Infiniti owners have filed 4,590 complaints with NHTSA across 34 models. On average the car was 6.57 years old when the problem happened, and 25.6% of reports fall inside the first three years — while the factory warranty was still running.
What breaks on Infiniti
The systems Infiniti owners report most, and how often each failure ended in a crash.
| System | Complaints | Share of Infiniti | Ended in a crash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Bags | 11.4% | 11.8% | |
| Engine | 7.6% | 0% | |
| Power Train | 6.9% | 2.5% | |
| Electrical System | 6.1% | 0.7% | |
| Unknown Or Other | 4.9% | 5.8% | |
| Engine And Engine Cooling | 4.3% | 1% | |
| Service Brakes | 3.5% | 5.6% | |
| Steering | 3.2% | 8.2% |
When Infiniti problems show up
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Average age at failure | 6.57 years | How old the car was when the problem happened |
| Reported inside 3 years | 25.6% | Share of complaints filed while the factory warranty was likely still running |
| Complaints describing a crash | 277 | Of 4,590 total |
| Complaints describing a fire | 70 | Of 4,590 total |
A low average age does not automatically mean a fragile car: a brand with a young fleet on the road will always skew early. Read it next to the share reported inside three years.
Which Infiniti models draw the most complaints
Volume follows sales, so a bestseller will always top this list. The columns worth reading are age at failure and how many reports ended in a crash.
| Model | Complaints | Share of Infiniti | Avg age at failure | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G35 | 15.6% | 7.7 yrs | 33 | |
| QX60 | 11.9% | 4.6 yrs | 19 | |
| G37 | 10.7% | 7.4 yrs | 32 | |
| QX56 | 10.4% | 7.3 yrs | 14 | |
| Q50 | 9.9% | 4.9 yrs | 35 | |
| QX50 | 5.4% | 4.2 yrs | 10 | |
| QX4 | 4.9% | 10.5 yrs | 28 | |
| I30 | 4.2% | 7.7 yrs | 23 | |
| I35 | 3.9% | 10.1 yrs | 12 | |
| Q45 | 3.5% | 6.3 yrs | 18 | |
| M45 | 3.4% | 8.2 yrs | — | |
| QX80 | 2.6% | 3.8 yrs | 4 | |
| Q60 | 1.7% | 4.2 yrs | 4 | |
| G20 | 1.5% | 4.9 yrs | 10 | |
| M37 | 1.5% | 5.6 yrs | 5 |
Infiniti complaints by model year
A bad generation shows up here as a block of years, not as a single spike. Recent years look quiet simply because those cars are young and still under warranty.
| Model year | Complaints | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | — | — | |
| 2025 | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 3 | — | |
| 2020 | 3 | — | |
| 2019 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 14 | — | |
| 2016 | 8 | 4 | |
| 2015 | 20 | 4 | |
| 2014 | 14 | 4 | |
| 2013 | 12 | — | |
| 2012 | 9 | 3 | |
| 2011 | 13 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 7 | — | |
| 2009 | 5 | — | |
| 2008 | 16 | 6 | |
| 2007 | — | — | |
| 2006 | — | — | |
| 2005 | 3 | — | |
| 2004 | 19 | 6 | |
| 2003 | 18 | 5 | |
| 2002 | 17 | 2 |
What Infiniti owners report
Grouped by the system owners named. Open any row for the full reports, in their own words — one per model so the same fault does not repeat.
