Owners have filed 162 complaints on the Infiniti Q45, covering 1990–2005. The system named most often is Power Train (18 reports). Worst years by volume: 1991, 1992, 1994; cleanest: 1993, 1996, 2001. 18 reports describe a crash, 12 a fire. On average the car was 6.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Infiniti Q45
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 162 Q45 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 18 Read
The circuit board for crank position sensor and cam position sensor have improper solder joints. This has caused the service engine light to come on, the engine may not start, power reduces, engine stalls at a traffic light or while in motion, on a city street or highway or while making a turn. This is also a common…
Transmission would shift hard while shifting from first to second gear, and vehicle would vibrate uncontrollably. Driver took the vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic could not duplicate the problem. Also, vehicle was operating as designed
Manufacturer issued a recall regarding the filtration and cooling performance for the automatic transmission, recall states that an external filter and cooler would be installed and the transmission would be inspected, vehicle is experiencing problems and consumer is being refused recall
Electrical System 16 Read
The car was parked after driving the car for approx 1.5 miles and after about 15 20 minutes restauarant attendant inquired who owns that car? And informed that there is smoke coming out of the car. 911 was called for fire dept help. Fire fighters extinquished the fire
While driving vehicle, heard popping sounds from rear, smelled smoke and engine shut down. Vehicle filled with smoke by time stopped vehicle. Electrical fire burned area between trunk and back seat, around gas tank on passenger side
While driving vehicle, smelled smoke and pulled vehicle over, at that time driver discovered that there was a fire in the engine. Fire department stated that the fire was electrical. The vehicle was totalled
Air Bags 14 Read
The contact owns a 2005 infiniti q45. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, another vehicle crashed into her passenger side. The air bags did not deploy and the front driver's seat twisted toward the driver's door during the crash. The contact suffered injuries and was taken to the hospital. The vehicle was…
No deployment of airbag during collision, front of vehicle was damaged enough to give airbag warning for deployment, however there were multiple injuries
While driving at 35 mph the vehicle collided into another vehicle. The dual airbags did not deploy. The driver sustained spinal injuries and the passenger sustained chest and back injuries. The vehicle was considered total loss. Please provide additional information
Engine And Engine Cooling 12 Read
- the contact stated that she had purchased 1992 infinity q45 on 02/2006 ,and on 12/21/06 the contact's vehicle was involved in a crash. The contact stated that the vehicle steering was difficult to handle. The contact stated that she has had problems with the transmission leaking. The dealership that sold her the…
The contact owns a 2003 infiniti q45. While driving various speeds, the engine stalled without warning and all power was lost. After several attempts, the vehicle was able to restart. The failure recurred randomly. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not…
The consumer was informed by the infinity csr that based on their records, the crank position sensor weld recall 03V455000 wasn't performed. Prior to contacting the manufacturer, the consumer had taken the vehicle to the dealership to have the recall brepairsperformed and was told when they picked the vehicle that the…
Suspension 12 Read
When driving vehicle on uneven pavement vehicle will loose its stability, shoulder bump, vehicle loss vehicle stability impact 11:00 position speed 65 mph. Tt
When auto reaches speed of 60 mph thru 79 mph there is a vibration throughout car
Car vibrates during 50 - 80 mph
Service Brakes 11 Read
The brakes in this vehicle malfunctioned and by such caused a very serious accident. The dealer, nissan of the eastside in bellevue wa was supposed to fix said brakes as I noted that they were not operating correctly in my test drive of the vehicle and I wrote the contract subject to the brakes being fixed. When they…
Brake pedal went to the floor due to faulty anti lock braking system. Tt
2004 infiniti q45 lemon this automobile has an in-service date of 12-17-04, purchased by me on 02-08-08 at 26,670 miles with 10 months remaining on the time warranty that's expired. It was returned to major infiniti on 09-29-10 with 42,171 miles ^0,000 warranty) and an inoperative driver's seat (no rear/forward…
Vehicle Speed Control 11 Read
When the consumer placed the vehicle in the reverse gear the vehicle accelerated suddenly and caused an accident. *ak *cb
When driving coming to a stop car accelerate caused an accident . Tt
While backing out slowly car suddenly accelerated, causing damages and injury.*ak
Steering 11 Read
Left front strut spring broke while in traffic, sending broken spring end into tire ripping the entire sidewall of the tire out. Blowout caused loss of steering while in the process sent vehicle into oncoming traffic
Consumer was driving when she hit a water oil spot in the road, vehicle began to spin, front of vehicle hit a wall and continued to spin, the shifting was off line. As consumer tried to turn wheel she could not, vehicle still continued to spin. The vehicle hit the wall on the passenger's side, and air bags did not…
I was driving and dashboard lights came on, then vehicle cut off on the highway. I assumed it was a bad alternator, but it was a defective crank sensor
Q45 years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Air Bags,seats | 1 | — | |
| 2004 | Electrical System,exterior Lighting | — | — | |
| 2003 | Electrical System,electronic Stability Control (esc) | 1 | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2001 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 2000 | Power Train | — | — | |
| 1999 | Steering,suspension | 1 | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 3 | 1 | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 1995 | Seats | 2 | — | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 | |
| 1993 | Fuel System, Gasoline,power Train | — | — | |
| 1992 | Air Bags | 3 | 6 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 3 | 3 | |
| 1990 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 96 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 4 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.3 years |
A model average of 1.7 hides a worst series at 4. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
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
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- 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
What are the worst years for the Q45?
By complaint volume, 1991, 1992, 1994 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Q45 years are the cleanest?
1993, 1996, 2001 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Infiniti Q45 have?
162 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1990–2005. Of those, 18 describe a crash and 12 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.