oil changes. Left alone, a disintegrating guide can let the chain jump timing.

The V42 Quest offered the SkyView roof - four fixed glass panels over the second and third rows - plus a powered front moonroof, so one roof carries five glass openings. The drain tubes route down the pillars under the headliner and are prone to kinking and to plugging with debris; when they back up, the water tray around the glass overflows into the headliner rather than out the rocker. Owners report soaked headliners, wet carpet in the second and third rows, and - because the drip path runs down onto the overhead and center electronics - killed radio, amplifier and HVAC control units. The seals around the fixed SkyView glass can also perish independently and let water in between the glass and the roof panel. Nissan addressed water leaks from the SkyView roof in a service bulletin issued in September 2005.