Nissan to recall nearly a million vehicles for possible air bag failure

The recall is over an air bag safety issue in which sensors may fail to detect a passenger in the front seat and thus not deploy the bag. The problem is similar to that which General Motors has received so much flak for, but is on newer models, namely vehicles in the 2013-2014 model year range.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the occupant classification system may fail to detect a passenger in the front seat, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. Certain things such as "high engine vibration" when the seat is empty and then occupied or "unusual occupant seating postures" could result in the classification software viewing the seat as being occupied by a child or empty.

The occupant classification systems that are believed to have caused the problem were manufactured at just five of Nissan’s plants. Nissan did not provide data on whether any accidents involving the vehicles in question resulted in injuries or deaths. Nissan will begin the recall in April and the fix for most vehicles will involve a software update for the OCS.

The recall involves the following vehicles:
Infiniti JX35 – Model Year 2013
Infiniti Q50 – Model Year 2014
Infiniti QX60 – Model Year 2014
Nissan Altima – Model Years 2013-2014
Nissan Leaf – Model Years 2013-2014
Nissan NV 200 – Model Year 2013
Nissan Pathfinder – Model Years 2013-2014
Nissan Sentra – Model Year 2013-2014