Airbag Problems

[jeffcubsfan]

Hi everyone,

I received my Versa three weeks ago and just scheduled to have it serviced for the second time due to airbag problems.

Twice, the passenger side airbag light on the center console remains on and indicates that it is off. The supplemental airbag light near the gas gauge flashes. According to the manual, this indicates that there is a problem with the airbags and needs to be serviced by the dealer.

I can't identify a cause for this either. (It happened twice while driving and no one sitting in or leaving the passenger seat). Sadly, the model is so new that the dealer service departments cannot come up with a permanent solution. At the previous service, they "reset it after a code was tripped."

Has anyone encountered a problem like this with their Versa or another Nissan? Anyone know of a way to fix this easily?

Otherwise, I love the car. Thanks.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Welcome to NICO, Jeff. Sorry to hear about your difficulties.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot you can do to solve the airbag problem yourself. Airbags are the one area of the car that I won't go near...they're best left to the dealer. Too many things can go wrong if you try to fix things yourself.Also, with an error light coming on, the problem could be any number of things--only the dealer can know for sure.

The dealer should be properly equipped to solve the problem...the newness of the vehicle is NOT an excuse!

[electech]

I don't have the same problem as you but they are going to have to replace the whole airbag assembly because of poor quality during assembly. The cover on the darn thing is loose and sticking up in the corner and has been like that for nearly a month. It happend the second day we had it. Between that and the greasy fingerprints all over trim pieces on the interior and small stains at various other spots makes me wonder how the quality control is in the Mexican plant. I sure hope it is better than one of our suppliers who started making everything in Mexico. We had to move the production back here because of such poor quality control. Sounds like you just had bad luck though and may not be related to poor assembly like mine.

[jeffcubsfan]

Hello again,

I wanted to post the follow-up to my visit with the dealer for service.

They spent the whole day trying to figure out the error that was causing the airbag lights to go off. Apparently, nobody locally had a clue, and the dealership service department contacted Nissan technical help/engineers. They were supplied with an engineering flow chart that indicated the seatbelt fastener faulted.

In addition to the weight sensor in the passenger seat, the seatbelt also has a sensor to indicate a passenger is seated. This occurs higher on the flow chart and my code faults were a result of this. The dealership ordered a new seatbelt assembly, which of course is back-ordered, and scheduled me for the installation later this month.

They gave me a few free oil changes for the inconvenience and called it a day. Hopefully, this will solve the problem permanently.

If this seems like bull to anybody, let me know.

Thanks.

[MinisterofDOOM]

That actually makes sense. There's a sensor in the seat as well as seatbelt to sense if there is a person over a certain weight in the seat. If either malfunctions, it could be dangerous (either by not deploying the airbag in a collision, or by deploying it on a child small enough that it should not go off).

Free Nissan dealership oil changes are always good. Ensures the use of OEM filters.

[tummypony86]

I too have a problem with the air bag cover and Nissan repair says that there are upwards of 280 other Versa models with the same problem. Back order on the cover until early November

[vidrine]

jeffcubsfan I have had this problem. The seatbelt tensioner is bad. I have had Two go bad in the last two weeks. My car was only three days old when it failed. I brought it in and they diagnosed it, I called Nissan Consumer affairs and Within three days an engineer showed up with my part. It failed again two days later. I called Nissan consumer affairs again and it took them a week to replace. I have been told by Nissan this is a problem with the manufacturing of the seatbelt tensioner aka seat belt assembly. I am now on my third seat belt. You should not be driving this car with the seat belt fault, If you get in an accident you airbags will not deploy at least that's what my dealer told me, Nissan covered a rental car for a week and a half because the car is not safe to drive. Good luck and dont worry it will get fixed.

[Ever Victorious]

Seat belt tensioners are not used in determining whether or not the airbag deploys. There are a couple parts that ARE... there are some shock sensors in the car (generally, 2 in each bumper and 2 in each side for models that have side air bags) that detect the severity of a collision and trip a circuit if it's "over 17MPH" (speed difference), and then the other part is for the passenger airbag only, which is a cutoff switch. If it detects less than 120 lbs in the passenger seat (at least that's the typical threshhold on most models), it will deactivate the passenger airbag.

Seatbelt tensioners are a part that help seat belts slow you down less violently in a severe collision. In a lower-speed collision, the seatbelt will just lock up and stop you. In a more severe collision, the belt will lock, tear a metal tab, lock again, tear another tab, etc. etc... at very high speed, so it slows your body down with a less severe shock. You end up traveling forward farther, but more slowly.

This is why seatbelts also need to be replaced after every single accident, yet for some reason I rarely see it happen.

This is further confirmation of my suspicions that I outlined in the "versa sucks" thread, re: my theory on your car.

Edit: They were right to give you a loaner car because the tensioners are broken... not because the airbags would be affected, but because the belts no longer have the ability to stop you properly. They'd either lock up and cause a more severe shock to your system, or they wouldn't and you'd end up hitting the air bag as if you weren't strapped in at all. Quite dangerous... and if my theory is correct, THIS is a case where the car SHOULD be replaced.

[vidrine]

I must say ever victorious you are wrong. The seat belt tensioner is directly connected to the airbag system in the versa. When this part failed it turned off my pass. airbag system. I was standing with the tech when he pluged the CPU reader in and I read the code and the disc. The only part that was changed in my car was the Seat belt tensioner. The pass Air bag light and the dash air bag light did clear when they changed the part and reset the system.

[Ever Victorious]

Alright, then this is a newer, more advanced system than I am used to.

