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2016 Nissan Sentra: hesitation when accelerating

11 of the 270 complaints about the 2016 Nissan Sentra describe hesitation when accelerating.

owner complaints
11
of this car's complaints
4%
typical mileage
95,000
recalls
0
Is there a fix? 33 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Hesitation when accelerating by model year

What owners say

Filed Mar 16, 2025 · Acceleration, Engine · MS

I have a 2016 Nissan Sentra SV with 103k miles on it. I was driving the car, and noticed at stop sign and red lights the car would strain and hesitate when the accelerator was pressed. It would jerk hard then drive normally. The car would also loose power while driving. It would drop from 65 mph to 20 mph. It has done this numerous of times, and I have to try and maneuver off to the side of the highway to avoid a crash. The check engine light illuminated.The car would sit for a few minutes, accelerate, and drive normal. A few minutes later, the cycle starts again. I would also smell as if something was burning. After taking it to the shop, it was determined it was the CVT which was recalled in 2018 for 2013-2017 Nissan Sentra due to faulty CVT's. However, it is based on your VIN number according to Nissan.I did speak to a representative from Nissan Consumer Affairs and she stated my VIN number should NO RECALLS!!!! I have this car that is doing everything that granted the recall, but because they did not put my VIN number on their list it doesn't qualify. Several transmission shop has told me they do not attempt to repair the CVT they buy a new transmission from Nissan dealership. The price starts at $5200. [XXX] please help!!! The check engine light code was a P2859 issues with the Power Tran transmission. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Mar 10, 2025 · Transmission · 95,000 miles · NJ

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed, and the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The vehicle hesitated and lost motive power. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the vehicle. The contact became aware of an abnormal burning odor. The vehicle was able to be restarted; however, the failure recurred. The contact stated the indicator on the instrument panel was moving independently. The vehicle was not taken to the local dealer or independent mechanic. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while driving 50 MPH uphill, the vehicle jerked and failed to properly accelerate. After several attempts, the vehicle moved slowly and was able to drive up the hill. The vehicle was towed to the residence and was not driven since the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the warranty on the vehicle had expired. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000.

Filed Mar 6, 2025 · Transmission · 96,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while approaching a traffic light, the vehicle hesitated and stalled. The driver depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle hesitated and lost motive power. The vehicle was able to be restarted; however, the vehicle failed to move. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 96,000.

Filed Mar 6, 2025 · Transmission · 96,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while approaching a traffic light, the vehicle hesitated and stalled. The driver depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle paused and lost motive power. The vehicle was able to restart. However, the vehicle failed to move. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT); and the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 96,000.

Filed Mar 6, 2025 · Transmission · 96,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while approaching a traffic light, the vehicle hesitated and stalled. The driver depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle paused and lost motive power. The vehicle was able to restart; however, the vehicle failed to move. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT); and the contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 96,000.

Filed Sep 28, 2023 · Transmission · 70,000 miles · CA

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.

Filed Feb 21, 2023 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. Additionally, while driving at various speeds, the RPM would increase but the vehicle would not respond. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 105,000.

Filed Oct 19, 2020 · Transmission · 81,000 miles · TN

Cars transmission hesitates, vibrates. Happens when pulling out. More when pulling out while turning

Filed Feb 6, 2019 · Transmission · 45,600 miles · IN

Transmission is making a whirring noise on acceleration from a green light and is jerking sometimes upon acceleration. Then getting on the interstate it hesitates before it hits 60 MPH I bought this car with 45,000 miles and payment. I made a mistake because form other complaints the CVT is has a ton of issues and needs to be recalled.

Filed Oct 25, 2018 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · PA

I have a 2016 nissan sentra that has CVT transmission that is breaking down after the car is only 2 years old. Car is having trouble shifting, accelerating, and hesitate and loses power when driving on both a city street or highway. This has been a known problem by nissan from previous models and that go from 2003 to 2010 models where they extended the transmission warranty. I found this out through research and see there are other complaints for late model cars like mine. A transmission should not fail like this on a 2 year old car and I should not have to bear the cost of replacing it at $5,000.

Filed Feb 13, 2018 · Acceleration, Electrical · 70,000 miles · GA

Purchased from nissan of newnan, in october of 2016 sentra - while driving the car it started hesitating before picking up any speed from a stopped position, while trying to accelerate, then check engine light came on, pulled over to read the manual and it stated to check the gas cap, it was not on tight so I removed it a placed it back, the check engine light went off. The next day while driving on the highway, when pressing on the gas pedal the engine would rev up but the car starting jerking before gaining to 40 miles per hour, the rmp gauge would zip up to 4 go back to 2 before moving to a higher speed. When the car was parked and turned off, once I started it back up the car would shift into drive, but the car would not move. Had to have it towed to the dealership, the diagnosis was dealing with something electrical and the transmission. Less than 2 years old and less than 100,000 miles. I owned older model for 5 years, over 200,000 miles before I had any problems from the engine or transmission.

Questions about the 2016 Nissan Sentra hesitation

Is hesitation when accelerating a common problem on the 2016 Nissan Sentra?

11 of 270 owner complaints about the 2016 Nissan Sentra (4%) mention hesitation when accelerating. The model year with the most reports is 2015.

Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2016 Nissan Sentra?

There are 0 recalls and 33 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.

Other symptoms on the 2016 Nissan Sentra

CVT failure 43Stalling 38Transmission failure 36Jerking 32Check engine light 31Loss of power 19Slipping 19Shudder 12Adaptive cruise 7No deployment 7Won't start 7Grinding brakes 6Door locks 6Fuel pump 6Whining noise 6Engine failure 5

All model years of the Nissan Sentra

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