Owners have filed 502 complaints on the Nissan 350Z, covering 2003–2008. The system named most often is Suspension (113 reports). Worst years by volume: 2003, 2004, 2005; cleanest: 2008, 2006, 2007. 23 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 4.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Nissan 350Z
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 502 350Z complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Suspension 113 Read
Car was making a rattling noise from underneath since I bought it new also there was a creaking noise from the left rear tire from day 1 now the car skips at 1000 rpms of course nissan does not help
Sometimes driving, I hear light crackling noise comes and goes. For 9 months checkup, I mentioned it to dealer. He said they test drove it and everything was fine. On sat evening, 8-25, the front rt side of rim cracked & came out bouncing off freeway! Scary & dangerous! We just let the car slide and scrape on three…
Driver experienced excessive road noise at any speed while traveling on the highway. Driver took vehicleto the dealer, and mechanic determined that the tires and wheel specification needed changing. Driver informed the mechanic that the problem still existed, and had not been be resolved
Power Train 80 Read
While in rush hour traffic my clutch pedal stuck to the floor causing the car to fill with smoke and rendering the car temporally inoperable after a few minutes I pumped the pedal and was able to continue home. The next morning the dealer informed me that I had worn out a clutch in 4000 miles and they would not…
The contact owns a 2006 nissan 350z. The contact stated that the clutch pedal stuck to the floor. He mentioned that when the pedal was engaged the vehicle did not have any power and when it was half way up as a result a burning smell came through the vents. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the…
The date is when I received my car from the body shop after 3-car wreck. Drove it to work and the car had no power to climb a hill. Called insurance company, took it back they did no repairs to the engine, so it went to the dealership. Shortly afterwards the car wasn't downshifting properly, then it started making a…
Air Bags 70 Read
The contact owns a 2007 nissan 350z. The contact stated while traveling approximately 70 mph, a deer unexpectedly came into the vehicle path and the contact crashed into the deer. As a result, the front end of the vehicle was damaged and the air bags failed to deploy. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was…
My son was driving home he had a accident, he hit a tree and was killed. He was only 20yrs old. Patrick's air bags never opened which maybe he would be alive today if they did
My airbags did not deploy
Engine And Engine Cooling 58 Read
2007 350z coupe v6 6sp mn trans, at the point of 20,000 + clutch slave cylinder fail and was replace 15<00 miles or so due to this previous problem a new cluth and transmisions job was done luckly under warranty but a sorprise for a new car now at 49,000 miles engine jump timming and engine need to be replace luckly I…
Purchased a new nissan 350z 2006 model year with the rev-up enginein june 2006. At 2300 miles, august 2006-check engine light came on and dealer had to replace over 2quarts of oil. Asked to return at 500 mile intervals for checks, fist 500miles oil indicates less than half on the high to low mark on the dipstick. 1000…
I purchased a 2006 nissan 350z manual 6 speed. After several thousand miles, the car started to burn an excessive amount of oil. I was told that this was normal. I stated that this was a new car and new cars do not burn oil. Nissan consumer relations was contacted and after almost a year and with many threats to hire…
Tires 39 Read
I recently purchased a nissan 2007, 350z from a local dealership. Upon noticing the TPMS light on, a long series of events LED us to discover that the wheels and tires on the car are not original equipment. The dealership took delivery of the car, sold it to original owner, serviced it and resold it to us. They will…
Tire size 265/35ZR19 driving down highway at 55 mph when tire blew out. I was able to lucklily get the shoulder and it looked like my tire was cut open with a can opener on the sidewall. The tpms sensor was working fine and they were never plugged and had plenty of tread. I sent pictures of the damage to continental…
Front bridgestone tire wear: consumer stated the tires wore out at 7000 miles. He had them replaced. Then again at 10,000. Currently, at 21,000 miles they have worn out again. Dealer was aware of the problem. A class action law suit was brought against nissan
Wheels 27 Read
This complaint is being filed as part of an official california highway patrol investigation into a major injury traffic collision involving a law enforcement officer. The chp mait investigation # is sl-45-06. The traffic collision occurred on october 11, 2006, within los angeles county and involved a 2006 nissan…
I purchased a new 350z car from antioch (california) nissan dealership in 2004 with chromed alloy wheels. In addition, I purchased an extended warranty. On the below date a vacaville nissan mechanic was test driving my vehicle when the right front wheel cracked around the lug nuts and fell off in their parking lot…
Driver side wheel chassis broke while backing out of the drive at 3 mph. There was no steering, and the vehicle proceeded to strike a fence. Vehicle is still not drivable, and the manufacturer offers no assistance
Engine 26 Read
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan 350Z. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the accelerator and brake pedals became unresponsive while depressed. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle and the vehicle regained functionality. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was…
The contact owns a 2006 Nissan 350Z. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 MPH the vehicle became hot, started smoking and it stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle was steered to the side of the road where the hood was lifted. The contact stated that she then observed condensation under the…
My 2005 350z has been having oil consumption issues. This all started after several thousand miles after I had the original engine replaced for the same issue. While driving, after only 3000 miles after a oil change the engine began to knock very loudly. The noise so bad I had to pull over and stop the car and have it…
Fuel System 20 Read
The vehicle idled rough wheather the vehicle was hot or cold. The consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle and drove it to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic determined that fuel injectors needed to be replaced. *ak
During normal operation of a 2004 nissan 350z the fuel tank was puncher and approximately 15 gallons of gasoline spilled onto the road. I was traveling at aprox. 30 mph on surface streets when I heard a pop & continued driving for about 2 miles. When I got out of the car I discover gas was heavily pouring out. The…
I have same problem as reported in my carstats.com custom report #10073235, I.e., on occasion unable to pump gas into gas tank. Tried different pumps and different gas stations. Serious problem when traveling and can not get gas in tank. In addition, fuel tank when filled does not show full. On 2/18/05 dealer said…
350Z 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 4 | 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 | 170 |
| Average complaints per series | 3 |
| Worst single series | 18 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.2 years |
A model average of 3 hides a worst series at 18. 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
- 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
What are the worst years for the 350Z?
By complaint volume, 2003, 2004, 2005 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 350Z years are the cleanest?
2008, 2006, 2007 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Nissan 350Z have?
502 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2003–2008. Of those, 23 describe a crash and 4 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.