Nissan Motor Co. spokesman David Reuter said: “The planned remedy varies by vehicle and will include software reprogramming in some models and [a] hardware replacement in other models”.
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In 3.2 million of the vehicles, the sensor is inaccurately detecting an adult passenger as a child or empty seat, thus turning off the airbag system.
As China steps up its efforts to ensure the quality of cars sold in the world’s largest auto market, Nissan Motors and its Chinese joint-venture partner Dongfeng Automobile announced plans to recall almost 58,000 vehicles in the country. This is the fourth recall concerning the issue since 2013. An estimated 3 million vehicles are affected.
Acura, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Toyota and other manufacturers also had to recall cars over air bag problems in the past year. The sensor issues can prevent an airbag from deploying on the front-passenger side during a crash, leading to potential injury.
A second problem affects 620,000 Sentras and their front seat child restraint system, which might cause air bags to inflate whn they shouldn’t. That includes the 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima; 2015-2016 Murano and Chevrolet City Express; 2014-2017 Rogue; 2013-2017 Pathfinder; 2014-2016 Infiniti QX60 and Q50; 2013-2016 Altima, NV200 (including the taxi model starting in 2014), Leaf and Sentra; and 2013 Infiniti JX35. The passenger seat sensor thinks the seat is either empty or is holding a child when actually it’s an adult.
One California owner told the agency in August 2013 that the airbag warning light came on after the fix.
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Nissan has issued several earlier recalls for occupant classification system issues in the United States in recent years. It also recalled 920 USA vehicles in October 2015.