[vidrine]

FYI.When My car went in for repair on the seat belt tensioner I was told by a personal friend at the dealer that their were 5 other Nissan dealers in California waiting for the same seat belt tensioner that failed in my car. They all had the exact symptoms as my car and jeffcubsfan's car it seems to me they might very well have an issue with this part.

[mitnese]

Thanks Jeff for this post. This was the main reason I joined NICO so I can see if other were having this same problem. I'm taking my Versa in tomorrow to have the airbag light looked at and the airbag cover on the passenger side. So, I appreciate your feedback on the seatbelt fastener.

Has anyone else had troubles with their A/C automatically turning on when you move the controls to defrost? I live in a relatively cool area and use the defrost a lot, the A/C is NOT helping the situation. I'm assuming it's a miss wiring or something.

Thanks all!

[kc5f]

Has anyone else had troubles with their A/C automatically turning on when you move the controls to defrost?

It's not a problem - it's designed that way, as are lots of other cars. Acts as a dehumidifier to keep from pumping more moisture onto the windshield while you're trying to keep it clear.

What this car DOES let you do, that other cars I've had don't, is push the AC button to turn it off while you're still in the Defrost position.

[Ever Victorious]

Has anyone else had troubles with their A/C automatically turning on when you move the controls to defrost? I live in a relatively cool area and use the defrost a lot, the A/C is NOT helping the situation. I'm assuming it's a miss wiring or something.

Thanks all!

This is normal on almost every single vehicle. A/C dries out the air inside your cabin, making it harder for fog to form on the inside.

So it takes longer to defrost, but it keeps the windows defogged while you're driving. You really only need to deFROST for the first few minutes your car is on. Once your car is up to temp, it is very hard for frost to form on the outside because of the heat differential.

With the A/C turned off, however, that heat differential causes moisture to condense on the glass. hence the fog. Remove the moisture from the air (with AC) and you have no fog. Or frost.

[mitnese]

Thanks guys, I've never had a car that did this. Very good to know. I'll leave it on next time to see if it helps faster than with it off.

[jeffcubsfan]

Hello all,

So yesterday, the service dept. of the dealer with whom I've been dealing replaced the passenger side seatbelt tension unit. They said a code had been tripped again and would continue to do so if this part was not replaced. Still, I'm wondering if I will continue to have these problems.

I'm putting the over/under on when the replacement tension unit will fail at 2 weeks. I'm taking the under.

Anyway, it was good to see that the dealer seemed to have a better idea about what was causing the problem, understood the car more, and obtained the part rather quickly.

I hope this works.

Thanks everyone.

[vidrine]

Glad to see they fixed your problem Jeff. I'm on my third tensioner now, for over two weeks. The other two failed within three days of install, but I do us my passenger seat on a regular basis. I think they replaced it with a good one this time.

[OKVersa]

Thank you for posting this information. The airbag light came on last night and the passenger seat airbag light showed "OFF." We had to drive home through 60 miles of deer country with no airbag, so I wasn't happy.

So we will have to go the hour drive to the Nissan dealership on Monday to have this fixed. I guess I need to look up the warranty to make sure they will give us a loaner. Dang it. They will probably want to give us our trade-in for the loaner!!

I've printed out this thread and hope it can be resolved quickly.

Thanks again.

[Ever Victorious]

The manufacturer does not stipulate the requirement for a loaner. Any dealer that gives one does so at its own cost, from its own stock. Really good dealers will take a few of their new cars each year and convert them into service loaners, then sell them as used cars at the end of the year. Most dealers just make you figure out your own arrangement.

The only Nissan dealer around here that gives out service loaners didn't have any V's when I went to buy mine, so I couldn't buy from them (another stipulation of the service loaner is generally that you have to have purchased the vehicle being service from them). My dealer has given me a free rental once... but the rest of the time I was on my own. Good thing I own 3 cars...

[OKVersa]

Sigh. It's always something, isn't it?

[vidrine]

Actually the manufacturer (Nissan) does approve loaners depending on you situation. I have the extended warranty through Nissan and that covers a rental for any overnight warranty repairs. Dealer must get it approved of course. I would pressure the dealer to give a rental for the simple reason that the car is unsafe to drive. You might get lucky. I had several rentals a few from the dealer directly and a two from Enterprise all paid for by Nissan Directly. I didnt even buy my car from the Dealer that has done all of my warranty work.

[OKVersa]

Thank you for the heads up. It IS certainly true that it isn't safe to drive at night. We live in the heart of white-tailed deer country and it is rutting season, which means deer are everywhere.

[OKVersa]

Well, Versa is going in the shop tomorrow for fixing the Airbag/seatbelt problem and the TPMS issue. I printed out both threads hoping that will speed up the process.

The dealer said we'd get a loaner. I just hope it isn't the Jimmy we traded in. That wouldn't be a lot of fun! It will probaby be a used Sentra.

I'll let everyone know how long it takes and how well the fix holds!

[OKVersa]

Well, the mechanics reset the airbag/seat belt and ordered a sensor. The warning light is out. When you set something light in the passenger seat, the "air bag off" light comes on, so I guess that part is working.

They PROMISED the airbag would work properly if we hit something - we live in white-tailed deer country and it is rutting season - so that's where we are. We have to take it back in next week to replace the sensor.

No G6 loaners!

[OKVersa]

Supposedly my airbag/seat belt problem has been fixed. I had to have a new sensor. It worked all the way home from the dealer (60 miles.) It is really getting to be a pain to have to drive the 120 mile round trip to get something fixed.