2015 Nissan Sentra Powertrain (other) Problems

I am writing to report a life-threatening, sudden-onset mechanical defect in my vehicle’s Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). While driving in heavy traffic, my son experienced a complete and sudden loss of motive power without any warning or dashboard lights. The vehicle abruptly stopped accelerating in a live lane, nearly causing a catastrophic rear-end collision. At just 70,000 miles, far below the expected lifespan of a major powertrain component, a certified technician at B&K Transmission confirmed a total internal CVT failure, requiring a $6,000 replacement. Nissan Customer Care refused any goodwill assistance, citing that the vehicle is beyond its warranty and the temporary extensions granted by previous class-action settlements. However, the expiration of a settlement window does not eliminate an ongoing safety crisis. A transmission failure at 70,000 miles is a systemic defect, not standard wear and tear. Thousands of these defective vehicles remain on public roads, putting unsuspecting drivers at risk of sudden, lethal highway failures. I urge NHTSA to immediately open an investigation into Nissan CVT failures and issue a mandatory safety recall. Automakers must not escape accountability for severe roadway hazards simply because a warranty has lapsed.

NHTSA ID

11755303

Incident

Aug 6, 2026

Transmission failed on major highway out of no where would not accelerate above 5 MPH

NHTSA ID

11744834

Incident

Jun 17, 2026

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly stalled while in traffic. There was an abnormal screeching sound coming from the vehicle. The accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The transmission was shifted into reverse(R), but the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The vehicle was shifted into drive(D), and the vehicle lunged forward and then started moving slowly. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that there was a loose bearing inside the transmission. While completing a road test, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact was offered a partial refund and warranty. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 171,000.

NHTSA ID

11728439

Incident

Mar 3, 2026

Mileage

171,000 mi

My car would we still in the middle of the road and one day I was turning to go home and it cut off with everything on the dashboard was still on and the power steering went out and I tried to turn real fast to get my driveway and next thing I know my Cortizone fire meanwhile every now and then I would see a light blinking my dashboard fast and then go away. It was the battery light barely show up.

NHTSA ID

11727684

Incident

Mar 27, 2026

Complete transmission failure and need replacement the car is less than 10 years old Nissan has had major issues with the CVT system and transmission…transmission lose power on the highway

NHTSA ID

11716629

Incident

Dec 16, 2022

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The transmission failed to operate properly. The component is still installed in the vehicle and is available for inspection upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The vehicle jerks when shifting gears and upshifts on its own, causing unpredictable changes in speed and loss of smooth acceleration. This creates a risk of sudden acceleration or hesitation, especially in traffic, increasing the potential for a collision. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? No, the problem has not yet been formally confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others? No, the vehicle and transmission have not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. Were there any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? Prior to the failure, the vehicle began jerking during gear shifts. The transmission does not properly shift gears in relation to engine upshifting and will upshift by itself. These symptoms appeared before the failure and have continued since.

NHTSA ID

11712851

Incident

Nov 28, 2025

Car has 72000 miles in it it has given no indication on dash except cruise control went out. The transmission is slipping and both the front passenger and drivers door handles are messed up up.

NHTSA ID

11683751

Incident

Aug 26, 2025

See attached document for complaint.

NHTSA ID

11659281

Incident

Feb 22, 2025

I took this vehicle to the dealership, and the dealership said that the transmission needs to be replaced. I sold this car to Surburban Chevrolet of Ann Arbor, but they appear to be selling the car without fixing the transmission. It is not safe to drive this car because the vehicle is jerky and may not change the gear properly in the highway.

NHTSA ID

11652428

Incident

Mar 28, 2025

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle started shuddering. The contact stated that the engine revved up to high. While driving, the vehicle stopped suddenly, drove, and then stopped again. The contact continuously moved the gear shifter and the vehicle moved forward. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that the transmission solenoids were defective. The contact called an unknown local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

NHTSA ID

11646183

Incident

Jan 1, 2025

Mileage

50,000 mi

The car had problems with failing to start and failing to accelerate while driving. Check engine light came on and OBD scanner indicated it was the CVT. The car was inspected and repaired in March 2023. In 2025 (the same problem of check engine indicating the CVT) is occurring. CVT sensor was replaced; however, two weeks later the check engine light is back on indicating CVT issues and is now also overheating.

NHTSA ID

11645995

Incident

Mar 9, 2023

Vehicle began making a whining noise when starting with car in park, accelerating or decelerating. Didn’t seem to drive like normal. I Immediately took car to my usual mechanic and was notified it was the CVT transmission and it would need to be replaced. I was made aware of the recall by my mechanic. I contacted Nissan and was told they would not cover it. I’ve kept regular maintenance on my car and it only has 131,000 miles. .

NHTSA ID

11642509

Incident

Feb 11, 2025

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. In addition, the transmission was slipping. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000.

NHTSA ID

11640951

Incident

Jan 29, 2025

Mileage

83,000 mi

The transmission failed. The car just stopped moving forward while My son was driving in traffic. It was 12:00 in the afternoon on a Friday so local traffic was a bit heavy. Traffic had to go onto the other side of the road creating a hazard. Luckily the car behind was following at a safe distance and was able to stop. There was no previous warnings that this was going to happen. The car had to be towed to a repair shop. The repair shop called NIssan but they said they could not offer any assistance with repairing the transmission even though this is a known problem to them.

