CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013-2017 Nissan Sentra has an expensive CVT transmission failure defect that shows up plainly in our complaint data.

In late 2019, the CVT defect was subject to a class action settlement. However the settlement only covers transmission repairs up to 7 years after purchase or 84,000 miles (whichever occurs first).

Because many owners commonly drive 20,000 miles/year or more, Sentra owners experiencing CVT transmission problems may find they are not covered by this settlement due to the mileage limitation.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
49,061 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2013 Nissan Sentra engine problems

engine problem

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2013 Nissan Sentra Owner Comments (Page 1 of 3)

problem #49

Oct 162023

Sentra

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Code P0101 came on, service Bulletin from NHTSA.gov was done. Car came back worst. Engine stalled in the middle of the street. It wouldn-??t turn on, we had to push it to get it out of the street. Car will accelerate on its own when turn on. Sometimes car will accelerate when put on Reverse on its own-??.. RPMs will be at 7 and 8 when going 45MPH. I notice this has been an issue for Nissan Sentras 2013-2015 based on research all over the internet. People have replaced Thottle body, air mass flow sensor, break sensors, fuel intake, fuses. Vehicle isn-??t safe to be driving in street, may caused an accident, even mechanic said I shouldn-??t be driving the car because it isn-??t safe. We already made a complaint with NHTSA, DMV for financial Help and nothing. Help is really needed.

- Escondido, CA, USA

problem #48

Jan 012022

Sentra

  • miles
The shift started locking, followed by consistent tugging while driving above 20 mph. It stutters and pulls when driving down hill which has caused me to pull over and restart the car in heavy traffic on the freeway. Now the car pulls so much it is not safe to drive above 20 mph. I have taken it to two service centers and both have confirmed the CVT transmission is faulty. No lamps or messages prior to the failure showed up. This started before the car hit 80,000 miles.

- Pasco, WA, USA

problem #47

Feb 072023

Sentra

  • miles
I called my home Nissan yesterday to get the information about my recalls on my car that I was not aware of after the State Troopers helped me get my cat to a safe location. I was told that there are recalls on the car (and was never notified) I called where it was originally bought from a Nissan Dealership and they gave me several recall codes as I was stranded in the freezing cold with my babies in the car. There are several recalls on my car (P1-1, P1-2, and P1-5,2, P1-8.) The car went from 1RPM and shot up to 8, and down to 0 and the car would not drive after that unless it was less than 15MPH. Anything over 15-20 the car would go from 1RPM back to 8, and shoot down to 0 and jerk the car forward and backwards. I was told it was only an 02 reprogramming recall from the location it was towed to, to a different Nissan dealership. However, I was given several codes of recall from the Nissan Dealership that I purchased it from.

- Salisbury , MD, USA

problem #46

Jun 012022

Sentra

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When I would hit my breaks and sit at a red light. My car would start vibrating really bad and then force it-€™s self up even though my foot would be on the break and almost his someone walking and a few other times in a car. It also would shut its self off and back on. When I put it in park it would die and when I put it back in drive it would die. Sometimes turn its self back on & I have a push to start.

- Trion, GA, USA

problem #45

May 042022

Sentra

  • miles
I have repaired the mass airflow sensor 3x-€™s by the dealership who sold me the car the last 2 times they didn-€™t make me pay for it.and I-€™m still having the same issue. My car will jerk and idle and I was driving and all of a sudden I loss speed and I was accelerating but the car was only moving about 5 miles per hr the cars behind me almost hit me in the rear end. The longer I drive the car the worst it gets. Then if u pull to the side and cut the car off and back on again it would run hard but it would get speed. Until I try to accelerate then it will stall again. This is a safety hazard especially on the interstate.

- Clarksville , TN, USA

problem #44

Aug 132022

Sentra

  • miles
my CVT transmission is not working anymore because of the manufacture defect

- Cleveland, OH, USA

problem #43

May 272022

Sentra

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The wiring that connects to the throttle sensor is fraying and causes the car to stall unexpectedly when driving. If the car stalls unexpectedly it increases the chances of a fatal accident. There are no warnings, all the warnings appear when the car stalls. My safety is at risk because it stalls when driving unexpectedly and another car can hit me from behind causing an accident without warning.

- Damascus, MD, USA

problem #42

Aug 032021

Sentra

  • miles
This vehicle will not go forward or move backward. We were on the freeway... luckily we were able to get car to drive forward before oncoming traffic hit us We were scared for our lives. We have reached out to Nissan of North America SEVERAL times about this and correcting the issue. We were just made aware recently by an attorney to try reaching out to you. They are refusing to fix issue or a recall vehicles. It is a CTC transmission issue according to mechanics. I was told that a consumer filed a suit against them for this COMMON safety issue but Nissan corporation of North America are refusing to do a recall. They are putting consumers through a lot of red tape so that they can save money while risking human lives. I-€™m scared that someone will be hit bad or killed because Nissan North America will not do a recall for consumers. I reported to Attorney General in Tennessee, the Home State of their Corporation but they are doing nothing seemingly regarding Nissans-€™s North America lack of concern for their drivers and consumers.

