Nissan recall: 990,000 vehicles for airbag software defect

Nissan recall includes Altima, Leaf, Pathfinder, Sentra, and Infiniti models with a software glitch that could prevent certain airbags from deploying during collisions. Nearly 990,000 vehicles are affected by the Nissan recall.

|
Nissan/AP/File
The 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. A Nissan recall affects the Altima midsize car, Leaf electric car, Pathfinder SUV and Sentra compact models from the 2013 and 2014 model years, as well as the NV200 Taxi van and Infiniti JX35 SUV from 2013 with a software glitch that could prevent certain airbags from deploying.

Nissan North America has issued a massive recall for Nissan and Inifiniti vehicles due to a software glitch that could prevent certain airbags from deploying during collisions. The recall affects a range of vehicles from the 2013 and 2014 model years, including:

2013 Infiniti JX35

2014 Infiniti Q50

2014 Infiniti QX60

2013-2014 Nissan Altima

2013-2014 Nissan Leaf

2013 Nissan NV200

2013-2014 Nissan Pathfinder 

2013-2014 Nissan Sentra

According to a bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall affects 989,701 vehicles registered in the U.S.

The recall stems from a flaw in Nissan's occupant classification system software -- the software that determines whether the front passenger seat is occupied. When that software detects a passenger, it activates the airbags around the passenger seat. Conversely, if it believes the seat is empty, it deactivates those airbags.

Unfortunately, the software installed on the vehicles listed above may incorrectly determine that the passenger seat is empty when it is, in fact, occupied. If that were to happen, and if the vehicle were subsequently involved in an accident, the passenger-seat airbags would fail to deploy, increasing the possibility of injury or death.

Nissan is working on a software upgrade now, and the company will notify owners when the patch is ready (probably in mid-April). At that time, owners will be able to take their vehicles to Nissan and Infiniti dealers, who will update the software free of charge.

If you own one of the affected vehicles and have questions in the meantime, you're encouraged to contact Nissan at 800-647-7261. Alternately, you can call NHTSA at 888-327-4236 and ask about recall campaign 14V138000.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Nissan recall: 990,000 vehicles for airbag software defect
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0327/Nissan-recall-990-000-vehicles-for-airbag-software-defect
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe