Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIR BAGS | |||
| 02/25/2013 | 54000 | ||
| While sitting in the passenger seat riding with my wife, i noticed the passenger air bag lit meaning i was not protected in the event of a crash and i weigh 180 lbs. i dont see a recall for this but i am going to call dealer monday and check on this. my son has also reported this to me as well and he weigh's about 160 lbs. | |||
| 12/06/2011 | |||
| Was in a wreck and the driver side air bags did not come out. | |||
| 11/18/2011 | 16800 | ||
| On multiple occasions since taking ownership of this 2009 nissan altima 2.5 s sedan, the passenger airbag warning light has come on, meaning that the airbag was disarmed, while a full sized adult was seated in the passenger seat. on the most current occasion, my wife was sitting properly with only her legs extended when this occurred (seatbelt was on properly too). i took a picture of the warning light, my wife seated in the passenger seat with my camera phone to show to a nissan service center, as i had hoped they would fix this defect under warrantee. the nissan dealership could not replicate the warning light, so they said they would not be able to fix this issue. doing some research both here and on other sources, there was a major recall of some 200,000 nissan altimas in 2007 and 2008 for this very same issue. the worry that i have is that god forbid we are ever in a collision, that the airbag might not be there when we need it most. the feature is added in the nissan altima to guard against small children or preteens who are seated in the front passenger seat from airbag-inflation related injuries. what it has done is put the lives of many nissan altima owners in jeopardy. shame on nissan for not designing this feature poorly or not removing it from their design entirely with the previous history of recalls in prior years. this defective seat sensor system needs to be replaced, recalled, or fixed in my opinion. | |||
| 08/01/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated was driving 35 mph when he was involved in a crash. the front driver side air bag did not deploy. the vehicle was destroyed. the manufacturer was contacted and advised that the vehicle was safe to drive and the air bag did not deploy because the air bag sensor was not close enough to the battery area, where the vehicle was struck. the vin was not available. the failure and the current mileage was 27,000. | |||
| 08/01/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated was driving 35 mph when he was involved in a crash. the front driver side air bag did not deploy. the vehicle was destroyed. the manufacturer was contacted and advised that the vehicle was safe to drive and the air bag did not deploy because the air bag sensor was not close enough to the battery area, where the vehicle was struck. the vin was not available. the failure and the current mileage was 27,000. kmj | |||
| 08/01/2011 | 27000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated the vehicle was involved in a crash and the driver frontal air bag did not deploy. the manufacturer took a report and stated the vehicle was safe the air bag did not deploy because the air bag sensor was not close to the battery area were the vehicle was crashed. the vin information was not available. the vehicle was destroyed. the failure and the current mileage was 27,000. li | |||
| 04/21/2009 | 25 | ||
| Passenger side airbag light comes on and stays on with adult (150 lbs plus) in the passenger seat. this happens about 50% of the time. nissan has been aware of this problem for years and so far has done little to correct the problem. the problem started the first month after purchase of the new vehicle on 4-20-2009 and was reported to the dealer. they found no trouble with the airbag system. | |||
| 10/01/2009 | 200 | ||
| 2009 nissan altima 2.5s - passenger airbag disabled light comes on when a person is sitting in the passenger seat indicating that the passenger airbag will not deploy in any situation. the passenger meets and passes the weight requirement and is seated correctly. we can not produce this issue on demand. environment doesn't seem to matter. shape and size of the passenger doesn't seem to matter either. dealer replaced the seat bottom 6 or so months ago. didn't fix the issue. my wife and i were blamed continually for months (10 or so) as being the cause of the issue. i documented with video and they still said it was our fault. one day we almost got hit and i the nissan dealer i would hold them liable. that day the disabled light remained on and we were able to show the dealer. after that an engineer game in to check the car. they said the system works are it should, we were not doing anything wrong and they couldn't find a fault. that engineer submitted the issue up the chain to the altima engineers in the usa. it has been two months now and no resolution has been made. nissan has told me they are re-engineering the seat bottom and a replacement part will be produced. it will take time they say. my wife and i have had this car and complained about this issue from the first month we owned this car back in sep/oct 2009. | |||
