KnownCarProblems2004 Nissan Sentra Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 197 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Nissan Sentra, most often about the engine (43% of complaints, typically around 74,000 miles). It is 10th of 27 Sentra model years by number of complaints and has 4 recalls.
⚠ Safety advisory1 recall for this car came with a do-not-drive warning. See below and check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Most common 2004 Nissan Sentra problems
Engine
85 complaints · 43%Half of these problems showed up before 74,000 miles. Parts named most often: engine, exhaust system, cooling system.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Nissan Sentra. While driving approximately 70 MPH, there was no response when the accelerator pedal was depressed. The driver was able to coast the vehicle to the side of the road. Roadside assistance was called to the scene and the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for inspection.…
Engine shuts off while driving. Started a month ago, has been happening once a week but getting more frequent. Was told it was the crankshaft sensor. There is a recall on the 2.5l not the 1.8l that I own.
Fuel system
36 complaints · 18%Half of these problems showed up before 95,000 miles. Parts named most often: delivery, storage.
Upon re-fueling my vehicle, the gasoline comes right back out. "service engine soon" light is on with a code of p1446. It is defined as "evap canister vent control valve (closed)".
In september of 2011 I started to have a problem fueling my car. As soon as I begin putting fuel in, it starts spitting fuel back out. My service engine light has been on since then and just yesterday I checked out the code at my friend's house - it is indeed p1446. After more investigation on line, it looks like a…
Air bags
32 complaints · 16%Half of these problems showed up before 80,500 miles. Parts named most often: frontal.
The car was involved a front impact accident which was hard enough to result in the vehicle being deemed as a total loss by the insurance company. In this accident neither the passenger nor the driver air bags deployed.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Nissan Sentra. When the contact started the vehicle, the passenger side air bag suddenly deployed without warning. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership and the contact previously noticed that the air bag light had appeared on the dashboard. The current and failure mileages were…
Electrical
28 complaints · 14%Half of these problems showed up before 79,000 miles. Parts named most often: ignition, wiring, software, instrument cluster/panel.
4 days ago while driving my car it just shut off. The car died it just completely shut off while I was going 55 miles and hour. Luckily I was able to pull off the road and out of traffic. I tried restarting the car and after several attempts I was able to get it restarted. The check engine light came on at that point.…
Drove the 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8l on the highway at 60mph and the car began to decrease speed to about 30 to 40mph with RPM meter fluctuations while pressing on the gas with same pressure. On the same day the car shut off multiple times after starting it for a minute. Previously on 2 occasions while at a stop light…
Brakes
10 complaints · 5%Half of these problems showed up before 62,500 miles. Parts named most often: antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip, foundation components.
Nissan Sentra 2004 model - manufacturer defect - recall required. Dear, this is regarding my Sentra car - doing service only with Nissan dealer. Took the car 3 times to dealer for the same problem - only on the 3rd time they could find the problem. Seems they never came across this type of problem before. Brake…
On 24th of dec 2014 while driving on a four lane hwy at about 8pm my brakes got really hard then I saw my brakes light came on it was not a good feeling thanks god the street light was green cause if it was red we would be having a dir convo right now, anyway I pulled in a parking lot at maybe 15 to 20 MPH then I put…
Transmission
7 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 37,000 miles. Parts named most often: automatic transmission, axle assembly, manual transmission.
Dt: several weeks before the accident the suspension felt weak. Right before the accident a large sound was heard and a bump was felt from under the car. The consumer tried to turn left but the car would only go straight and the consumer ran into some trees/ a barbed wire fence, and a ditch. The axle and disc broke.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that her vehicle would only drive forward, not in reverse. A few days following the failure, the vehicle would not move at all. She placed the gear in drive and the vehicle sounded as if it were in neutral. When she placed the gear in the "l" position, the…
Speed control
7 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 109,500 miles.
Car has no acceleration. Will not rev over 900 RPM. While driving lost power but engine kept running fine. It acted like cable broke on the peddle. But to find out it is all electronic. Was able to get off road but was only able to go 10 MPH in traffic.
I was driving down the interstate, at 60 MPH and the engine dropped to 700 RPM and refused to accelerate. I had to pull over, shut off car and repeatedly attempt to start car. This has happened 8 other times in the past month.
Steering
5 complaints · 3%Half of these problems showed up before 53,500 miles.
Engine fuel pump failure. Driving on busy highway engine started to stall. Had to use clutch to keep engine running, nearly missing other vehicles trying to maintain control of vehicle trying to restart engine. Immediately took to dealer and fuel pump failure diagnosed. Fuel pump being replaced right now at $700.00.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH in rainy weather, the vehicle began spinning suddenly (the contact could not figure out why) and crashed into a guardrail twice. There were no injuries. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was filed. The contact called the dealer…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2004 Nissan Sentra recalls
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been completed. Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will re-inspect the vehicle and, if necessary, replace the air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began january 22, 2021. Owners may contact nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is pm964.
Full defect summary
Nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain 2002-2006 sentra vehicles whose passenger air bags were previously inspected and may have been released without replacing the takata air bag inflator. In the event of a crash, takata frontal passenger air bag inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflators with alternate desiccated inflators, free of charge. The recall began february 12, 2020. Owners may contact nissan customer service at 888-737-9511 or infiniti customer service at 888-810-3715.
Full defect summary
Nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain 2001-2003 maxima, 2002-2006 sentra, 2002-2004 pathfinder, 2007-2011 versa sedan and versa hatchback, 2001-2004 infiniti i30 and i35, 2002-2003 inifiniti qx4, 2003-2008 infiniti fx35 and fx45 and 2006-2010 m35 and m45 vehicles. The vehicles are equipped with non-desiccated, frontal passenger air bag inflators containing phase stabilized ammonium nitrate (psan) propellant that were used as interim remedy parts for previous takata recalls. These inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.
Air bags
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on june 15, 2015. Owners may contact nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261. Note: on december 18, 2015 nissan informed NHTSA of an amendment of this recall to remove 2004-2005 infiniti fx35 and fx45 vehicles.
Full defect summary
Nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain model year 2001-2003 nissan maxima, 2002-2004 pathfinder, 2002-2006 sentra, 2002-2003 infiniti qx4 and i35, 2003 fx35 and fx45, and 2001 i30 vehicles. Upon deployment of the passenger side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.
Engine: engine and engine cooling
Risk: If the interruption in the signal from the sensor is so brief that the electronic control module (ECM) logic does not have time to diagnose the condition, the engine may stop running without warning while the vehicle is driven at a low speed increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will reprogram the ECM free of charge. The recall began on august 21, 2006. Owners may contact nissan at 1-800-647-7261.
Full defect summary
On certain passenger vehicles equipped with a 2.5l engine, the crank angle sensor is affected by temperature variations. Under certain driving conditions, these variations in temperature can be large enough to cause a brief interruption in the signal output from the sensor.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Desiccated air bag inflator rupture
Summary
From 2000 through 2017, takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("psan") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004l. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 blomquist report at www.NHTSA.gov/sites/NHTSA.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substa
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Questions about the 2004 Nissan Sentra
- What are the most common problems with the 2004 Nissan Sentra?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: engine (85 complaints, typically around 74,000 miles); fuel system (36 complaints, typically around 95,000 miles); air bags (32 complaints, typically around 80,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2004 Nissan Sentra have?
- 4 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from December 1, 2020 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2004 a bad year for the Nissan Sentra?
- It is 10th of 27 Sentra model years by number of complaints, with 197 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.