On behalf of Nissan, the NHTSA has issued a "do not drive" warning for 83,920 vehicles produced for the 2002 through 2006 model years with Takata airbags. The problem with said airbags can be summed up as inflator propellant degradation, which may result in the inflator exploding upon airbag deployment in the event of a crash.
The inflator is filled with an explosive mixture. In case of a crash, said explosive is designed to inflate the airbag to protect the occupant. Be that as it may, Takata inflators are prone to propellant degradation due to long-term exposure to high temperature cycling and high absolute humidity. Degraded propellant leads to a more violent explosion than intended. The resulting metal pieces from the inflator may cause gruesome injuries or death.
Approximately 67 million airbag modules are believed to feature said propellant. According to the federal watchdog, at least 400 people in the United States of America alone have been injured by the defunct supplier's exploding inflators. Unfortunately, the NHTSA confirmed no fewer than 27 fatalities to date in the United States.
Also tragic, a helluva lot of vehicle owners are not aware that getting the airbag(s) replaced is completely free of charge. This is the reason why Nissan and the NHTSA have joined hands for this "do not drive" warning for owners of the 2022 to 2006 Nissan Sentra, 2002 to 2004 Nissan Pathfinder, and 2002 to 2023 Infiniti QX4.
Said models are included in two recalls, which are dubbed 20V-008 and 20V-747 in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vernacular. Both of them are attached below as PDFs, and both state that recalled non-desiccated airbag inflators will be replaced with desiccated airbag inflators made by a different supplier.
Photo: Nissan
Owners who don't know if their vehicles had the inflators replaced under previous ownership can easily determine if that's actually the case in multiple ways. The Nissan and Infiniti brands offer free-of-charge VIN look-up tools, and the 17-character VIN can also be checked on the NHTSA's website. Again, completely free of charge.
Of the aforementioned nameplates, the Sentra and Pathfinder continue to be offered stateside. QX4 was Infiniti's very first utility vehicle. Released in 1996 for the 1997 model year, the QX4 was advertised in Japan as the Nissan Terrano Regulus. The Pathfinder for the US morphed from a body-on-frame SUV to a unibody crossover with the introduction of the fourth-gen Pathfinder in 2012 for the 2013 model year. The current fifth gen is made at Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant.
As for the Sentra, which is known as the Sylphy in China and Taiwan, the compact sedan is assembled by Nissan Mexicana in Aguascalientes. The biggest difference between the Sentra and Sylphy is the latter's torsion-beam suspension. Also worthy of note, America never got the Sylphy e-POWER.
Compared to a regular battery-electric vehicle that has to be plugged in for charging, this one features an engine. A 1.2-liter engine, that is. Similar to the Ram 1500 Ramcharger, the internal combustion engine is a generator for the electric drivetrain.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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