| 07/08/2008 | 3000 | 1 | |
| Passenger airbag off light randomly stays on when a passenger in seat. means the passenger is not protected by the air bag. this happens to passenger over 110 lbs. this is working as it supposed to, according to nissan dealer, anymore over 80 lbs sit in passenger seat, the light should be off and the airbag should be on. the dealer could not find out what is wrong. i search complaints on nhtsa and it turned out to be a large number of complaints on 07-09 model. please help us out, there is a truly a life related safety issue. *tr | |||
| 09/28/2008 | 100 | 1 | |
| Passenger airbag turns on and off even when passenger is in seat. it occurs frequently and daily. so far nissan has not issued any recalls, heard there was the same problems on the 2008. this was on a 2009 nissan altima coupe. *tr | |||
| 01/01/2009 | 338 | 1 | |
| There is a problem with the 2009 nissan altima in which the passenger airbag turns off (indicated by a passenger airbag off light), while an adult passenger over 100 lbs is correctly seated on the passenger side, sitting square with seatbelts fastened. if an accident occurred while the airbag is turned off, the passenger is not protected in nissan altimas. at the least, an override on or off is needed because the weight sensor doesn't work correctly on the nissan altima, based on the first month of driving on my 2009 nissan altima, with a 108 pound passenger. i purchased a 2009 nissan altima from mossy nissan oceanside last month. today on 2 separate occasions the passenger airbag turned off. the first time it turned off, i checked the manual which stated that the passenger needs to sit correctly for the airbag to turn on. we believe she was, however her feet were on the right side rather than the center of the floor. later this evening, we made certain the passenger was sitting correctly when the passenger airbag off light turn on again. in both cases, within 10 minutes the airbag off light then turned off. if an accident occurs during the airbag failure period above, a fatality can easily occur. *tr | |||
| AIR BAGS - FRONTAL | |||
| 10/13/2010 | 30982 | ||
| Tl. the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated when the contact sits on the front passenger side seat the passenger side air bag deactivates. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer to have the seat bottom and sensor replaced and that did not remedy the issue. the contact called the manufacturer and the manufacturer stated to the contact she does not weigh enough pounds to activate the air bag and the contact is sitting improperly. the contact stated she weighs 140 pounds and the passenger side air bag should activate. the contact fears if involved in a crash the passenger side air bag will not deploy. the failure mileage was 30,982. jo | |||
| 10/04/2010 | 22000 | ||
| Passenger airbag (disabled) light turns on even when a passenger is seated (over 150 pounds). | |||
| 09/25/2010 | 10000 | ||
| Passenger air bag disabled light comes on intermittently with an adult in the passenger seat exposing the passenger to the possibility of no air bag deployment in a collision. dealer refuses to repair the problem as he cannot recreate the problem. i have advised him that i have video of the problem and he won't look at it. on 7/28/2010 i notified nissan, cert. mail return receipt and gotten an case number 6944109. the auto has 11,200 miles and this problem was originally reported to nissan 7/28/2010 | |||
| 05/01/2010 | 19532 | ||
| I own a 2009 nissan altima. almost always when the passenger rides, the airbag off light turns on, the passenger is not protected. i went to the dealer, mossy nissan in oceanside, and the conclusion is that all nissan altimas have this problem -- this model car needs to be recalled so that sensitive enough sensors are installed to protect passengers - the female adult passenger is 110 lbs and not protected, that's a risk nissan corporation doesn't seem to care about. | |||
| 11/11/2009 | |||
