2016 Nissan SENTRA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2016 Nissan Sentra has received impressive safety ratings overall with a score of 4 out of 5. In specific crash tests, it scored 4 out of 5 for front crash ratings, 5 out of 5 for side crash ratings, and 4 out of 5 for rollover rating. The vehicle is equipped with standard electronic stability control, and also offers optional forward collision warning for added safety measures. However, it does not have lane departure warning feature. In terms of complaints and recalls, the 2016 Nissan Sentra has had 212 complaints and 6 recalls reported. Overall, the Nissan Sentra can be considered a safe choice with good crash test ratings and important safety features available.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

212

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

4/5

Search Vehicle Details

Advanced Search

The advanced search lets you search by safety ratings and features. This will return a list of vehicles that match your search criteria.

Safety Features

2016 Nissan Sentra 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2016 Nissan Sentra 4 DR FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2016 Nissan Sentra 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2016 Nissan Sentra 4 DR FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 2 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating Not Rated 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2016 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 4 5
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2016 Nissan SENTRA

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"transmission stopped producing power in the middle of the highway. i was unable to accelerate and could have gotten into a serious accident with another vehicle. this is the 2nd time this has happened. nissan had a class action lawsuit against them but now they won’t do anything else even though it’s the same issue as before."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2025-07-01
Complaint:
"while driving my car on the turnpike in [xxx] , my sentra began surging with rpms jumping higher then lower. decelerating with heavy traffic around and behind me. exited at the first opportunity. car began to lunge forward and decelerate again. car began making grinding noises. able to slowly get car to my house before it stopped driving all together. difficulty placing car into drive. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2024-10-01
Complaint:
"no indicator light came on, i was crossing a dangerous intersection and i lost all ability to drive the rpms stopped increasing and my foot was pressed on the gas hard!"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2024-03-01
Complaint:
"replaced catylc converter. no the car is power surging and slipping, took vehicle to my regular auto shop. they reported car needs a new transmission, the cvt is out. took car to transmission specialist for a second opinion said the same thing. both shops reported this is common for this make and model. i'd thought i should report it."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2024-08-11
Complaint:
"cvt shuddering, slipping while shifting gears; lack of acceleration, then lunging into gear."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-03-06
Complaint:
"i was driving my 2016 nissan on the highway and it randomly started showing signs of a transmission defect that lead to sudden shaking and jerking while the vehicle was being driven. it would also shift itself into neutral. i had to have the car towed to a dealership that advised there were transmission issues that due to nissans’s high cost and unreliability of transmissions it would be safer to buy a new vehicle than replace the transmission."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2024-01-10
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2016 nissan sentra. the contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated before losing motive power and failed to exceed 20 mph. no warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the transmission. the contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 70,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2025-07-08
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2016 nissan sentra. the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would jerk or stall upon the depression of the accelerator pedal. the contact stated that the check engine warning light had appeared on the instrument panel. in addition, the contact stated that the vehicle had gone into reverse after placing the gear shifter into drive(d). the dealer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that there were no recalls on the vehicle related to the transmission. the vehicle had yet to be repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 109,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2024-04-08
Complaint:
"car throttle stop responding while rpm rev high, have car tow to nearest auto shop and was told that transmission have fail. no warning light or anything before failing. car is regular maintain."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-05-06
Complaint:
"i was driving at less than 30 miles per hour when i noticed my vehicle had stopped accelerating. it was moving along fine and when i brake and put my foot on the gas, the car would rev and the rpms would increase, but it would not move forward. as i approached a hill, it started to roll backward. i was in the middle of downtown on a saturday afternoon and had to park by the side of the road to avoid getting hit. i towed my car to the closest vehicle and after a diagnosis check, was told that the car's transmission had failed. there were no signs or lights on the dashboard. i did some research online and saw that this was a common issue with the 2016 nissan sentra transmission."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2023-01-04

Recalls for the 2016 Nissan SENTRA

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 nissan maxima, 2013-2016 nissan altima, nv200, leaf, sentra, and pathfinder, 2014-2016 nissan nv200 taxi, infiniti qx60, qx60 hybrid, and q50 hybrid, 2014-2017 nissan rogue and infiniti q50, 2015-2016 nissan murano, murano hybrid, and chevrolet city express, 2014-2015 nissan pathfinder hybrid, and 2013 infiniti jx35 vehicles. in these vehicles, the front seat passenger occupant classification system (ocs) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. as a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash."
Consequence:
If the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.
Remedy:

Nissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669, Infiniti customer service at 1-888-833-3216 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > SENSOR > OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Date of incident: 2016-04-26
Recall:
"nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2016 sentra vehicles manufactured june 4, 2012, to april 9, 2016. the front passenger seat belt bracket may become deformed if it is used to secure a child restraint system (crs). the deformed seat bracket may cause the occupant classification system (ocs) to incorrectly classify the installed crs, resulting in the front passenger air bag to not be turned off as designed when a crs is in the seat."
Consequence:
If the frontal passenger air bag deploys in the event of a crash when a child seat is installed in the front passenger seat, there will be an increased risk of injury to the child in the CRS.
Remedy:

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will reinforce the seat belt bracket as well as reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU), free of charge. The recall began on June 13, 2016. Owners are warned not to install a CRS in the front seat. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > SENSOR > OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Date of incident: 2016-04-26

NISSAN Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

NISSAN ranks 5 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

Related Vehicles

Why not check out other NISSAN vehicles?

2017 VERSA
NISSAN
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 54
  • Recall Count: 3
View Car
2010 GT-R
NISSAN
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 11
  • Recall Count: 0
View Car
2024 SENTRA
NISSAN
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 0
  • Recall Count: 0
View Car
2008 ARMADA
NISSAN
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 156
  • Recall Count: 7
View Car