2012 Nissan Sentra problems
Owners have filed 260 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Nissan Sentra. Drivetrain & axles is the most reported problem area, at 26% of complaints. After that come engine (15%) and cruise control (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 260 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 22 and 4
- Injuries and deaths
- 18 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 62,000 miles 191 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 | 49 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 24 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 17 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 36 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 33 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 22 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 191 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 62,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 71,000 miles (48 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 22 complaints mention a crash; 4 complaints mention a fire; 18 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 13th most-complained-about out of 37 model years of the Nissan Sentra with enough data (144 complaints in that window).
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.
Rainy night 55 MPH crash. Air bags did not deploy. Wet road, car ran off road, hit a sign post, went down embankment, flipped and rolled over into ditch. Daughter was seriously injured... 4 broken lower back vertebrae, 9 broken ribs, numerous pelvic fractures, lacerated spleen and kidney. Seems like these injuries could have been much less severe if the airbags would have deployed.
2012 nissan sentra was bought 3 weeks prior with no problems. While traveling 60 - 70 MPH on a highway the car suddenly stop running and the power steering went out and the vehicle was unable to steer out of the troubled area on the highway. The vehicle broke down in the middle of a highway. After research it seem to be the same actions that has happened to thousands of other nissan sentras. The defected CVT transmission causes this to happen.
The vehicle drifts both directions while driving, when braking it seriously pulls right. I have only had the car 6 weeks and haven't hit anything yet but if there are narrow lanes with parked cars I may not be so lucky. There are other problems the heat shields that cover the exhaust come loose and the air sensors in the tires leak so you need to put air in the tires weekly.
Purchased 2012 vehicle from dealership in jan 2014 and have found that the vehicle is having a common problem in this model. Vehicle is decelerating while in motion. The traction control and ABS lights came on so we took it to mechanic who said we needed to repair brakes, so we fixed the brakes as needed. Lights did not go off so we returned it to dealer who then informed me that when hooked up for the diagnostic test, a code returned saying there was a problem with the transmission.