2008 Nissan Armada: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Apr 28, 2021 · Brakes · 310,000 miles · TN

While vehicle is in motion during highway travel and city travel brake light on the control panel will come randomly come on. When applying brakes after light has illuminated there will be severe vibration and grinding when you press the brakes. This behavior in the vehicle will continue until the ignition has been turned off and then restarted which seems to reset the brakes, discontinue the light and resumes normal operation. On several occasions the light has come on while vehicle is parked but still running. This has happened many times.

Filed Oct 23, 2019 · Brakes · 174,000 miles · WV

My wife was driving my children on the highway at approximately 55mph and the 'brake' icon suddenly flashed red on the dash. My wife attempted to apply the brakes and they did not function or respond other than by making a grinding noise. The pedal was able to go to the floor but with no braking accomplished. To stop the vehicle she had to downshift and let it coast to a stop in a parking lot that was fortunately on her path of travel. There are no leaks in the braking system and the nearby nissan dealership said it had thrown a c1179 code for a brake booster sensor. Turns out this is a common issue with these models and nissan lost a class action lawsuit about the issue in california in 2014. Several other owners have reported the exact same scenario on various nissan forums. It is a wonder my wife and children were not in an accident.

Filed Sep 29, 2019 · Brakes · 119,923 miles · OH

I was driving to pick up my daughter at work when I came to a stop at an intersection the brakes seemed fine but when the light turned green I was making a left turn and as I was turning I put my foot on the brake and the brakes went in and I heard a very loud grinding sound and I could feel the vibration under my feet then I noticed the brake light come on so I pulled off the road but realized it wasn't a safe spot so luckily I was near a turn off so I pulled into a parking lot very slowly and put the car in park. The brake light remained on until I turned the vehicle off. I called my husband and he came, checked all the brakes, the brake fluid and checked to see if there was fluid leaking anywhere but he didn't find anything wrong so he started the vehicle and the brake light was off so he drove it home while I drove his car but it didn't happen again. I've read that many people have had the same issue with nissan armada. I would like to add that this is the first time it happened but it's one time too many because I'm lucky I didn't have an accident.

Filed Feb 11, 2019 · Brakes · 67,000 miles · CA

Brake light comes on while diving ,when I apply brakes there is a spongy feeling , its like when you bleed brakes. Then an awful grinding noise comes from under the vehicle. Its happened 3 times since I've had car used and I've only had it 6 months. Luckily no one was around and I was able to pull over. Turned off the car and it was gone on all occasions. I am very scared to drive my children and grandchild around this is very scary and could cause injury or even death if on a winding road in snow or rain. I don't know what to do I cant afford new car.

Filed Nov 4, 2017 · Airbags, Brakes · CA

I have a 2008 nissan armada, bought it new and my wife use to tell me that the brakes would grind and the brake light would go on, I use to think she was crazy, now that I drive the car my self I knew she was right, when we step on the brake petal the brakes start grinding and the brake comes on we have 3 children and is pretty scary when we try to stop and completely loose brake power, when my wife first told me I took it to the dealer and they couldn't check for the problem since it had to be doing it when I took it well then it didn't do it often, then I took it one time while it was doing it and the dealer told me that they new exactly what it was but couldn't do anything about it since I was out off warranty. I think is ridiculous that the manufacturer knows exactly what the problem is but they won't do nothing about it since their is no recall, I think the federal safety agency needs to step in and issue a recall as we know their is a lot of people who have the same problem, I have 3 children and a wife and don't us to be the next victim of an accident. Is not like we paid pennies for this car, hope you guys can do something about it before someone gets hurt or worse loose a love one

