Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2012 Nissan Sentra owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact's husband owns a 2012 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while her son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle started to smoke at an unknown location of the vehicle and caught fire. No warning lights were illuminated. No injuries were sustained. No medical attention was required. The local authorities were notified, and the fire department was notified and extinguished the fire. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle hesitated to respond. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,504.
Our nissan Sentra with 106K miles the car lost nearly all power as my son was turning onto the freeway. He could only drive 16 miles an hour and it was hopping and jumping through a 8 lane freeway/highway intersection while he tried to get into a parking lot off the road. He turned it off, waited 5 minutes, and turned it back on, but it was still slowly hopping and jumping. After another 10 minutes my husband drove it for about 10 minutes and it operated normally. This same behavior happened in 2019 with 82k miles at a large intersection. It suddenly lost power and slowly hopped through the intersection. At 60k the cruise control buttons on the steering wheel quit working. When we asked the Nissan Dealership about it, we were told that was typical and it would slowly lose all the functionality of the steering wheel controls. All the functionality was gone by 70k miles. …
While driving on the freeway pulling approximately 70 miles per hour, my car will begin to shake violently, continuously decelerate and my RPMs drop significantly. I am unable to go over 55 miles per hour when this happens. This has happened to me a total of four times now within the last 2 months. I had my car take this one auto repair shop in which my spark plugs were changed out a brand new air intake hose was put in my coils were changed out and everything. Today while driving on the freeway, going 72 mph my car decelerated and would not go above 55. This is a major safety issue considering I drive on the freeway a lot. I just paid $970 to have my car fixed and can't continue to pay to have the car fixed along with still paying a car note and insurance on this car. Well researching transmission issues I came across this page when filing a complaint. …
While traveling down the interstate doing the normal speed limit, I was forced to pull over to the emergency lane so cars can pass me. My car lost power to the engine without notice. No check system engine lights were not activated during this time. Car and Trucks were having to swerve over in other lanes to keep from rear ending me and causing a major wreck. This happen several weeks ago again with no lights lighting up on dash. I was able to pull over for a few minutes and restart the car and it was back to normal. I looked things up online and took my car into a repair shop to let me know the problem, They stated that they have seen this issue with Nissan vehicles. It is the CVT transmission issue. The loss of power comes from the CVT fluid getting too hot and reduces power to save the CVT transmission, I have a 2012 Nissan Sentra that was Manufactured 6/2012.
While driving, a piece fell out of the bottom of the car, after which the engine began to smoke and the car began to lose power. I pulled off the road and turned off the car, at which point the engine became engulfed in flames. The car has had no problems to date, and the check engine light has never come on.
I am having issues with the transmission. It appears that the engine is not changing gears automatically. Or it could be a problem with the fuel injection of the vehicle. Also there is a problem with the airbags deployment system.
I have had my car for just over 2 years. I bought it used for business trips mostly. I drove it for the first time on a long distance business trip and 3 hours into trip it stopped accelerating over 70 miles an hour. This continueed the entire way to my final destination. No lights came on, no sounds or smells either. Once I was in town driving on normal roads it was fine again. Then I drove it back home, same thing happened but more extreme. I took it to the Nissan dealership in boulder colorado. In doing so I found out that all nissans had a warrenty recall to put in a CVT cooler part. A feature that all nissans need to insure the possibilty of long distance travel without the transmission over heating and not accelerating properly. The dealership then informed me that it would have been covered if I had brought it in before it was over 60,000 miles. …
The issue first started last summer. I had a car full of 4 teenagers and we were heading out of town and the engine began a loud whistle sounds and then the gas pedal quit working - we limped off the highway after almost getting hit and got a tow truck and rental car. The mechanic had us pay for a whole new motor. We thought the issue was fixed. Then a couple months later I again had 4 teenagers in my car heading out of town and the whistle noise started about an hour into the trip. Then it got louder. Then the car would decelerate going uphill. Then, as we got to the next exit, the gas pedal stopped working completely. We again almost died, barely made it to the gas station and realized there was an auto zone next door. So we went and had the codes read as the check engine light had just popped on...when I turned the car back on, everything worked fine but it had sat for 30 minutes. …
My Nissan Sentra has 85,000 miles on it and my transmission is completely broken. The CVT transmission they put in my car has an extended warranty in it for known problems with it. I was driving with my two small children on a very busy highway when it stopped moving and I had to pull over and restart it. When I restarted the vehicle t again would not move. I finally got it to move to where I got to a mechanic and they told me my transmission was completely broken. I took it to Nissan and they are not going to help my fix it 100% fully knowing that the CVT transmission they put in the car has problems. I spoke with Nissan customer affairs and they told me that because my car is out of their warranty there is nothing they can do to help me when this is not my fault. They keep producing cars that have this transmission in it and keep having to replace it except for my car. …
Engine complaints in other Sentra years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 2012 Nissan Sentra?
NHTSA has 40 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 2012 Nissan Sentra, 22% of the model year's 180 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2012 Nissan Sentra engine problems?
No. NHTSA lists no engine & cooling recall for the 2012 Nissan Sentra. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2012 Nissan Sentra engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 85,000 miles, and 14% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 4 crashes, 3 fires and 3 injuries to engine & cooling problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.