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:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
62,765 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 drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2013 Nissan Sentra Owner Comments (Page 7 of 15)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #180

May 172019

Sentra

  • 77,100 miles

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

Vehicle stutters and jolts when needing to accelerate quickly. Rpms shoot up to 7-8 on inclines at 60-70mph when cruise control is engaged. Vehicle stutters at slow accelerations after stop signs and red lights. On 2 separate instances, while in motion, vehicle revs to 4+ rpms but is unable to accelerate past 40mph. Vehicle has 77K miles and is current on all services. Took to Nissan dealer and they diagnosed a failed transmission with repair of $4800.

- Rocklin, CA, USA

problem #179

May 012019

Sentra

  • 56,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Sentra. While driving low speeds, the vehicle stalled intermittently. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to town center Nissan (2310 barrett lakes blvd, kennesaw, ga 30144, (770) 423-9691) where it was diagnosed that the transmission and gear shift needed to be repaired. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 56,000.

- Marietta, GA, USA

problem #178

Feb 082017

Sentra

  • 67,411 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Sentra. While driving 20-25 mph, the odometer displayed incorrect readings and the transmission slipped then the vehicle decelerated. The vehicle hesitated while in traffic and the gear shift would not go into the proper gears. Also, the check engine indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that a transmission range performance was needed. The vehicle was repaired two months later. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 67,411.

- Sanfornando, CA, USA

problem #177

Jan 232019

Sentra

  • 112,000 miles

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

Shifting frequently locking up while driving causing distraction and inability to accelerate. Unable to accelerate at traffic lights or in threatening situations. On one occasion I was unable to properly accelerate to pass a semi-truck while facing oncoming traffic causing me to slam on my brakes to avoid an accident. Every time I drive the vehicle the transmission dangerously averts my attention from safe driving.

- Sumter, SC, USA

problem #176

Mar 212019

Sentra

  • 132,000 miles
Im currently the second owner on what I thought was a good vehicle. I had no clue that so many people had the issues I was having. It started two weeks after I had putchased my vehicle. I would accelerate like normal and take my foot off of the gas pedal to coast to a stop at a red light L, the light changes and turned green. I would reapply my foot to the gas pedal and the cvt would thud so I took it to be repaired and was told "it was a normal function of a cvt" not knowing any better as it was my first cvt transmission I kept driving. Now im told my a cvt specialist that that thud I was feeling is the begining of my transmission braking and it needs to be replaced. I cannot see how Nissan expects someone to pay for a product that so many of its vehicles have major problems with. There are thousands of people online complaning of the same issues. It needs to be investigated.

- Williamstown, NJ, USA

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problem #175

Apr 082019

Sentra 4-cyl

  • 2 miles
When driving my vehicle it starts over revving when changing speeds on local roads. I also had a few instances where the vehicle would randomly not go over 40 mph on the highway (possibly the vehicle is going into some kind of fail safe mode) and would rev heavily. I reached out to Nissan and they advised it sounds like a cvt transmission problem, which is a known issue with a lot of the Nissan vehicles. However, they have not created a recall for the 2013 Nissan Sentra and advised they do not plan to do so.

- Jamaica, NY, USA

problem #174

Apr 192019

Sentra

  • 113,000 miles

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

We bought our 2013 Nissan Sentra in 2015 from a Nissan dealership. The price tag was somewhere around 20-22 grand. I was expecting that we would be keeping this car for 10+ years. Unfortunately, Nissan failed to tell us about the cars failing transmission when they sold us the car. While driving on a daily basis, the car would oddly pull. But when test driving the car we were assured that this was normal and caused by the cvt transmission. 3 1/2 years later while I was running a normal errand in town, the car failed to accelerate. I tried pulling out into traffic on a heavily trafficked road and had to swerve to the side of the road because I was pressing on the gas and it was not accelerating. I managed to get the car to move again, but I slowly drove on backroads to get the car to the Nissan in our town. Once there, they did a diagnostic test to see what is wrong and guess what" the transmission has failed. Now tell me, why does a 5 1/2 year old car already have transmission failure?" we have only owned the vehicle for 3 1/2 years!! and our warranty ran out at 100,000 miles. We are at 113,000. I believe this car had transmission issues from the first day that we bought the vehicle.I think these cars are not reliable and should be recalled! this car looks perfect and is now worthless.

- Cookeville, TN, USA

problem #173

Apr 142019

Sentra

  • 84,300 miles
I have had to have my transmission replaced 1 time already for it cracking without being in an accident. It would accelerate randomly and wouldn't accelerate when I pushed on the gas. I'm now having the same problem and almost got into a car accident on an expressway because it wouldn't accelerate and when I got off the main road it accelerated without me even touching the gas peddle.

- Patchogue, NY, USA

problem #172

Apr 112019

Sentra

  • 83,975 miles
Starting around 75,000 miles, my Nissan Sentra started stuttering, stalling, and losing power because of the transmission. My 2013 Nissan Sentra's transmission failed on 4/11/2019 at 83,975 miles (1 year and 23K miles over the warranty). Over the past year, this transmission has been a public and personal safety hazard. I was not comfortable driving this with my children in the car, or on highways in fear of what happened on 4/11 would happen on a major highway. The fact that something so important and expensive would fail on a car so fast proves that this part of the vehicle needs to be investigated and recalled.

