Nissan Recalls 2025 Sentras Over a Driveshaft That Can Cut Power While Driving

Nissan is recalling 2025 Sentra sedans built at its Aguascalientes II plant in Mexico after finding that the left-side driveshaft on some cars was not seated correctly at the factory. NHTSA opened the campaign as 26V410. A driveshaft that never locked fully into the CVT assembly can slip loose on the road, leaking transmission fluid and cutting power to the wheels without warning.

What the Defect Does Behind the Wheel

Nissan’s own filing describes two ways the problem shows up for a driver. First, a slow fluid leak from the loose joint can cause the transmission to hesitate or jerk under acceleration, and it can trigger the malfunction indicator light on the dashboard. Second, in a full separation, the car can lose motive power outright, meaning the engine keeps running but stops turning the wheels. Nissan’s filing also warns that a car parked with the driveshaft in this condition can roll forward or backward after the driver shifts into park, a result of the transmission’s parking mechanism depending on components downstream of the same joint. Losing propulsion in traffic, or on an on-ramp, raises the odds of a rear-end collision. That risk is why NHTSA and Nissan moved on the issue quickly, even with a comparatively small number of affected cars next to some of the year’s other recalls.

A Narrow Production Window, A Traceable Cause

Nissan has narrowed the affected build dates to September 11 through September 13, 2025, at its Aguascalientes II plant, which points to a short-run supplier problem rather than a design flaw across the whole Sentra lineup. The automaker’s investigation lands on GKN Automotive’s Mexican subsidiary, which supplies the driveshaft assembly. GKN found that the bearing at the end of the shaft was machined to the wrong diameter for a brief stretch of production, which kept the joint from locking fully into the transmission housing. As of the recall filing, Nissan had logged 13 warranty claims, three technical reports, and two customer complaints tied to the issue, a small but consistent enough pattern for the company to act before a wider set of failures showed up in the field.

The Fix and the Timeline

Any Sentra confirmed to have the incorrectly installed driveshaft will need both the CVT assembly and the driveshaft replaced, a job Nissan estimates at up to 10.5 hours of dealer labor. Owners will not pay anything for the parts or the time. Nissan plans to mail owner notification letters by August 5, 2026. The production window is so narrow that most Sentra owners with cars built outside those three days in September will not be affected at all, but the only way to know for certain is to check the VIN.

How to Check Your Sentra

Owners can look up their vehicle at NHTSA.gov/recalls using the 17-character VIN printed on the driver’s side door jamb sticker or the vehicle registration. The NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline, 1-888-327-4236, can also confirm whether a specific VIN falls inside the affected build range. Nissan dealers will have access to the same lookup tool and can schedule the repair once a customer’s VIN comes back as affected. Drivers who notice jerking, hesitation, or a warning light in a 2025 Sentra built in September 2025 should not wait for the mailed letter. A transmission fluid leak from a loose driveshaft will only get worse with more miles, and a dealer visit sooner rather than later reduces the odds of a full separation happening in traffic.

Driveshaft Recalls Are Rare But Not New for Nissan

This is not the first time a Nissan driveshaft has drawn a safety recall. In 2024, the automaker recalled roughly 9,600 Sentra sedans for a nearly identical left-side driveshaft seating problem, and Nissan has also dealt with separate steering-related Sentra recalls in past years. A driveshaft failure is mechanically distinct from the electronics and software defects that dominate a lot of 2026’s recall activity. It is a torque-transfer part, meaning the failure mode is physical rather than a sensor misreading a signal, which is part of why Nissan’s fix requires full parts replacement rather than a software update pushed through a dealer’s diagnostic computer.

Talking to a Dealer About the Repair

When calling to schedule the fix, owners should ask the service department to confirm parts are in stock before dropping the car off. A recall covering a specific supplier defect can sometimes outpace the number of replacement CVT assemblies a regional parts network has on hand. Asking for a loaner vehicle up front, rather than after arriving for the appointment, also tends to produce a better outcome given the length of the repair. Owners should keep a copy of the repair order once the work is finished, both for their own records and in case a future buyer or a trade-in appraiser asks for proof the recall was completed.

What This Means for Used Sentra Shoppers

Anyone shopping for a used 2025 Sentra should run the VIN through NHTSA’s recall lookup before signing paperwork, regardless of what the seller says about the car’s history. A dealer trade-in or a private-party sale will not always flag an open recall, and the repair is free at any Nissan dealer regardless of who currently owns the car. Buyers who confirm a VIN falls inside the affected range should ask the seller to have the recall completed before the sale closes, or negotiate the price to account for the 10.5 hours of dealer time the fix will require.

Why a Driveshaft Recall Is Different From a Software Recall

A large share of 2026’s recall activity involves cameras, dashboards, and sensors, defects a dealer can sometimes fix with a software flash in under an hour. A driveshaft failure sits at the opposite end of that spectrum. The part physically transfers engine torque to the wheel, and once the joint has slipped or the bearing has worn from running loose, no update can restore it. That is why Nissan’s fix requires swapping the entire CVT assembly along with the driveshaft rather than a quick reflash, and why the labor estimate runs as long as 10.5 hours. Drivers used to a same-day recall visit for an infotainment glitch should expect this repair to take longer and likely require a loaner car or a multi-day drop-off, something worth confirming with the dealer’s service department when scheduling the appointment.

The Broader Sentra Recall History

This is the second time in two years Nissan has recalled Sentra sedans for a left-side driveshaft that was not seated correctly at the factory. The earlier campaign, filed in 2024, covered roughly 9,645 cars and traced back to a similar seating failure. Nissan has also dealt with a Sentra recall over a steering defect in prior years, and 2026 alone brought separate recalls covering Nissan Kicks instrument clusters and an expansion of a Rogue stall and fire risk campaign. None of those other recalls involve the same driveshaft supplier issue described here, but the pattern shows a company that has had to return to the same general category of mechanical defect more than once in a short stretch, which is part of why NHTSA and Nissan moved quickly on a recall covering a comparatively small number of vehicles built across just three days of production.

Questions Owners Are Asking

Owners checking their VIN and finding it inside the affected range have asked dealers whether it is safe to keep driving until the scheduled repair. Nissan’s filing does not carry a do-not-drive warning, but it does recommend that owners who notice jerking, hesitation, or the malfunction indicator light schedule service immediately rather than wait for the parts and appointment window tied to the August 5 mailing date. Owners have also asked whether a car that has already had unrelated CVT service will still qualify for the free repair. The recall covers a factory assembly defect tied to specific build dates, so a car’s service history for other issues does not affect its eligibility. The only factor that counts is whether the VIN falls inside the affected production window Nissan identified at its Aguascalientes II plant.

Sources:

• Autoevolution
• MotorSafety.org
• NHTSA Recalls