Hi All,

My brand new 2013 Nissan Sentra started experiencing two issues within the first year of ownership. First, the car's acceleration seemed to hesitate and the engine was making a loud whining noise. Second, the car randomly stopped accelerating while being driven, nearly causing an accident. The car was in the dealership for almost two months and neither Nissan nor the dealership had any idea what was wrong with it.

While the car was in the shop, I repeatedly asked for records relating to the repairs, and the dealership refused to provide me these records, as required by my state's lemon law. So, naturally, I sent the manufacturer and the dealer a letter exercising my rights under the lemon law. That very same day the dealership received this letter, they called me and claimed that (1) the hesitation and whining was caused by a defective transmission, which they replaced, and (2) that the random loss of acceleration was caused by a crack in one of my rear tail lights. The dealership claimed that water got into the LED tail light and caused the entire car to lose power. Given the dealership's ongoing refusal to provide me with records, and the timing of this answer, I am very suspicious. I don't quite understand how moisture in a taillight can make a car stop accelerating while being driven. Can anyone either confirm or deny that this is possible?

Thank you!

Hi Angus,
late response, but last night I got the same problem with my Nissan Versa 2013.
It's Automatic CVT transmission. I bought my car from HERZ with 10K miles on it, so it's still on the warranty.

Suddenly it lost a power, or in other words, seemed like it stuck on the high (4th) gear.
on Parking or Neutral when you press gas pedal, engine reacts and increases RPMs, makes noise, etc
But when on the Drive position, it barely moves, like if you try to start from 4th or 5th gear.

This morning I brought it to the Dealership, and they gave me the same conclusion: problem with tail light caused mis-functioning of transmission.

Very hard to believe, but after they replaced taillight with new one, everything started working.
Started googling, found your post.

Now I have another question: if such a little think as some bolb, wrong electric resistance of light can cause such a serious damage to the primary functionality of the car,
how can we initiate a recall of this model(s)?

Found the place to file a complaint and submitted one there
www.safercar.gov. Select “File a Complaint”

Thank you for the information regarding the tail light and the transmission interaction. Earlier this year I owned a 2012 Nissan Versa that had a transmission issue that caused my engine to rev out of control and brakes to fail while backing into a parking space which nearly totaled the back end of the car. The Dealership couldn't replicate and they chalked it up to user error. Now here is the not so funny weird part. 2 days prior to the failure I had my taillight replaced because it was leaking water into the back of the car. It took the Dealership a year and many complaints to find and repair the leak. Now I am wondering if that caused the transmission to fail. I traded the car back to the dealership because I did not feel safe driving it. I had already filed a complaint on the safe car website. I am going to contact them to see if I can add the part regarding the tail light.

i juss wanna advice regarding a replacement or repair of my windshield and replacement of the head light glass. i met with an small accident and due to some cracks on windshield it is not possible to drive my car anymore. i am just wandering for a glass replacement guys and came across from a Utah mobile auto glass. actually they guys are providing replacement of my glass and headlight repair on my insurance claim, please give some idea about this . i am a bit confused.

I have same issue.
I have nissan Sentra 2013, I took it second hand, I have already drove more than 4000km, yesterday while driving, Suddenly, Acceleration is not working or very slight acceleration while pressing very hard, RPM meter showing 3000 but no pickup at all. Only difference during normal drive is I saw Sport light turned on in the display. But I know this car don't have sports mode, it is a basic model.

After parking safely, I turned off the Engine and turned on again after 10 second then it is normally working.


What may be happened? I got this situation twice till now. once last month and once yesterday.

Thanks & regards.

Check your throttle body, it may have a ton of black crud built up inside which is causing your hesitation. There was actually a soft recall on the B17 for a throttle body cleaning. Google Nissan Sentra Throttle Body Recall. I cleaned mine with Throttle Body cleaner and a tooth brush, hesitation went away. Good luck guys.