Airbag failure fears prompt Nissan to recall 3.53 million vehicles

Nissan is recalling more than 3.5 million vehicles, most in the United States, because of fears the passenger-side air bags may not work properly. The Japanese company said it would cover 2013-2017 cars including some Nissan Altima, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Sentra and Rogue models. It blamed a fault in a sensor which was failing to register properly when the passenger seat was occupied and the airbag would not operate.

The planned remedy varies by vehicle and will include software reprogramming in some models and hardware replacement in other models

Nissan statement

The fault in the sensor means that sometimes it thinks a child is in the passenger seat and so will not deploy the airbag. In other models, it thinks the seat in unoccupied. Nissan said it was aware of at least three crashes in which the airbag system did not work, resulting in moderate injuries. The recall is the culmination of a two-year programme ordered by regulators to get the fault fixed. Nissan said it was developing a fix and would notify dealers in late May.

nissan recall