Nissan recalls 4m cars

Nissan North America has said that 3.2 million cars are being called in with major safety problems where airbags or seat belts could fail in a crash.

A front seat sensor has proven to be defective – and is it detects whether a passenger is an adult or child, even if there’s a passenger there at all. It may mistake an adult for a child, or the seat as empty, and turn airbags off completely

The recall applies to US-sold 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF and Sentra, 2013-2017 Nissan Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60 and Q50, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Chevrolet City Express and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles.

Nissan will inform owners and will offer a free fix, although the timeframe for this action is yet to be finalised.

SENTRA

Next, there’s 620,000 American-sold 2013-2016 Sentras joining the recall line with an airbag sensor problem.

Nissan said the front passenger seats belt brackets may buckle, if used to secure a child restraint. It the bracket is deformed it may cause the airbag not to shut off when it should.

The company hasn’t yet figured out how to fix the bracket issue and warns Sentra owners not to install child restraints in the front seats. It says it will take more than a month to inform owners of the issue, and – once it’s figured out a suitable fix – it will announce recall dates.

NZ / AUSTRALIA

Nissan New Zealand managing director John Manley says the problem is for American left-hand-drive vehicles.

“It’s nothing to do with New Zealand or Australia,” he told AutoTalk. “It’s just left hand drive vehicles in the US – and we’re quite happy with that.”