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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2021 Nissan Sentra — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 132 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

132
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
14
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
1
Involved Fire
owner-reported
8
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Nissan Sentra — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

380 complaints

351 complaints

270 complaints

231 complaints

185 complaints

222 complaints

206 complaints

132 complaints

81 complaints

20 complaints

41 complaints

31 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Steering 40 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 39 reports
Electrical System 38 reports
Service Brakes 24 reports
Unknown Or Other 19 reports
Engine 7 reports
Suspension 6 reports
Vehicle Speed Control 6 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Vehicle Speed Control ODI 11445431 12/29/2021

My car has been hacked. I know the hacker was able to get my VIN number bec he hacked my computer also (and I had to enter the information to setup autopay etc through my finance company). The hacker has been messing with the brakes which makes me afraid that it will force me into an accident. He is also messing with my RPM (I believe): there's resistance when I'm accelera…

Back Over Prevention ODI 11561492 12/22/2023

The contact owns a 2021 Nissan Sentra. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V628000 (Back Over Prevention) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall r…

Service Brakes ODI 11498065 12/19/2022

The contact owned a 2021 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed in cruise control mode, the brakes applied independently without being depressed. The check engine and ABS warning lights were illuminated, and the cruise control mode was deactivated. The contact made a local dealer aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed…

Electrical System ODI 11703182 12/05/2025

Purchased brand new with 0 miles. The system malfunction popped up and engine would not turn over after running perfectly fine a hour prior.Had to get towed to dealership and found a faulty battery luckily I still had 100 or so miles left on my warranty.Happened again last month the same exact thing except this time I had to get a jump off after several minutes the engine fina…

Electrical System ODI 11558422 12/04/2023

The passenger window and back windows will not roll up or down. The only window that works is the drivers window. This car was bought 2 months ago and stopped working last week.

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2021 Nissan Sentra, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2021 Nissan Sentra reliable?
Owners have filed 132 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2021 Nissan Sentra, most often about steering. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Nissan Sentra years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.