2008 Nissan Armada: brake failure

Filed Jun 17, 2019 · Brakes, Electrical · 180,000 miles · SC

Within the last two months the ABS light will appear on the dash accompanied by a loud vibration and a loss of braking power. I had the brakes replaced and that did not fix the problem. This is dangerous and could lead to a loss of braking ability on corners and at highway speeds leading to a crash. Also within the past few months the fuel guage has started to show more fuel in the tank than what is actually in the tank. I called the dealership and provided the VIN and they said that the fuel level sensor recall service had already been performed on this VIN.

Filed Sep 19, 2017 · Brakes · 40,200 miles · NJ

Brake pedal goes to the floor and pulsates and won't stop at times need to pull over and restart truck !

Filed Aug 31, 2015 · Brakes, Electrical · 68,000 miles · MO

Numerous times since january 2013 when we have been driving on the highway, roadways and parking lots the red brake light comes on and the brake pedal goes to the floor and makes noises. The car is very hard to stop and has almost caused accidents. One of the times it happened I took the car to firestone to see what was going on but when I turned off the car it stopped doing it but they did have code c1179/ABS control unit come up. We contacted nissan and left our car at suntrup nissan for a month. They told us they could not find anything even when I gave them the code. We met with a nissan specialist who told us the problem was the brake booster and gave us a price of just over $1,000 to fix it. I have been online doing my own research and many other people have had this same problem and code and have all said the ABS control module needs to be reprogrammed and there is a firmware update to fix a known bug. I am not sure why nissan can not find anything wrong and tell me it is the brake booster but when I do research I find what could be the problem and now have to take more time out and go to a different dealership to get the problem resolved before my family is in a horrible accident. From my research this is a common known problem that can be very dangerous if not fixed right away and I think nissan should be responsible. The last time we talked to nissan they told us they would not do anything for us. I want people to know about this safety problem and also the problem with dealerships who think they can take advantage of people who don't know about cars.

Filed Feb 20, 2015 · Brakes · 75,000 miles · CA

Sudden loss of braking power in heavy traffic on the freeway. Noise from dash. Humming. Brakes not responding. Scary experience for entire family, including 2 children (13 and 6yrs old). Downshifted to lower gears and pulled over. Restarted car and it reset. We were told at the dealership it would cost at least $1000. We are now afraid to drive vehicle.

Filed Nov 21, 2014 · Brakes · 90,000 miles · GA

The brakes will stop/start/stop/start/stop/start....kind of like a grinding...they stop working. The only way to "solve" the issue is turn the car off, then on again. This has happened about 12 times since we bought the car in march. Others have complained of the same exact issue as well. It is very dangerous and I'm appalled that nissan will actually wait until someone dies before issuing a recall. I have been dealing with the nissan corporate for months now and my car is currently at the dealership "being fixed". We will be out well over $2,000 and the problem still persists with customers that have had this previously done (dealership is claiming is a "brake actuator issue"). We will end up selling this vehicle because I cannot keep putting myself and my 13 month old daughter's life at risk. The thought of selling it to another family with this issue makes my heart hurt and I will do everything in my power to make sure nissan sees this issue as life-threatening. One time my brakes went out on me on the interstate in the rain with my daughter in her carseat. So pulling over to turn my vehicle off, then on again was a second time within 5 minutes that could have killed us.

Filed Sep 3, 2014 · Brakes · 154,000 miles · GA

When depressing the brake pedal, pedal went all the way to the floor with a grinding noise. No brakes when this happened, and brake light lit up on dash. Once car was turned off and back on again, problem reset itself and brakes worked like they were suppose to. This has happened two other times since then with problem being resolved by turning car off and back on to reset. Only remedy nissan gives is take it to nearest dealer when the problem exists. This is over an hour away from where I live, and across the mountain. With no brakes, this is something I am not willing to risk.

Filed Jul 23, 2014 · Brakes, Electrical · 65,731 miles · TN

My wife (along with our 2 children under the age of 5) was attempting to apply the brakes as she approached an intersection to make a turn. The SUV responded by beginning to shake violently, make very loud noises, & ultimately the brakes failed. She observed the parking brake light was illuminated on the dash board. She was able to continue on the current road & downshift to reduce speed before pulling over to the side of the road. She then turned the SUV off & back on. After re-ignition, the brake light was no longer illuminated, and the brakes functioned normally. When she got home I did some research online about this problem and noticed thousands of other nissan owners have experienced this exact same issue, to the point of a class action lawsuit currently underway in california. This is at least the 8th time this has happened in this vehicle over the course of 3 years of owning. Thankfully, it has not resulted in a crash, injury or fatality to date. The same brake failure has occurred while driving at speeds up to 70mph. Every incident occurs similarly, with shaking, noise, and parking brake light illumination. Turning the vehicle off and restarting seems to temporarily solve the problem, but it has continued to occur randomly. This is a very unsafe issue and that needs immediate attention!!