Air Bags 525 Read
The contact owned a 2017 Infiniti QX30. The contact stated that, while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed on a highway, another vehicle suddenly merged into her lane. The driver was unable to react and collided with the rear of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle swerved out of the lane towards the right shoulder, coming to a complete stop on the side of the roadway. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a storage facility and deemed a total loss by the contact's insurance provider. A police report was filed, and injuries were reported. The contact's wife was transported to an area hospital by EMT and treated for a fractured sternum and a large contusion on her forehead as a result of her hitting the windshield. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000
A lady driving a Honda Fit pulled out in front of my wife while she was driving her Infinity QX80. My wife was driving about 40-45 MPH at the time of the crash. The driver at fault in the Honda Fit I noticed all air bags deployed. My wife's QX80 had none of the air bags deployed. The officers at the scene were shocked to see the amount of damage to my wife's QX80 while not triggering the air bags to be deployed. One in particular told us to make sure we reported this to the insurance company
On December 24, 2024 I was in a car accident where my car did make impact twice after spinning out of control due to black ice. The first impact occurred hitting a car then the final impact occurred when the car was flung into the metal barricade after spinning. The air bags did NOT deploy during this accident and I was very concerned for my safety and my life
Engine 348 Read
The contact owns a 2019 Infiniti QX50. While the contact's son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine seized with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated there was smoke and fire coming from the engine compartment. In addition, the smell of burning oil and smoke was inside the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact was informed that the independent mechanic was not an engine expert and recommended that the vehicle be towed to an engine expert. The vehicle was towed to an alternate independent mechanic, where the vehicle was diagnosed with total engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The engine was replaced with a used engine. The contact later received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V437000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The contact submitted a claim for reimbursement for the repair. The contact was required to submit several documents, including a printout of the repair. The contact was informed that the report needed to include the engine failure code and engine report for the request for reimbursement. The independent mechanic was contacted by the manufacturer and the manufacturer received verbal confirmation of the repair; however, the manufacturer insisted on pri
The contact owns a 2012 Infiniti G37. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the vehicle burst into flames in the front area of the vehicle. As a result, the front of the vehicle was severely burned and two parked vehicles nearby were damaged due to the fire. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire on all the vehicles. The contact did not suffer any injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown
Complete sudden engine failure , motor lost acceleration. It started with engine knocking then full and complete engine failure. Oil light illuminated when engine failed. I did check the engine and oil was full on a cold engine and the vehicle is properly maintained as it is a leased infiniti vehicle. Please note there have been two previous engine light incidents. First I was told it was a speaker in the rear door, second I was informed it was an evaporation seal. Lastly was this very intense engine shut down. I have research and found that there are issues with the turbo bearing with my particular engine and turbo. Engine 2.OL 4 cylinder ( KR20DDET)
Power Train 317 Read
The contact owned a 2021 Infiniti QX50. The contact stated that while driving at 25 MPH, he collided with another vehicle on the rear driver's side of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle was thrust off the roadway, coming to a complete stop after colliding with a pole, and the front passenger side wheel disconnected from the axle. The air bags were deployed. A police report was filed, and injuries were reported. The contact was later treated for various nondescript injuries. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and declared a total loss by his insurance. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown
This is an AWD car purchased used 2 weeks prior to this incident. The car has only 11, 000 miles on it when this occurred. I was driving in bumper to bumper traffic in heavy snow conditions on an overpass bridge that merges onto a busy freeway. The vehicle's front wheels pulled the car to left 2-3 times at a speed of less than 5mph out of my lane but I was able to correct. While still on the overpass bridge I took my foot off brake to inch forward (still in bumper to bumper traffic) and still less than 5 miles per hr, hardly moving, the car again pulled hard to the left and pulled me into a guardrail. If there was no guardrail I would have plummeted to the freeway below. All this happened without ever pressing on the accelerator pedal as I was in very heavy traffic, so I was barely moving. I had my 17 year old daughter with me. We both said that the car acted all on its own and we both noticed that no other cars were slipping or spinning out at all. The snow had just began to fall so there wasn't too much on the road maybe 1-2 inches (estimated). There was damage to the drivers side bumper and quarter panel (which we have yet to get estimated). We took the car into the infiniti dealership, I had them run a diagnostics on the computer. They said there was a faulty "chassis control module" that determines the power applied to the wheels and which ones. The service advisors mechanic mentioned that this "most definitely could have caused the problem we experienced". He recomm
