2005 Nissan Armada. My airbag sensor light has turned on and remained on for no apparent reason. The vehicle has not been in an accident and was recently serviced by the local Nissan dealership about a week ago. Prior to the issue of the air bag light the braking system appears to be intermittent in stopping the SUV, which is also felt in the brake pedal while braking. I have addressed this to the dealership but they could not identify the cause. This all may or may not be related but this is very important to the safety of driving. To my knowledge similar problems are addressed in the 2007 and 2008 Nissan vehicles but nothing yet for my 05 Armada. How can you help? I would hate for these problems to be the cause of an accident one day. These complaints are very similar to others on your web site.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

I have a 2005 Nissan Armada that is experiencing intermittent brake light/brake failure. The symptoms happen after initially turning on the vehicle and driving for about 200 yards. When the brakes are applied, the brake light will come on simultaneously with front brake noise. The brake pedal will be very "mushy", but the vehicle will stop. After stopping and turning the vehicle off, the error resets. This problem has happened at least five times in the last two months. I've taken the vehicle to the dealer and they claim there isn't any error code stored so they can't diagnose the problem to fix it. I searched the internet to see if this was a known problem and have found many other incidents, including this website to report this safety concern.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

I was driving my 2005 Nissan Armada SE when coming up to a stop light and had to apply my brakes to stop and they failed. The brake pedal shuddered and could hear a metal squeal coming from the front brakes. Scared me to death. Had my infant son with me and was really shaken that I almost hit another car in front of me. Since I wasn't in a area to where I could pull over right away, I began to pull away from the stop light very slowly. When no cars were around and I felt it safe to apply my brakes again, the same thing happened! the brake light on the instrument panel came on and I felt a grinding noise, and shudder feeling when apply pressure on the brake pedal. I finally pulled the vehicle over right away and called for a tow truck to tow to dealer. Explained to dealer what had happened and they told me they had heard about this type of problem before and that Nissan had released a service bulletin about it. My service advisor told me that it was a vdc (vehicle dynamic control) module failure. He went on to say that sometimes you can turn off the vehicle and turn back on and it will reset itself. Very scary!!! I purchased an extended warranty when I purchased my Armada and the dealer told me that this was not covered and it would cost me $115 to fix. I think Nissan would be well advised to issue a recall about this situation. I would hate to be going down the highway at 75 mph and have to apply my brakes suddenly and have them not work properly or scary yet someone gets killed.

- Surprise, AZ, USA

While backing out of a parking space and applying brakes, the brakes suddenly began to grind and shutter very loudly and wouldn't function properly - it was as if they were locked up. The brake light came on and I was only able to come to a stop by down shifting and applying the emergency brake at the same time. All the while it was grinding terribly. I had trouble with the brakes when we first purchased the car - but this is the first time since 2005. I proceeded very slowly to my local repair shop (RPM automotive) where they did a computer check on the braking system. They had seen this same problem on several Armadas already this year. The referred me to the dealership since they did not have the "code" number needed to correct the problem. My car is currently at the dealership service department. I think if I had been on the highway that I would have had an accident. The dealership feels that this is no big deal and the brakes will be fine once they fix the computer. I am very frightened about driving it again.

- Jacksonville, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Armada. Whenever the brake pedal was depressed, the front end of the vehicle began to shake. The contact examined the vehicle and noticed that the rotors had grooves imprinted on them from the brake pads. The vehicle has been diagnosed by the dealer several times, but the failure still persists. The current mileage was 12,575 and failure mileage was 2,500. Updated 6/9/08 the consumer stated the rotors and brakes continue to go bad. Updated 06/09/08

- Philadelphia, PA, USA

I rounded a corner at about 35 mph (pulling a trailer) and my antilock brakes system went haywire. The brakes were pulsing madly, and the truck slowed slightly. I pushed on the brake pedal and nothing happened. I could not stop the truck!! luckily, nobody was on the street and I was able to put it in neutral and turn the engine off while still moving about 25 mph and restart the engine at which time the system reset itself. Upon going to the Nissan dealer, I was informed that the vcd system (brake actuator) needed a software upgrade and that there was a service bulletin issued for this problem from Nissan. I'm appalled that this dangerous problem where the driver cannot control the brakes or stop the vehicle is a known problem, yet there is no recall, or attempt to notify owners... someone is going to get hurt as a result of this. Not to mention that Nissan made me pay $170 to reprogram this faulty critical component... owners need to be made aware of this problem. I called customer service and they didn't want to hear it.