Filed Jun 26, 2013 · Brakes · 76,554 miles · OH

My wife was driving the nissan to illinois from ohio and while driving on the freeway the brake light comes on and she proceeded to hit the brakes which were not there the pedal went completely to the floor and made a grinding sound as if the brake lines were cut. She calls me in a panic and I tell her how to down shift the car. She finally gets it to a stop and turns off the vehicle and when she goes to start it again the brakes are completely back with out any malfunction. She was able to get to her destination were she took it to courtesy nissan in moline ill. They diagnosed it as a right front wheel bearing grinding causing ABS sensor to think wheel speed was different, which they replaced right front hub and sensor and sent her on her way with $829.16 bill. That was july 25, 2012 she drove the vehicle for a day on july 27, 2012 she was going down a hill when the brakes decided to fail again she down shifted and came to rest against a atm to stop from going into busy traffic. She drove the car to the dealership while the brakes were still in fail mode where they promptly plugged it into the computer and the scan showed code c1179 delta sensor, they said they performed test to determine internal ABS controller failure and then replaced ABS controller at a very steep price. My wife was able to drive the nissan home with my family inside because they said it was safe to drive and then on june 14, 2012the brakes failed again when we took the vehicle to nissan of mansfield mmg they got the code but once the car was tuned off they could not get the problem to duplicate. Corporate and the local dealer said that they don't know what they can do for me since the problem will not duplicate and if it happens again to bring it right over which is a 40 minute drive for me from my house let alone putting myself and my family's life at risk.

Filed May 13, 2013 · Brakes · 99,000 miles · FL

I was approaching intersection when my brakes failed and my truck began to shake very bad and made very loud noises. I then noticed the brake light was illuminated on the dash board. I then pulled over to the side of the road and turned vehicle off and inspected brake system. When I preceded to turn vehicle back on I noticed the brake light was off. The brakes were fine after restarting the vehicle. When I got home I did some research online about this problem and noticed thousands of other nissan owners have experienced this exact same issue. This is a very unsafe issue and that needs immediate attention!!

Filed Sep 10, 2012 · Brakes · 88,000 miles · LA

8/22/12 while driving in daytime normal conditions was stopped at a red-light, turned right onto a very busy 4 lane divided road, brake light on dash came on and brakes made a grinding/spring popping kind of sound and "grabbed" or stopped jerkily when I pushed on the brake pedal again to slow to a stop at the next red-light. Took extra distance to stop due to decreased brake power/strength, luckily I was the first car in line at the red-light. Turned off the road and into a parking lot with brakes continuing as noted above, sat in parking lot until my father in law arrived. I turned engine off to take my car key off my keyring so my f-I-l could drive my car home or to the shop, the brake light was off then and the brakes worked normally. Had vehicle checked with code-reader which didn't read any errors, husband changed brake pads and ensured fluids were at appropriate levels, brakes continued to function normally. 9/10/12 driving in normal daytime conditions, stopped at red-light on extremely busy 6 lane road, turned left onto another street, experienced same problem described above, videoed issue with iphone as drove around empty parking lot. Parked and turned engine off, husband came and drove car to dealership, brakes functioned normally. Online research revealed hundreds of owners with this complaint, some with complete brake failure, is said to be ABS system engaging for no reason d/t brake booster problem. Dealership charged my husband $100 to "diagnose" problem, determined to be brake booster issue, stated nissan not responsible for cost of repair which could be $500-$1000. Nissan notified of issue by my husband, rec'd case #, waiting on response from nissan as to what they are going to do. Very dangerous situation, could've easily resulted in severe accident and catastrophic injuries to myself, my child, and my husband.

Filed Jun 23, 2012 · Brakes · 31,231 miles · MO

The brake failure occured while driving on a city street at 35mph, it acted like the ABS system failed. This happened on a saturday. I called the nissan dealer we purchased it from the following monday to get an appointment to have it checked out. The dealer got me in the next day and the tech said the brake master cylinder and sensor was defective and it needed to be replaced. The service manager for the dealer said the part was $700.00 and labor was $400.00-500.00 but it would only be 80 percent fixed. The problem was a defective brake master cylinder and nissan has been aware of this since 2004 but has done nothing for anyone who owns a nissan vehicle with this problem. It was not covered under warranty. After I contacted nissan consumer relations they stated a replacement or fix for this safety problem on my vehicle was declined due to expired warranty. T he warranty had expired by time not miles. The nissan rep said it was unsafe if the brakes fail any time the vehicles driven. The nissan rep said based solely on expired warranty any repair service would be at our expence.