Takata Airbag recall

General Discussion forum for Versa Owners
amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

Post

My explanation was rather for why they do not explode in the AMOUNT OF FORCE EXPECTED. That has nothing to do with the harness degrading, it is a propellant issue. Of course any harness issue that exposes the bag leads themselves to power is an issue, I've heard of VOM low power testing doing it and why one NEVER tests the bag resistance itself or with bag still in the system.

I apologize to any others that may have misunderstood as well as to you.

I myself am leery of the first quick fixes, that signals to me that some bags still on shelves may be getting put in cars that are still questionable since the age of the bag figures in there. If newer they may still use 'bad' ones. I'm waiting a bit on mine to preclude that hopefully.


CopyChief
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:42 am
Car: 2017 Nissan Versa SL Hatch

Post

You are exactly right; as has been explained to me, the "interim" fix was, indeed, to take the older airbags and replace it with new ones that might not yet have had the chance to degrade. This was meant to be a fix that would make the car "safe" while final remedy parts were manufactured and distributed.

CopyChief
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:42 am
Car: 2017 Nissan Versa SL Hatch

Post

Just an update to this ongoing saga:

Last week, I was in contact with Nissan to what I thought was yet another dead-end conversation. Same with my dealer. And then, on Friday, I received a call that the parts for the drivers side airbag were in.

Today, the final fix is done!

I can't believe I'm so happy to get back into my 10-year-old car, but indeed, I am.

If you're still waiting for your airbag recall parts, call Nissan, call your dealer, rattle some cages. The parts are in (in small quantities, but still...) but not everyone seems to know it yet.

wags69
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 5:40 am
Car: 2009 Nissan Versa
2007 Saab 9-7x
2002 Cadillac Seville STS

Post

Just registered for this.
I just got my 09 Versa back from the dealer for the recall. I was told that they are doing it VIN specific, and have to order parts based on that.
All told, it took about a week for parts to come in and install. Thankfully, the dealer provided a loaner while they had the car.

CopyChief
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:42 am
Car: 2017 Nissan Versa SL Hatch

Post

Bumping this thread to share an absolutely nutty story about the terrible service I have received from my dealer regarding these airbags.

In early 2018, I (thought I had) the driver and passenger-side airbags replaced, after 6 months or so in a series of loaner cars, some great (a couple of brand-new Nissans) and some not so great (a beat-up Hyundai from Avis). This appointment lasted less than an hour, and their computers were down so they were unable to provide me with any documentation about the services performed on my car.

Months later, I received a call from another dealer about an open recall on my car. I called the service center, and they could not find any proof that the passenger airbag had been serviced. They had the documentation on the driver side. A search on Nissan's website showed the same: still an open recall on the passenger airbag.

In August, I had the passenger airbag replaced. In November, I received a call FROM THE DEALER THAT PERFORMED THE SERVICE letting me know about an open recall about passenger airbags. It turns out that they had a typo in their system in my VIN. So a search on the car today still shows an open recall.

Since November, I have been going back and forth with the service manager to correct the problem. He constantly says that he is emailing Nissan to take care of it, but nothing has moved forward. Now he has stopped returning my calls or answering my emails.

I get that it's a small paperwork error. (It's crazy to me that Nissan's recall reporting system will take an invalid VIN; the number they listed as my car returns an error message when I search on Nissan's website). I understand that in the grand scheme of things, this is no big deal. But... it still ticks me off. Of course the dealership has lost a customer over this... but does anyone have a contact at Nissan through whom I might be able to fix this? (Or another suggestion?)

amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

Post

You likely still have a problem anyway, the dealers are in a lot of cases replacing the bags with new ones but still of the bad design, they don't have any new design ones yet due to the massive numbers involved. The only thing they can do is give you newer ones until the pipeline fills up with enough new design ones to then be able to change them a SECOND time. Ridiculous indeed. The newer old design ones are safer because the failure that the recall is over happens with a time based element, the older the bags are the more likely the problem to show up.

There may well be a TSB over the side bags too, one can get tangled up at deploy and they re-designed it somewhat to remedy the issue.

Nissan was not logical at all about the notices they sent out, I got them all over the map.

CopyChief
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:42 am
Car: 2017 Nissan Versa SL Hatch

Post

Well, that is kind of funny. Very early in this process, when only the passenger airbag was recalled, my dealer performed the "interim" fix which was exactly as you described - putting a newer version of the same defective airbag, since the problem with the airbags is that they degrade over time, the theory is that a new one was safe.

My understanding is that the "final fix" consisted of safe airbags, although who knows at this point?

I'm actually half-tempted to just go to another dealer and see if the airbag has, indeed, been fixed. That would mark the fifth or sixth trip to the dealer I've had to make for this fiasco. Nissan's in a tough spot (along with most other car manufacturers, I guess) but... they've handled it terribly, and my dealer has only magnified the problem.

amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

Post

Yes, they do not provide the 'completeness of fix' as usual due to being able to ultimately say they are at the mercy of the (bankrupt) company that still has to provide the new parts to fix the cars.

Ford will now begin to do the same thing to me with over 10 year old cars too, they just 'suddenly discovered' that the airbag problem is much bigger for them than previously thought too. I now likely have 4 cars with the issue.

This issue will take years to work out fully, and many will get left in the lurch too.


Return to “Versa General Chat”