— Nissan has recalled more than 25,280 cars to fix passenger frontal airbags that can fail in a crash, although it's not related to Takata or Autoliv, two airbag companies that have experienced problems recently.
Recalled are 2015-2017 Nissan LEAF and 2014, 2015 and 2017 Nissan Sentra cars with airbags that may have trouble with components inside the airbag inflators.
Nissan says this recall involves Daicel, a tier 5 supplier that made errors when manufacturing the components of the airbags. Daicel was contacted in October 2016 about a lab test where the airbag didn't properly deploy. The airbag company opened an investigation and Nissan visited three suppliers to try to determine the root cause of the airbag problems.
One of the suppliers (Nihon Plast) conducted testing and although no incidents were discovered, Nissan said it ordered a recall out of an abundance of caution.
The automaker says coolant (filters) within the airbag inflators may have been affected by two conditions.
First, rust may have formed on a rod as a result of long-term storage of the parts. And second, the rod may have been formed with tools affected by excessive wear.
Nissan believes that if both of these conditions are present, a lack of compression strength of the coolant within the inflator housing can cause the airbags to fail.
Nissan will start notifying owners on June 11, 2017. Dealers will replace the front passenger airbag inflators, but owners with questions should call Nissan at 800-647-7261.
CarComplaints.com has owner-reported complaints about the Nissan LEAF and Nissan Sentra.
