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Nissan · NHTSA safety record

2023 Nissan Kicks

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 18 safety complaints about the 2023 Nissan Kicks with the US government. Of those, 1 describes a crash and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the air bags.

The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 5 complaints, 28% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers July 2025 to September 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

18 complaints on file

18

Complaints

1

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 5 · 28%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 4 · 22%
POWER TRAIN 4 · 22%
ENGINE 3 · 17%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 · 17%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 · 11%
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 2 · 11%
LANE DEPARTURE 2 · 11%
SERVICE BRAKES 2 · 11%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 · 6%
STEERING 1 · 6%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 · 6%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 18.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 13.

16 12 8 4
25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2023 Nissan KICKS, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test Early Release SUV FWD Later Release SUV FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 15.5% 15.5%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A rating belongs to a tested body style and drivetrain, not to the model as a whole, which is why more than one is listed. A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

24V154000 · February 27, 2024

The defect
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2024 Titan, Frontier, Infiniti QX60, Pathfinder, 2023-2024 Sentra, Versa, Kicks, Infiniti QX50, and 2023 Rogue vehicles. Due to a manufacturing issue, the driver's air bag inflator may absorb moisture, and cause the air bag to deploy improperly.
The risk
An air bag that deploys improperly may not protect the driver as intended during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the front driver's air bag assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 10, 2024. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's numbers for this recall are PD103, PD104, and PMA34.

Nissan North America, Inc. · up to 351 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

crash · towed

Vehicle: 2023 Nissan Kicks SR Incident Detail: On April 1, my son was involved in an auto accident. According to my son, he was traveling at approximately 20–30 mph. Upon approaching slowed traffic, my son applied the service brakes; however, the vehicle failed to decelerate or stop. To mitigate the impact, my son veered to the right. Despite this evasive maneuver, the front-left side of the Nissan Kicks struck the rear-right bumper of the lead vehicle. My son was only able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop by engaging the emergency brake. Notably, despite the impact, the airbags did not deploy. This incident could have resulted in serious bodily injury or death for all involved and

NHTSA complaint 11729021, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
The first incident was one week after purchasing the vehicle. All of my maintenance lights flashed on after driving my vehicle for several miles. I pulled over and immediately turned my car off and called my mechanic. He immediately came over and my lights flashed on again. He said for me to take it to the dealership. I did and when I turned off my car to go into the dealership and returned, the lights were off after starting my engine up. It took 3 starts for them to not appear. They refused to service my car since no codes were thrown up. The second incident is much more important. I got off the interstate and was pressing my brake. When I put my foot off the brake and about to push the

NHTSA complaint 11763439, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
February 2024: The vehicle was in drive and was stopped at a red light. When the traffic light changed the driver pressed the accelerator. The engine/powertrain did not respond, and the vehicle did not move. The driver turned the car off, then back on. The driver was able to drive the vehicle to a safe location and inspected operator level systems. No problems could be found. Benton Nissan in Birmingham, AL evaluated the vehicle and could not find a malfunction record or reproduce the malfunction. Nissan USA was notified and stated the issue was a known problem in engineering review at the time. We stopped receiving any response from their representative in March 2024.

NHTSA complaint 11763129. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
September 9, 2026: The vehicle had the same malfunction as in February 2024. The vehicle was in drive and was stopped in a parking lot. When the driver pressed the accelerator there was no response from the engine/powertrain and the vehicle did not move. The ignition was cycled and the vehicle could be moved.

NHTSA complaint 11763136. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

37,100 miles

The contact owns a 2023 Nissan Kicks. The contact stated that there was a green fluid leaking underneath the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that there were two hoses leaking from the transmission and the radiator. After further inspection, it was determined the radiator had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the failure was being investigated. The failure mileage was approximately 37,100.

NHTSA complaint 11759629. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

78,632 miles

The contact owns a 2023 Nissan Kicks. The contact stated that while stopped at light, the vehicle did not accelerate and lost power. The vehicle was towed to a friend's residence. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the CVT transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 78,632

NHTSA complaint 11743307. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
The driver side (left) camera seems to be partially out (gets a faint signal in sunlight, fully out at night) and it is unclear how well the saftey features work as a result.

NHTSA complaint 11743070. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Nissan Kicks

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 7 3 —
2025 38 4 —
2024 37 1 —
2021 76 2 —
2020 97 0 —
2019 134 1 —
2018 85 1 —

Other 2023 Nissan models

Every Nissan on this site — 205 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst