2008 Nissan Sentra
This year drew an ordinary 167 complaints for a Nissan Sentra — the model's median is 154. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.4% of them mention cylinder, against 0% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Nissan Sentra, which began in 2007 and ran to 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 167 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 154 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- cylinder — 8.4% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (41.9×). Owners wrote it as: cylinder, master, master cylinder, brake master.
- alignment — 8.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (6×). Owners wrote it as: alignment, rear tires, wear, rear wheel.
- reset — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: reset, nissan customer.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
PER NISSAN RECALL 169.202, MY 2008 SENTRA IS EQUIPPED WITH ROBERT BOSCH MASTER CYLINDER. THE MASTER CYLINDER HAS BEEN INSPECTED AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. THE DEALER WAS CONTACTED AS SOON AS THIS INFORMATION WAS MADE KNOWN TO ME, BUT THE DEALER REFUSED TO HONOR…
JUST DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY (NO BRAKES APPLIED) AND THE MASTER CYLINDER WENT BAD AND LOST POWER BRAKES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V431000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 08V311000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 10V401000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Sentra was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Nissan Sentra? What happened to yours?
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