- Sandy Hook, CT, USA

The contact's mother owns a 2005 Nissan Armada. While driving above 40 mph with the brake pedal slightly depressed, the brake icon illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle makes a hard stop and the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to a dealer three times and they could not duplicate the failure. The current mileage was 36,000 and failure mileage was 25,000.

- Suwanee, GA, USA

Driving my 2005 Nissan Armada, pushed on brake pedal to stop only to find the brakes failed completely, the brake light came on, and the pedal went to the floor. Brakes made a "grinding" noise and I was able to put in neutral until stopped and then to park. Turned vehicle off, and problem disappeared. When I went to the dealer they said nothing was wrong and I was ok to keep driving!

- Richmond, VA, USA

Thanks for your email. We'll keep a watch on this. In the meantime, you need to file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA. You can file a complaint by going to www-ODI.NHTSA.dot.gov/IVOQ/. let us know if you receive any kind of response.thanks again, brian sasser investigative producer kprc-tv 713-778-4965 713-771-4930 fax bsasser@kprc.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- from: Michael quirin [mailto:michael.quirin@citrix.com] sent: Saturday, July 28, 2007 1:54 pm to: Troubleshooters@click2houston.com subject: This could be the next Firestone tire type of disaster... I was at the Nissan dealership today, and a lady came in because her Nissan Armada lost its ability to brake (all of the sudden out of nowhere). Once she finally came to a stop and turned the car off and back on, everything was okay. I spoke to the service reps, and they said this is a known issue and Nissan haven't done a recall (they were very concerned about this). This is very alarming because I own an ?05 Armada that my wife drives with our two children. I went online, and found cases of this happening all over with too many close calls. X.nissanhelp.com/forums/Armada/1852-brake-problems.html... is just one forum link I will attach where you can read about this issue. Somebody needs to get Nissan to do something quickly, or people will get hurt or even killed! thanks, mike quirin

- Spring, TX, USA

While driving my 2005 Nissan Armada last fall, I tapped the brakes and encountered a severe vibration phenomena that I had never experienced on a vehicle before. I stopped. Turned off vehicle. Called for my husband to help. When he arrived, I started the car and the problem was gone. I took it to my local dealer in manchester, tn (roberts Nissan 931-728-2212). At that time, the vehicle was still under warranty. They were unable to reproduce the vibration or to find the problem, but they went ahead and changed out some brake pads and did some repair on the rotors. I had no further problems until this month. This time my husband was with me when the same vibration occurred. He thought that it felt like the ABS was trying to kick in for some unknown reason. I had never had an ABS vehicle, so I wasn't familiar with that type of braking reaction. I called the dealer and told them that the exact same thing had happened again and that I was bringing the vehicle to them. This time they told me that they had seen that same type of thing on a titan truck recently. Sure enough, after checking they discovered an ABS transducer needed replacing. It was back ordered, and they gave me another car to drive because they felt that it would be unsafe for me to drive the vehicle. They were afraid of the problem occurring while driving at highway speed on the interstate. Although the problem was first noticed and reported while under warranty, Nissan would not fully cover the repair. It apparently was also a safety issue. I believe that the dealer was trying to help, but I am very disappointed with Nissan and filed a complaint (file #5775171). I felt that my repair bill should've been covered entirely. I also wonder if perhaps a recall should be done based on the safety issue and the fact that the part was back ordered which leads me to believe there may be many others with the same problem. My repair bill was $782.67.

- Winchester, TN, USA

4WD light would engage intermittently. Stayed on for the duration that the vehicle was on. This has happened 3 times at approx mileage: 1530 miles, 3650 miles & yesterday 10/31/06 at 9:15 P.M. pst 6880 miles. Brakes & rotors failed at 2200 miles. Replaced by local dealership. Brakes severely screeched at 5500 miles. Local dealership service said "we forgot to tightened up a few bolts on your brakes". at 6750 miles, severe brakes problems. Brakes lights came on, brakes locked up w/ car severely lurching forward when applying pressure light pressure. Drove to the dealership as is without turning off the car. Noticed that problem was serious & gave us a loaner vehicle for 9 days. Local dealership said they have never seen this failure code before on any Nissan vehicle for a brake issue. "delta strokeforce" local dealership was unable to repair the problem; drove it to a neighboring dealership 180 miles R/T. the neighboring dealership re-programmed the internal computer & assured me the problem was fixed. Tonight 11/01/2006, brake light came on & brakes failed again with my wife & kids in the vehicle. Could not make a stop off a freeway exit & just about put her foot through the floorboard trying to do so. Brakes engaged suddenly skidding the tires through the intersection. Mileage at time of incident 6927. It is now at 6930; my wife & I will be driving it to the local dealership in the morning.