- San Pedro, CA, USA

problem #41

Jun 042021

Sentra

  • miles
Cvt Transmission my car just has 125,000 miles

- Bakersfield, CA, USA

problem #40

Feb 022021

Sentra

  • 103,000 miles
Driving in motion on interstate going 60 and all of a sudden check engine light comes on and then violent shakes and jerks!scary as all get out made me swerve and almost hit traffic beside me!! also going up a hill and lost power had to stop in road turn the car off and then turn it back on. Almost got hit from behind!

- Oakridge, TN, USA

problem #39

Oct 212020

Sentra

  • 132,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was merging onto the interstate when the transmission stop pulling right when I got into traffic. The car began to jerk and would not move almost caused me to have a accident because I was not able to get any speed after merging into traffic. I was able to put my blinker on an merge to the shoulder and had to rent a uhaul trailer to pull the car home. My car only have 132,000 miles.

- Cordova, TN, USA

problem #38

Aug 102020

Sentra

  • miles
The dashboard works sometimes ( little screen). The seatsealts get stuck everytime I try to use them.

- Chatsworth, GA, USA

problem #37

Oct 022020

Sentra

  • 13,200 miles
My car started jerking and all sudden when driving on the freeway it was like loosing its power and then it made a loud jerk also no warnings light came on and the car dealer put a new transmission in about 4 years ago

- Wharton, TX, USA

problem #36

Apr 132018

Sentra

  • 74,000 miles
Vehicle has been having acceleration problems since first bought from carmax. Transmission was replaced under warranty but vehicle is still not accelerating when going up hills. This vehicle is a major safety problem and liability issue. Carmax has failed to address it further and fix

- Newbury Park, CA, USA

problem #35

Apr 092020

Sentra

  • 5 miles
While driving, my car continues to jerk and jerk as I tried to give the car gas. It would sputter and then all of a sudden jump really quick. It finally got to the point where I got stuck at two lights! I finally got my destination and got stuck on the hill. My foot was all the way on the gas pedal and some kind gentlemen pushed my car up the hill so I could park it. It's very scary as I had my two children in the car with me and for something like this to happen it puts all of our lives in danger. I was driving on a major intersection when this happened. Any time O would come to a stop it would stall and it would now allow me to turn. The acceleration would not work. I had to cut the car off twice to try and see if it would restart and give me enough push to my destination. But as stated my foot was completely on the gas and it would not go over 5 mph!

- Raleigh, NC, USA

problem #34

Jan 202020

Sentra

  • 86,500 miles
Upon driving my car during a trip home from work the car would not accelerate. I had the gas pedal pushed to the floor and it would not go over 20 mph and the RPM's would not move. Once I got on the freeway, the car would hardly accelerate and when it finally did decide to after 10 minutes of driving the RPM's went all the way up and the speed odometer hardly moved. This vehicle is unsafe. I almost got hit in rush hour traffic because the car could not speed up.

- Columbus, OH, USA

problem #33

Oct 242019

Sentra

  • 79,640 miles
The check engine light keeps coming on due to the same air flow problem. Every time car is scanned the code comes up as the mass air flow sensor. I have replaced this sensor. My vehicle would not accelerate over 20 mph. My car also idles, jerks when placed in park & has decreased fuel efficiency. The car began to violently shake, was unable to accelerate while on the highway. Car rpms increased the car did not move. Traffic rapidly approaching behind me.

- Toa Alta, PR, USA

problem #32

Sep 092019

Sentra

  • 95,500 miles
Cvt transmission failed with no check engine light or warnings. After 30 minute drive on freeway came to a stop at a turn off. Went to cross oncoming traffic with plenty of space and transmission would not catch and moved extremely slow. Cars came at speed and had to slam on brakes to avoid collision. Transmission needed replacement and was not covered under warranty of any sort.

- West Valley City, UT, USA

problem #31

Oct 082019

Sentra

  • 115,299 miles
The check engine light keeps coming on due to the same air flow problem. Every time car is scanned the code comes up as the mass air flow sensor. Since purchasing the car, I have replaced this sensor twice. I replaced the sensor on 7/8/19 approximately 4 weeks after purchasing the vehicle and then again on 10/10/18. Before replacing the part on Oct. 10, I was merging onto the highway and my vehicle would not accelerate over 20 mph. My car also idles, jerks when placed in park & has decreased fuel efficiency.

- Newport News, VA, USA

problem #30

Oct 112019

Sentra

  • 138,000 miles
Car starting jerking and came to almost a complete stop out the blue at 136,000-138,000 somewhere in between don't exactly remember. The first sigh something was wrong with car was the RPM would just go up high out of blue while accelerating which was dangerous ad just comming to a stop out of nowhere. We called around trying to get issue fixed but noone could help cause there was no light on in car to see if anything was wrong. Check engine light just came on as of today 10/11/2019 for first time ever at 141,000 and car stops doesnt pull. Does on highway, interstate and while turning.

- Greenwood, SC, USA

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