NHTSA ID

11640226

Incident

Jan 10, 2025

When I started the car it sounded like the engine was clicking. I turned it off thinking it may have been from the cold. After restarting the car, the sound did not start again. About 10 minutes into my drive, it started to feel like the the car was shaking each time I braked. About 5 minutes later, it felt like the car was fighting me to accelerate. After I stopped at a red light, it would not accelerate past 20 mph and started dropping as I pulled to the side of the road. It would not accelerate but I could hear the engine revving. No service engine light came on, or any other light. I turned off the car and called AAA to have my car towed to the dealership I purchased the car (Piazza Nissan). They did a diagnosis on the car which gave the diagnostic of P2859 and P0746. Upon searching these codes, a recall for Nissan Sentra with manufacture dates of 2013-2017 came up stating CVT judder and transmission issues. I called the dealer to ask about this recall, since they told me I need a new transmission with the cost of $6640.87. I was told the recall (Classification #AT19-011, NTB #NTB19-075 [XXX] ) for this expired in 2022. When asked why I never received a notice about this recall, I was informed they are sent by VIN. When I checked my VIN, no active recalls came up. Clearly, my car is experiencing the same issues as this recall and my vehicle (2015 Nissan Sentra) was manufactured in that time frame. I was lucky I was able to move my vehicle to the side of the road safely without causing as accident. I am deeply annoyed that I was not made aware of this issue that clearly effected my vehicle and could have caused a serious accident had I not been able to pull to the side of the road and thankfully the car behind was not close to me. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11631802

Incident

Dec 19, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: 10058388 (Transmission Control Module); however, the vehicle was not included in the TSB. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 111,000.

NHTSA ID

11630139

Incident

May 14, 2024

Mileage

111,000 mi

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. In addition, the vehicle jerked, and the contact noticed an abnormally loud sound. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed CVT failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The contact referenced an undisclosed recall; however, the VIN was not included in the recall repair. The dealer advised the contact to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

NHTSA ID

11624257

Incident

Sep 8, 2024

Mileage

80,000 mi

This particular vehicle exhibits a very strong, almost dash rattling judder when moving from the 1st to 2nd gearing ratio. This is especially dangerous in traffic and intersections where the vehicle is known to be in 1st or 2nd gear ratio, as Nissan likes to ratio out their CVT in software through the TCM to produce what feels like shifting from gear-to-gear as in a normal automatic transaxle. What makes this situation extremely bad is that when entering an on-ramp to the interstate (I-20 for example) it will intermittently judder from 1st to 2nd and then no power. After the judder it takes another few seconds for the TCM to figure out what happened and engage maybe more valve body pressure? I'm not sure completely, but it's extremely unsafe to drive. The Altima/Rogue with the same transaxle and model year run was issued a TSB and subsequently a TCM update was issued to rectify the early shudder, but the Sentra did not receive that update. The TCM output data shows that when this shudder is happening that there is a loss in hydraulic pressure somewhere in the unit. As Nissan says you never are supposed to change the fluid, this creates a very serious issue not only with the transmission, but warranty as well. The safety risk to others is high on this one because this could cause major rear-end conditions and city driving collisions as the car is supposed to be accelerating but can't because the transaxle was slipping and not gaining speed with the rest of the vehicles as expected.

NHTSA ID

11623697

Incident

Aug 30, 2024

2015 Nissan Sentra SV jerks when accelerating

NHTSA ID

11614633

Incident

Sep 1, 2024

Common problem is the CVT transmission issues of it slipping or grinding. Was told there’s a recall from Nissan on 2013 to 2017 Sentra of CVT transmissions.

NHTSA ID

11611064

Incident

Jul 1, 2022

Bought 2015 Nissan Sentra SR from Nissan West in Dickson, TN. The car didn't even a lot of miles on it. Not even a month after having the car, the transmission went out. Car started acting up on the interstate. Would not shift gears, wouldn't go over a certain amount of speed, almost caused us to be hit multiple times. Finally got it to Nissan West dealership where they did confirm transmission was no good. Nissan West, reworked the transmission instead of giving us a new transmission. Now, over a year and 3 months later, the transmission went out again. Has been confirmed by Nissan West in Dickson, TN. The transmission had only a little over 10,000 miles on it. This time I was pulling out onto a busy street when the car out of the blue would not go forwards or backwards. Luckily we did not get hit and we had to push the car out of the middle of the road.

NHTSA ID

11606266

Incident

Jul 25, 2024

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle in for the emissions test, the vehicle failed to pass the State emissions test. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the continuously variable transmission. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 152,000.

NHTSA ID

11604809

Incident

Jul 26, 2024

Mileage

152,000 mi

Excessive transmission slipping. I can be driving and it slips so bad and won’t gain speed or anything

NHTSA ID

11594264

Incident

Jun 13, 2024

Me and my daughter was pulling out onto a bypass highway and the car wouldn't go anywhere and we were stuck in the middle of the highway with cars coming towards us. So I had to jump out and while it was still in drive I had to push it out of the highway so we wouldn't get hit by the on coming traffic. I finally pushed it fast enough and jumped back into the car and pressed the gas pedal and it caught so I could drive it home and I parked it.

NHTSA ID

11585597

Incident

Apr 6, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. No warning light was illuminated. The contact and his daughter exited the vehicle while the transmission was in drive(D) and pushed the vehicle to the side of the road. The contact then shifted the transmission from park(P) to drive(D) but the vehicle failed to move immediately. Eventually, the contact was able to drive the vehicle to the residence. The contact related the failure to the transmission; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was 176,635.

NHTSA ID

11585414

Incident

Apr 1, 2024

Mileage

176,635 mi