- Moses Lake, WA, USA

This will be my second complain filed for the same vehicle. At 14000 miles my vehicle once again is having brake failure I took in my vehicle and service manager suggested that it might be my brake pads and it will cost me aprox. $200 to $300 taking in my the my brake pads and rotors had already been replaced at 7000 miles. After being in the shop for 2 days they found nothing wrong with my pads, however I my problem still continued, when downhill I would feel grinding when braking and if I suddenly brake I felt it even more. To one point that I almost hit a car in front of me thank god I was able to stop because I was probably going about 10 mph. I finally took my vehicle back to the shop and this time they found the problem to be brake pads, and rotors but no charge is going to be made to me because it is covered by warranty.

- San Diego, CA, USA

1) just traded my car in for a "brand new" 2005 Nissan Armada in January 2006. The brake light on the dashboard lights up while driving. It has about 4000 miles on it. The problem started at 600 miles. I bought the SUV with over 400 miles on it. 2) the brake light on the dashboard lights up while driving. As you apply the brakes, the brake pedal vibrakes and makes a clicking/mechanical noise. This happens every 5-7 days. It has happened several times with my family (we have a 5 yr-old and a 2 yr-old) in the SUV. We have had to stop in the middle of the intersection or pull over to the side of the road, while blocking the right lane many times. 3) to temporarily correct the problem, you would have to pull over asap. There were times where I had to just stop the vehicle as the SUV would just vibrate and the braking appears to be weak. Once pulled over, you have to stop the ignition and restart the car. I took it to my dealer and they said they only had to replace the fuses. Then about 1-2 weeks later, I had to drive it to another dealer, where they described the rotors as being warped. They put in a new brake kit but the problem remains.

- Lathrop, CA, USA

When applying brakes there is vibration in steering. ** answer required*** updated 11/7/2005 - the vehicle was taken to the dealer twice within 3 months for this problem. The dealer replaced the rotors but the problem resurfaced. The dealer also installed a new brake kit with brake pads per service bulletin information. The consumer sent a letter to the manufacturer requesting immedaite restitution beacuse the dealer failed to conform to a safety defect within a reasonable number of repair attempts. The consumer received a response stating that Nissan was aware of the safety defect and had responded by extending the warranty on the component and by having Bosch, co. Develop a replacement part.

- Fullerton, CA, USA

The consumer stated that on March 5, 2005 the driver's and passenger's seat belts locked when applying the brakes, the seat belts tightened like they were choking the consumer. The middle row seat locked, but did not catch in order to keep the consumer from going forward. Also when pressing on the brakes the vehicle shook so violently that one could not hang onto the wheel. The consumer had taken the vehicle to the dealer for the brakes, and the dealer said that the vehicle needed a new brake system. In addition, the check engine light had come on. The vehicle was taken to the dealers on October 5, 2005 because the fuel pump cracked. The vehicle needed a new exhaust manifold and the engine blew out. The vehicle needed a new engine. Currently the vehicle had 12, 000 miles on it. Updated 11/29/2005 - (12/05/05) the child safety seat was replaced twice. The rear second row seat snapped and pushed forward with the child in the car seat.

- Staton Island, NY, USA

I own a Nissan Armada SUV (model le 5.6 V8). The car was purchased new in 3/2005 and now has some 3000 miles. We experienced strong vibration of the steering wheel while braking and took the car to the service dept. At the reno (nv) dealership. Yesterday, the dealership told us that Nissan has a problem with all Armada & titan models of 2004/2005 and the problem is causing all brakes to vibrate as the brake discs touch the brake pads. This is apparently something that Nissan knows for a while because all the parts are on "back order" and will not be available for a few months and involves > 100,000 vehicles. The dealer told us that the problem may come back in a few months / thousands of miles and for the meantime the "brakes were warped" which is a temporary fix. We are interested to investigate why (a) Nissan has not declared a formal recall to fix the problem and make customers aware that a problem exists and (B) to find out if the problem is hazardous to life and if other people complained about the same problem. Thank you.

- Reno, NV, USA