1997 Nissan Sentra problems
Owners have filed 138 complaints with NHTSA about the 1997 Nissan Sentra. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 25% of complaints. After that come wipers, windshield & visibility (20%) and brakes (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 138 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 34 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 43 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 114,000 miles 28 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 2 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 1 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 28 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 114,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 34 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 43 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 97% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1997 ranks 26th most-complained-about out of 37 model years of the Nissan Sentra with enough data (73 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Vehicle was involved in an accident, and neither driver's side nor passenger's side air bag deployed. Consumer sustained injuries. Windshield wipers failed resulting in accicent in which neither driver nor passenger side air bag deployed. Driver and passenger sustained injuries.
While wife was driving about 65 MPH hit road divider and lost control. Vehicle rolled over a couple times. Upon impact, air bags did not deploy.
Was driving home from work on the freeway doing about 70 MPH when there was a wreck on the hwy, to avoid further collisions up to 5 cars in front of me locked up their brakes, the truck in front of me locked up his brakes, & I locked up my brakes, & my front end went down, my brakes locked up, my car slid under the truck in front of me, & neither air-bag deployed! My front end buckled up I count 3 failures, the brakes being 1st, 2nd, & 3rd being air bags. (drivers, & passenger.
Power windows occasionally freeze in the down position on 97 sentra gxe models. Power door lock on front passenger side door does not unlock most of the time.