2011 Nissan Sentra problems
Owners have filed 201 complaints with NHTSA about the 2011 Nissan Sentra. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 17% of complaints. After that come engine (17%) and air bags (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 201 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 26 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 20 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 75,000 miles 169 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 | 36 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 16 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 17 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 27 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 19 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 26 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 20 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 169 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 75,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 81,000 miles (30 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 26 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 20 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 82% 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 2011 ranks 23rd most-complained-about out of 37 model years of the Nissan Sentra with enough data (94 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 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.
I purchased the car march 14, 2011 and the vehicle has had issues with making noises and vibrating. I return the vehicle the following week and dealership could find no problems, but referred to nissan service. On july 29, 2011, my mother moved my car out of a fire line at approximately 20-25 MPH. The gas pedal went way to the floor and she attempted to depress the brakes. At that time the pedal traveled more than 3/4 to the floor almost instantly.
My son was driving my car nissan sentra 2011 on 405 freeway in the carpool lane at about 65MPH. The engine cut off. He told me that he tried to get over while the car was still coasting but the vehicle completely stopped in one of the lanes. He put on the emergency flashers and called home. He told us that the car had cut off and wouldn't start back up. He said that other cars were just flying by at fast speed. We told him and his friends to stay in the car where we felt it to be safer at the time.
I was traveling thru a light when a car hit me from the side on the passenger side. My air bags came out. The one on the driver's side hit my wrist and broke it in half. I put in a complaint earlier but it was the wrong year vehicle.
In 2007, nissan recalled more than 140,000 altimas due to the possibility of fire related to the cars air filter. There was substantial media coverage of the large recall. We own a 2011 nissan sentra, which we purchased for our teenage daughter. According to courtesy nissan in richardson, texas, the cause of a recent vehicle break down with our sentra was an air filter fire, which also caused fire damage to the airbox. This is the same defect which resulted in nissan's 2007 recall.
At approx 72,000 miles my airbag indicator light began flashing. My car had never been in a front end accident and I had never touched or done anything to interfere with the airbags. The dealer had no explanation other than they would keep replacing parts until something worked charging me for everything they did whether it worked or not. The vehicle was stationary when the flashing began.