| My husband and i purchased a nissan altima 2009 sometime around october 2009. we immediately had problems with the airbag turned off light coming on even though i was sitting on the seat correctly and i weigh around 135 pounds which is more than enough weight to ensure that the airbag off light didn't turn on. i took my car to the dealership and even though i had video on my cell phone showing the problem occurring, i was asked to go on a ride around to see if the situation would repeat itself. because the light comes on randomly, and repeatedly, during that 10 minute ride it did not turn on. needless to say, after much insisiting, nissan went ahead and replaced the sensor on the seat. this resulted in no change to the problem and i ride half the time with the airbag turned off light constantly on. i am afraid that if i ever get involved in an accident, the airbag will fail to deploy and it will result in my having a serious injury or death. i have not personally spoken to nissan since the sensor was replaced mainly because on the initial contact of the problem, they didn't seem to believe me even though i had video proof. i did want to make sure that this problem was reported just in case others are having the same problem as me. | |||
| 05/26/2009 | 1650 | 1 | |
| I have a 2009 nissan altima where the passenger side airbags are being disabled when a passenger sits in the car. a light on the dashboard shows that the airbags are turned off. this has happened to different passengers, of a variety of weight and size. none of the passengers have been small children. the lightest passenger was 110 pounds and the heaviest was 188 pounds. this has occurred more than 6 times. i have taken this to a nissan dealer twice and they are not able to fix the problem. i have found out that other nissan owners are having the same issue. i do have video proof that the airbags are turned off when a passenger is in the seat. i am horrified that nissan will not authorize a replacement of the air bag sensors. can you please help me? i do not want anyone to die because of this factory defect. *tr | |||
| 01/31/2009 | 1717 | 1 | |
| Traveling 65 mph on the freeway, my daughter noticed her mom's passenger airbag off light was on. this happened before, nissan-usa checked the system at mossy nissan and stated the system is working properly. nissan-usa did not use weights to check the weight sensor, they drove around with a 125 lb passenger and concluded the airbag system is ok. nissan countered my safety suggestions below stating it would be very difficult to improve the airbag system due to nhtsa, and they would also need to crash test the car. mossy nissan is knew my wife is ~117 lbs and did not disclose to me the airbag safety deficiency prior to the sale. mossy nissan stated that because this system passed the nhtsa, they are not liable for anything. i counter that based on nissan's position, i am holding nissan corporation, mossy nissan, and nhtsa liable for any injuries which result from injury from an accident and also pain and suffering and any additional distress, especially if the airbag or other safety system fails. the nissan airbag system can lead to a fatality even with an adult 150+ lbs. just prior to an accident, the drive may become rough and the passenger can shift around. for a 150+ lb adult to defeat the airbag system, momentarily lift 1/2 your weight off the seat, as can occur due to movement just prior to an accident. the passenger airbag off light will turn on. immediately drop your weight back into the seat, the passenger airbag system will remain off for 10 seconds, the passenger airbag won't deploy in the crash. nhtsa should require nissan to recall this vehicle and lower the weight sensor to 80 lbs - and also program the flash memory so that the once the seatbelt is fastened, the passenger weight is determined and doesn't change (a passenger doesn't lose 40 lbs just because the road is bumpy) - sensors should mainly determine passenger position, not weight. a better system would have weight sensors in the back seat floor. *tr | |||
| 11/26/2008 | 2500 | 1 | 09/29/2008 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated that the passenger side air bag indicator illuminates whenever a light weight passenger is seated in the front seat. the manufacturer was notified and stated that anyone over 110 lbs. was meant to sit in the back seat of the vehicle and the air bag indicator was performing normally. the failure mileage was 2,500. updated 02/24/09. *lj updated 02/24/09. *jb | |||
| AIR BAGS - SIDE/WINDOW | |||
| 05/26/2009 | 1650 | 1 | |
| I have a 2009 nissan altima where the passenger side airbags are being disabled when a passenger sits in the car. a light on the dashboard shows that the airbags are turned off. this has happened to different passengers, of a variety of weight and size. none of the passengers have been small children. the lightest passenger was 110 pounds and the heaviest was 188 pounds. this has occurred more than 6 times. i have taken this to a nissan dealer twice and they are not able to fix the problem. i have found out that other nissan owners are having the same issue. i do have video proof that the airbags are turned off when a passenger is in the seat. i am horrified that nissan will not authorize a replacement of the air bag sensors. can you please help me? i do not want anyone to die because of this factory defect. *tr | |||