Filed Oct 6, 2017 · Brakes · 109,000 miles · CA

While transmission is in drive, and proceeding down the road, has happen at speeds between 10mph up to 70mph. The emergency brake light on the dashboard goes on. Within 5-10 seconds hearing a grinding sound coming from the front of the car, sounds like coming from breaks in addition to a spring like sound and a reduction of breaking power. This continues until you pull off the road, and turn off the car and turn it back on. Once the car is reset it appears to fix the problems. I purchased the car at with approximately 69k miles on it, it currently has roughly 114k miles on it and has happen approximately 3 times since 95k miles. I have taken the vehicle to a dealership and have explained the issue. They advised they have heard of this, but there is no recall for the VIN number on my armada. That this would require a technician to provide a software update. This should be able to fix the problem, but not guarantee. Approximately take 1-2 hours for a technician to do this and I would be responsible to pay. Spoke to nissan USA and they view the software upgrade as regular service maintenance. This issue has seemed to be common in armada's from 2004 to 2008, based on what has been listed on several forums. Example: http://www.clubarmada.com/forums/26-brakes/4018-more-ABS-near-brake-failure-problems.html this has happen in 2016 - 2017.

Filed Jul 25, 2017 · Brakes · 120,000 miles · AZ

Two times in the past 2 months I have experienced while driving, my brake light lighting up and my brakes failing. My pedal would go down farther, grinding noises could be heard, and it was very hard to stop my vehicle. I pulled over as carefully as possible, stopped slowly, and turned my engine off. I then restarted and everything was fine, no brake light, no noise, no issue pushing the brake pedal. I didn't think much about it until it happened again. I know nissan will not do anything about it because the brake light is off and it is not an issue right now. I know they are also aware of this problem with my make, model, and year of car and they settled a class action lawsuit out of court that I was not involved in because I didn't have the problem at that point. Both times it happened while traveling on city streets, once I was going about 35mph the other about 45mph. I am more than afraid because we do occasionally travel on mountain roads and I have no idea how I would handle this situation if it happened while driving downhill.

Filed Jul 23, 2017 · Brakes · 123,000 miles · TN

My "brake" light is randomly coming on when I'm braking or just driving on a city road or on the highway. There is a grinding noise when I brake in any of these driving situations. It's been doing this for about 4 years. I've had it looked at several times, but nothing is being identified. I've been reviewing a forum that is identifying this same issue with many other armadas. It seems to be the booster sensors, which is a very expensive repair.

Filed Oct 16, 2016 · Brakes · 100,000 miles · TX

Brake light comes on, brakes pulsate and make a grinding and clunking noise. The brakes grab causing the vehicle to apply to much brake pressure at times. Other times it doesn't apply enough pressure. This occurs as the vehicle is coming to a stop.

Filed Sep 11, 2015 · Brakes · 92,000 miles · PA

While driving at a speed of approximately 40 MPH I began to press on the brakes when a grinding noise suddenly occurred and the vehicle would not slow down or come to a complete stop as normal. The brake lights, t/c light popped up on the dash board. I accelerated again to pull to the side of the road, as I pressed the brakes again the grinding noise occurred and no matter how hard u press down on the brake the vehicle would not come to a complete stop until it lost moving momentum. I turned the vehicle off and restarted it and all lights were off and the brakes operated normal until a few weeks later it would reoccur and now has become a randomly repetitive issue.

Filed Jun 4, 2015 · Brakes · 103,000 miles · FL

Brake light and ABS light illuminated followed by marked reduction in braking power. Braking caused a grinding and springy sound. Once car was turned off problem resolved. This has happened on 3 occasions. Twice even after brake booster was replaced (code c1179). There is no current recall but there are multiple similar complaints to find online. Safety is definitely impacted.

Filed Jun 2, 2015 · Brakes · 107,000 miles · IL

My husband was backing up in the armada when the break light came on for no real reason. The breaks sounded as though they were grinding or slipping. The breaks did not stop the car properly anymore . We pulled into gas station where we shut the car off . When restarting it the break light was off and breaks worked normal again. 1day while driving the breaks did it again, I could barely stop the armada. Only way to fix it was to shut car off. I have read that this is a break booster malfunction. This needs to be address by nissan before people are killed from loss of breaks! There are multiple complaints from people on line with the same issue and stories of the armada breaks failing.