I purchased a new 2011 infiniti g37x from salerno duane rt 10 denville nj. About 1 month into ownership of the car I had the car parked in my driveway running while I walked to the end of the driveway to pick up garbage cans. I heard a crash , I found the car crashed into my garage doing damage to the car , my garage wall and my son's bike. The car was still in park when I found it . I feel there is a something wrong with the car my driveway is flat and I want to know why this happened. I want the car repaired or replaced
Electrical System 278 Read
A fire spontaneously ignited while the vehicle was turned off and parked in the owner's garage. The fire apparently started in the vehicle's infotainment system. The fire melted all electrical components of the infotainment system and spread throughout the vehicle to the driver and front passenger seats and the front console and dash of the car. Large amounts of soot and debris were deposited throughout the interior of the vehicle. Fortunately, no one was present in the vehicle during the explosion and fire. However, our family was inside the house attached to the garage where the vehicle explosion/fire took place. I immediately contacted the Fire Department when I discovered the fire, and they quickly disconnected the battery and moved the vehicle from the garage. The vehicle was towed to the INFINITI dealership on Burnet Road in Austin, TX where the vehicle is currently located. My insurance carrier, Progressive, inspected the vehicle and determined it to be a total loss. I contacted the INFINITI corporate investigations team in order to provide them an opportunity to inspect the vehicle and determine the cause of the incident. This representative shirked INFINITI's responsibility for the fire and stated it would take 7 to 9 weeks before an INFINITI representative would inspect the vehicle. I deeply want to learn the root cause of this incident to prevent it from happening again. I am angered and saddened by INFINITI's lack of responsibility or care for this grave danger
Last Friday, 7/25/21, while driving home from work, my car instrument panel, speed odometer, everything went totally black, I lost steering and pulled into a 7-11 parking lot. The passenger side of the car was smoking. I was locked in as door unlock wouldn’t work, nothing would work. I was unable to turn the car off and literally felt like I could pass out from smoke inhalation quickly called 911. People in the parking lot were trying to unlock my door to get me out of the vehicle. The fire department arrived and after a few minutes were able to get me out, but the car would not turn off. They forced the hood open and had to cut the cables to the battery to turn it off. It was terrifying!!! I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had been on the Turnpike or major Highway, I’m sure I would have crashed the vehicle. I had the car towed to Shamrock Automotive who advised that the PCF module Wiring harness had literally caught on fire. Currently it would cost over $8K to fix the car and it’s not worth more than $9k
Regarding tracking number 11400119.- infinity called me today(from phone number 6157257000. She said they are not interested in my case because the car has no recall on it. I'm confused because I thought you and infinity would want to know what caused the fire and if others with this model of.car were in danger of being set on fire
Unknown Or Other 223 Read
The contact owned a 2015 Infinity QX60. The contact stated that while his wife was stopped at a traffic light, black smoke was emitting from under both front seats, and entered the interior of the cab. The contact's wife returned to the work parking lot, however, the black smoke and flames were excessive and immediately exited the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. All the air bags deployed. The contact's wife was transported to the hospital by co-workers. The doctor examined that the contact's wife had sustained 2nd degree burns on both arms and hands that required medical attention. The Fire and Police reports were filed. The vehicle was consumed by the fire and destroyed. The vehicle was towed to an unknown location. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact notified her insurance company. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000
While driving the vehicle on the highway smoke started coming out of the undercarriage and the vehicle started catching on fire. Had to pull over to get out and wait for the fire department to put it out
While driving straight on interstate I-95 during rush hour at approximately 30 miles/hour, I pressed on the brakes and the pedal dropped down and started making a weird noise (like grinding sound) and the car wouldn't stop. The ABS light turned on, check engine light turned on, the pedal lost pressure and the brakes locked up. I ended up in a crash, rear-ending the vehicle in front of me. The car has now been repaired from damages from crash but mechanic found no problem with brake system. ABS sensors, calipers, disks and pads where changed as precaution but problem reappears from time to time and seems to reset when vehicle is turned off and on again (brake petal raised back up, grinding sound disappears and the check engine light and ABS light shut off). I visited two infinity dealers and both of them mentioned that it was a recurring problem with this model car and the problem was an issue with the master cylinder's design
Engine And Engine Cooling 199 Read
