Car Will Not Start problems of the 2012 Nissan Sentra

Daughter driving car on interstate when engine died. Was driving in left lane and narrowly avoided getting hit when maneuvering to shoulder on right. Problem turned out to be defective maf (mass air flow) sensor. No indication of trouble (check engine light, rough running, etc) prior to engine shutoff. Do not understand why car would not go into default (open loop mode) at this point rather than just shutting down. Vehicle would not restart. This is ever bit as dangerous as gm's ignition switch problem causing engine shutdown. Extremely dangerous when driving at interstate speeds in heavy traffic and vehicle engine just quits causing loss of power steering and power brakes and little time to react to get out of the way of other traffic.