- Levittown, PA, USA

problem #171

Mar 202018

Sentra

  • miles
When I press the pedal gas the car doesnt work well.I cant drive higher than 40 miles because the transmition doesnt running well and sometime I have to pull over the car cause it doesnt even run 20 mile.eache stops signal I do is even worst.all this notes are in the city streets I cant drive on a highway because it doesnt run over 40 miles

- Calexico, CA, USA

problem #170

Mar 042019

Sentra

  • miles

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

I only had this vehicle for a year now I have 43 thousand miles and my transmission has gone out. I've been doing research and a lot of people are complaining of the same issue. I shouldn't be responsible for this

- Avondale, AZ, USA

problem #169

Jan 012019

Sentra

  • 90,000 miles
Cvt transmission needs replaced at 90K miles. Google search reveals exorbitant number of Nissan with cvt trannys have failed multiple times. Nissan continues to use cvt's. why"??" car revs high when started - the length of time steadily increases. RPM's show rapid and significant fluctuation. Fearful to drive it more than the few miles it must be driven back and forth to work and to run errands.

- Cuyahoga Falls, OH, USA

problem #168

Mar 282019

Sentra

  • 70,000 miles
At 70,000 miles the transmission completely quit working. My daughter was backing out of a driveway and became stuck in the road. Car would not go forward or reverse. Pressing the accelerator peddle had no effect. Exactly the same problem described in countless posts online. Cvt transmission replacement cost quoted at 4000 dollars. Almost the value of the car.

- Lincolnton, NC, USA

problem #167

Aug 122018

Sentra

  • 30 miles
'takata recall' when I recently got this car, at first I knew something was off because it wouldn't accelerate like a normal car and it wouldn't go pass by 30mph on the freeway. I let a couple of days passed by until the last day before I told the dealer, I was an entire day turning my car on and off thinking that it will stop glitching but I was on the freeway and I was causing a lot of traffic due to it's malfunction. After that, they took it to the dealer to get another transmission or system called the cvt transmisson, they actually did change the transmisson and after that it was working well but wasn't satisfied with it, it started loosing power and there's times when it doesn't want to accelerate and I have to push my foot all the way in which is scary because there's times where it just throws me off since I have no idea when it wants to accelerate like a normal car. Overall, they changed the cvt transmisson and I felt that it got worst and now I just don't feel comfortable with this car, I don't feel safe with it but the sad part is that I'm still paying for the car.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #166

Mar 092019

Sentra

  • 96,000 miles
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.dealership has informed me of transmission issue needs to be replaced. No warning sign, no check engine light forced to pull over at night on the side of the road.

- Ipswich, MA, USA

problem #165

Mar 232019

Sentra

  • 83,000 miles
The car would not accelerate. The gradual breaking light was on. I noticed my back passenger tail light had moister in it. So I took it po ur and dumped about 5 oz. Of water out of it. I bought a new taillight. It seemed to fix the problem now my transmission is slipping from 1st to second gear. The rpms jump from 2000 to 3000 as it shifts and steady out it's been getting worse as the days go by. I'm finding similar issues online but no solution other than transmission replacement. It has 83000 miles on it. Because of the taillight issue and it not accelerating I feel like theres some kind of wiring issue to the transmission. It's not throwing any codes and the dealer says nothing's wrong with it.

- Loveland, OH, USA

problem #164

Mar 222019

Sentra

  • 109,000 miles
The cvt transmission slips at various rpms and speeds. Traveling down a hill in the city with a steep grade the transmission will down shift and throw the rpms up to 5K where you can barely stop it. It slips to where basically it has no power to the wheels when driving on the interstate at 70mph at 3K rpms. It is like you threw it into neutral. There is no power to the wheels but engine speed shoots to 6K rpms and car speed decreases rapidly. This happens daily. Several times a day. I have taken the car to the dealer and been told it is the way the cvt transmission operates. That is a bunch of mess no transmission is meant to slip out of gear. My personal mechanic says he replaces 3-5 a week of the cvt transmissions with as little as 40-50K miles on them. These things are a death trap. My car has 107K on it and I've been complaining to the Nissan dealer since 20K. There should be a recall before there are serious injuries from the loss of power of surging. I have a 3 month old and this is my only car to get to work. Dealer wants 4.5K and mechanic wants 3.8K. I'm still making payments on the thing for another year.

- Pinson, AL, USA

problem #163

Mar 082019

Sentra

  • 113,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Sentra. While driving 35 mph, the vehicle decelerated without warning. The vehicle was taken to busam Nissan (1501, 3907, E kemper rd, cincinnati, oh 45246) where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was 113,000.

- Bethel, OH, USA

problem #162

Feb 012018

Sentra

  • 98,200 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that the continuously variable transmission (cvt) failed to change gears. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle was extremely slow to accelerate. Crest Nissan (6600 tx-121, frisco, tx 75034, 1-855-878-7690) diagnosed that the cvt needed to be replaced. The manufacturer indicated that, due to the title being salvaged, the contact would need to replace the part. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 98,200.

- Plano, TX, USA

problem #161

Feb 012019

Sentra

  • miles
Car does not shift correctly, looses speed engine revs high.

- Smyrna, GA, USA

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