On Wednesday, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a “Do Not Drive” alert for nearly 84,000 Nissan-made vehicles produced between 2002-2006 that were equipped with defective, recalled Takata airbags.
The warning covers certain model year 2002-2006 Nissan Sentras, 2002-2004 Nissan Pathfinders and 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4s that are subject to open Takata airbag recalls under past NHTSA recall campaigns. Recall notices from the NHTSA stated that a vehicle’s frontal passenger airbag inflators may explode due to “propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.” According to a news release, the NHTSA “is urging all vehicle owners to immediately check to see if their vehicle has an open Takata airbag recall,” and if so, should schedule a free repair at their dealerships and follow warnings from the manufacturer. NHTSA’s press release added that “even minor crashes can result in exploding Takata airbags that can kill or produce life-altering, gruesome injuries. Older model year vehicles put their occupants at higher risk, as the age of the airbag is one of the contributing factors.”
Nissan said on its website: “Due to the age of the vehicles equipped with defective Takata airbag inflators, there is an increased risk the inflator could explode during an airbag deployment, propelling sharp metal fragments which can cause serious injury or death.” Nissan and Infiniti are offering free towing, mobile repair and, in some places, loaner vehicles.
An estimated 67 million Takata airbags across vehicles from multiple automakers have been recalled because exposure over time to heat and humidity can cause metal parts inside the air bag to shoot out at drivers or passengers when deployed, according to NHTSA, who added that 27 people have been killed by a defective Takata airbag and over 400 people have been injured. Approximately 50 million defective Takata airbag inflators had been repaired as of 2021.
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