Nissan Recalling 3.53M Vehicles for Airbag Deployment Issue

Nissan is recalling 3.53-million vehicles to address an issue with the passenger-side airbag. This is the fourth recall since 2013 to address issues with the occupant classification systems used in various Nissan vehicles, which may fail to properly identify adult front seat passengers. If the system improperly classifies a passenger as a child or as an empty seat, the passenger-side airbag could fail to deploy in the event of an accident. The Japanese automaker is aware of three injuries related to the issue, but no deaths.

The new recall includes: 2013-2017 Nissan Altima, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Sentra, Rogue,NV200, NV Taxi, Infiniti JX35, QX60 and Q50. It also includes the 2013-2017 Chevrolet City Expressthat Nissan built for General Motors.

Nearly 3.2 million of the vehicles being recalled are in the U.S. The planned fix will vary by vehicle said Nissan spokesman David Reuter. The fix will include software reprogramming in some models and hardware replacements in other models. Approximately 20 percent of the vehicles in the U.S. will require a hardware fix.

The company added that 622,110 Sentra cars that are part of this recall are also subject to a second recall to address an issue with the front-passenger seat belt bracket that can become deformed if it is used to secure a child restraint system. To address that issue, Nissan will reinforce the seat belt bracket.