The Airbag Blog

Airbag Safety Recall Prompted by Infiniti Side Airbag Defect

Taras Rudnitsky — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:00:38 +0000

Nissan is recalling 1,349 model year 2003-2005 Infiniti Q45 vehicles. A wiring connector for the seat mounted airbag may experience increased electrical resistance, resulting in the non-deployment of the side air bags. Non-deployment of side air bags could increase the risk of personal injury. The safety recall is expected to begin on or about March 12, 2012. 12V-079. This recall was preceded by a governmental defect investigation. This investigation has revealed that faulty side air bag module connectors located under the front seats can cause an interruption in the electrical current that will drop the input voltage below the specified range. As a result, the air bag warning lamp illuminates and the affected side air bag is deactivated. The rates of complaints, field reports and warranty claims related to the subject issue are very high. For example, Nissan submitted 4,853 warranty claims on 3,551 distinct subject vehicles out of 13,836 total subject vehicles. Also, analyses of warranty claims indicate an increasing failure trend over time. EA09-005.

Airbag Safety Recall for Volvo: Defect May Block Deployment

Taras Rudnitsky — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:00:36 +0000

Volvo is recalling 17,000 model year 2012 Volvo S60, Volvo XC60, Volvo S80 and Volvo XC70 vehicles manufactured from May 16, 2011 through October 6, 2011. In these vehicles, the wire harness under the front seats may have not been attached properly to the seat frame. As a result, when the seats are moved to adjust the seating position, the wire harness may get pulled, causing it to disconnect. In the event of crash, the front and/or side impact air bags may deploy improperly or not at all, increasing the risk of injury. Also, the lap belt pretensioner may not deploy. The safety recall is expected to begin on March 30, 2012. 12V-075.

Subaru Airbag Defect Prevents Airbag Side Curtain Deployment

Taras Rudnitsky — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:33:35 +0000

Subaru is recalling 381 model year 2012 Subaru Legacy and Subaru Outback vehicles manufactured from December 1, 2011 through December 23, 2011. These vehicles may be equipped with side curtain air bags that contain an incorrect propellant mixture for the initiator component used, resulting in insufficient output of compressed gas. The side curtain air bags may not deploy, increasing the risk of injury. The safety recall is expected to begin during or before early-April 2012. 12V-047.

Honda Accord Safety Recall Caused by Defective Air Bags

Taras Rudnitsky — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:00:52 +0000

Honda is recalling 347 certan model year 2012 Honda Accord and Honda Crosstour vehicles. The driver-side or passenger-side side curtain airbag inflator may not have been manufactured according to correct specifications. In the event of a crash, the side curtain airbag may fail to deploy, increasing the risk of injury. The safety recall is expected to begin on or about February 10, 2012. 12V-030.

Toyota RAV4 Recalled for Defective Curtain Airbags

Taras Rudnitsky — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:42:40 +0000

Toyota is recalling 427 model year 2011 Toyota RAV4 vehicles manufactured from November 24, 2011 through December 19, 2011. In the curtain shield airbags, propellant with the incorrect specification was used for the initiator assembled in the airbag inflator. In this condition, the inflator may not perform properly, causing one or both curtain shield airbags to not deploy. In the event of a crash, the airbags may not deploy and will not be able to properly protect an occupant, increasing the risk of injuries. The safety recall is expected to begin early March 2012. 12V-029.

Kia Airbag Recall: Defect Prevents Airbag Deployment

Taras Rudnitsky — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:50:20 +0000

Kia Motors America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling 145,755 model year 2006-2008 Kia Optima vehicles manufactured from September 29, 2005, through January 29, 2008, and model year 2007 and 2008 Kia Rondo vehicles manufactured from September 13, 2006, through March 21, 2008. The clock spring contact assembly for the driver’s side air bag supplemental restraint system (SRS) may become damaged through usage over time. If the clock spring contact assembly becomes damaged, the driver’s air bag electrical circuit will experience a high resistance condition potentially causing the driver’s air bag to not deploy. If the clock spring develops high resistance, in the event of a crash, the driver’s air bag will not deploy and will not be able to properly protect the driver, increasing the risk of injuries. The safety recall is expected to begin during March 2012. 12V-014.

Audi A6 Air Bag Recall: Defective Curtain Air Bags

Taras Rudnitsky — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:02:31 +0000

Volkswagen is recalling 317 model 2012 Audi A6 vehicles manufactured from April 8, 2011, through May 26, 2011. Due to a problem in the stitching process of the curtain air bag, the seam of the air bag may not be stitched properly. In the event of a crash, the head curtain air bag may not deploy and will not be able to properly protect an occupant, increasing the risk of an injury. The safety recall is expected to begin during January 2012. 11V-580.

Airbag Defect: Jeep Airbags May Not Deploy When Needed

Taras Rudnitsky — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:00:54 +0000

Chrysler is recalling 5,334 model year 2008-2012 right hand drive (RHD) Jeep Wrangler vehicles manufactured from February 1, 2007 through October 10, 2011. Some vehicles may be equipped with driver’s airbag clockspring assemblies that could experience a compromised airbag circuit resulting in an airbag lamp illumination, which indicates that the airbag may not deploy. A broken electrical circuit in the airbag clockspring wiring assembly can lead to non-deployment of the driver frontal airbag and will not be able to properly protect the driver in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injuries.11v-528.

The Office of Defect Investigations had received 29 consumer complaints of airbag light illumination and/or clockspring failure on model years 2007-2008 jeep wrangler. Twenty-three of the 29 complaints specifically identified the airbag clockspring wiring assembly as the source of the issue. The remaining six complaints referenced only the airbag light being illuminated. Among the fourteen owners contacted, six stated that they owned a right hand drive version of the vehicle typically used by postal carriers. Sixteen of the 29 complaints were received since January 1, 2011. A broken electrical circuit in the airbag clockspring wiring assembly can lead to non-deployment of the driver side frontal airbag. PE11-019.

GM Recalls Pontiac Air Bags Due to Head Injury Risk

Taras Rudnitsky — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:11:23 +0000

General Motors (GM) is recalling 38,444 model year 2008-2009 Pontiac G8 vehicles manufactured from November 2, 2007 through January 22, 2009. A 5th percentile female anthropomorphic test device (ATD, also known as a crash test dummy) in a 30 mph frontal barrier test exceeded the Head Injury Criteria (HIC) requirements of the standard. With the front passenger seat positioned full forward, the seat position sensor will cause a 30 milliseconds deployment delay between the first and second stages of the dual-stage frontal passenger air bag. In the event of a crash, this delay may result in increased head injury to certain front seat occupants. 11V-534.

Airbag Defect: 1994 Nissan Altima Causes Blindness

Taras Rudnitsky — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:59:34 +0000

Our client was a front seat passenger in a 1994 Nissan Altima that was involved in a low-speed intersection accident. When the passenger air bag deployed, it blinded her in one eye, even though she was wearing her seat belt. Our analysis revealed that the passenger air bag was defective. It also revealed that the air bag defects contributed to a higher likelihood of injuries from the deploying air bag, specifically including eye injuries and blindness.