The contact owned a 2020 Infiniti Q60. The contact stated that while driving at 65 MPH during a rainstorm and attempting to change lanes, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated, prompting the contact to attempt to slow the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle hydroplaned to the left, colliding with the vehicle in that lane on the driver's side door panel. The contact stated that the impact caused the vehicle to be thrust into the right shoulder barrier wall before coming to rest near an access road. The vehicle's air bags were deployed. No warning lights were illuminated on the instrument panel. A police report was filed, and injuries were reported. The contact was transported to a local trauma unit and treated for various facial injuries before being taken into surgery, where a pacemaker was inserted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic but instead towed to a tow yard. The vehicle was not repaired; instead, it was deemed totaled by his insurance company. After investigating the failure, the contact related it to NHTSA Campaign Number 21V234000 (Engine and Engine Cooling), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000
The contact owns a 2014 infiniti qx60. While parked in the driveway, the vehicle caught on fire. The contact was able to extinguish the fire. The vehicle was taken to newton nissan (1461 nashville pike, gallatin, tn 37066) where it was diagnosed that the fan harness failed. The contact mentioned that the fan harness had been replaced four months prior to the fire. The manufacturer was not notified. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was 93,200
The contact owns a 2004 infiniti g35. The contact stated while driving 65 mph, smoke began to rise from the engine and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop, but the failure was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. The failure and current mileage was 125,000
Service Brakes 160 Read
Place the car in reverse to back out of a parking space. When I got to my stopping point I applied my brakes to stop to shift gears to go forward. Upon pressing the brakes the vehicle would not stop and continue to roll backwards I pressed harder to stop the vehicle it did not stop it rolled over a curb and backed into another car before it stopped. Once I turned off the car and re-started the car again the brakes worked properly. Damage occurred to both vehicles
I was driving down back street and applied brakes due to a stop sign ahead of me and my vehicle did not stop. I was in total shock at the time of the accident and could not believe I rear ended another vehicle. The date of the accident was 2/9/2018. After speaking with two of my other friends weeks later. My friend that owner a nissan murano rear ended another car when she applied the brakes. My other friend who owns an infinity had her vehicle in the shop for braking problems. To me this seems a little ironic if you ask me
12/12/2017 - driving on a county side street east bound, had just left a 20 mph school zone and accelerated slightly. Applied brakes very hard at app 40 mph when car 100 ft. Ahead stopped suddenly. The vehicle did not slow down much at all and a crash resulted, causing damage to both vehicles. Air bags deployed. The pavement was dry but there were no tire marks on the road. Vehicle has not been driven since and is in repair shop
Steering 147 Read
The contact owns a 2022 Infiniti QX50. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH at night with her daughters in the front passenger and rear passenger seats, the steering wheel locked, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and crash into a ditch where the vehicle spun three times. The contact was able to drive back to the highway; however, the vehicle spun three times. The contact was able to stop the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact's wife sustained soreness to the left shoulder, the wrist, fingers, and all over her body. The contact's daughters sustained seat belt marks, soreness on the right sides of the head, and bruises on their right knees and right shoulders. The contact's wife and daughters did not seek medical assistance. There was no police report filed. The contact's wife was able to drive the vehicle to her residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000
I was driving and tried to turn but had lost complete control of the steering and hit the curb infront. Luckily i was only going 5-10 MPH so the impact was not terrible. My biggest concern is a lot of times my mother drives that car who is permanently disabled in one hand so I can only fear what might happen if she was the one driving the car
When the steering wheel is adjusted up, down or the telescopic adjustment is used a loud pop is heard, the casing comes apart and it is no longer possible to turn the wheel left or right
Unverified owner reports filed with NHTSA. Percentages are shares of all 4,590 Infiniti complaints.
Infiniti against the rest
| Measure | Where Infiniti sits | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| By complaint volume | #28 | 29 brands with 3,000+ complaints |
| By age at failure (later is better) | #3 | 29 brands |
| Complaints ending in a crash | 6% | across all 4,590 reports |
Ranking by volume says more about how many cars a brand sells than about how they hold up. Age at failure is the fairer of the two.
Compare Infiniti with the rest
Infiniti problems by model
29 Infiniti models have owner complaints on file. Pick one for its worst years, failing systems and what owners actually wrote. Another 5 Infiniti models have no complaints on record at all.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
How reliable is Infiniti?
Owners have filed 4,590 complaints across 34 Infiniti models. On its own that number reflects how many Infiniti cars are on the road — compare the average age at failure (6.57 years) instead.
What breaks most often on a Infiniti?
The most reported system is Air Bags with 525 complaints.
Do Infiniti problems show up under warranty?
25.6% of Infiniti complaints describe something that happened in the first three years, while the factory warranty was likely still running.
Which Infiniti model has the most complaints?
See the model list above — each card shows its complaint count, and the model page breaks it down by year and by system.