Toyota Tundra vs Nissan Frontier: which is more reliable?
The Nissan Frontier is clearly ahead of the Toyota Tundra on the federal record: 85/100 against 69/100 across every model year we score.
The record, side by side
Toyota Tundra
- 11 model years scored
- 1,320 owner complaints on record
- about 22 complaints per year on the road
- 79 recall campaigns, 33 safety-critical
- best year 2015 (86/100) · worst 2023 (32/100)
Nissan Frontier
- 15 model years scored
- 509 owner complaints on record
- about 4 complaints per year on the road
- 29 recall campaigns, 10 safety-critical
- best year 2015 (93/100) · worst 2022 (41/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Tundra against Frontier
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Toyota Tundra
- Engine — 281 complaints
- Electrical System — 206 complaints
- Fuel/Propulsion System — 171 complaints
Nissan Frontier
- Air Bags — 97 complaints
- Power Train — 86 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 75 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Tundra's complaints concentrate in Engine, the Frontier's in Air Bags. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Toyota Tundra — avoid: 2023.
Nissan Frontier — avoid: 2022.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Toyota Tundra prices at about $46,200 and a Nissan Frontier at about $51,700 — the Toyota Tundra is roughly $5,500 less, and they return 20.0 against 21.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Toyota Tundra or the Nissan Frontier more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Nissan Frontier scores 85/100 against the Toyota Tundra's 69/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Nissan Frontier carries about 4 complaints per year on the road against 22 for the Toyota Tundra.
Which Toyota Tundra and Nissan Frontier years should I avoid?
Toyota Tundra: 2023. Nissan Frontier: 2022. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Toyota Tundra and the Nissan Frontier?
The largest complaint group on the Toyota Tundra is Engine (281 complaints); on the Nissan Frontier it is Air Bags (97).
Is the Toyota Tundra or the Nissan Frontier cheaper to own?
A recent used Toyota Tundra prices at about $46,200 and a Nissan Frontier at about $51,700, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.