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.

Nissan has notified NHTSA of a defect in 4,038 model year 2010 Nissan Frontier, Nissan Pathfinder, and Nissan Xterra vehicles manufactured from February 22, 2010 to March 13, 2010. In some of the potentially affected vehicles, the fasteners securing the passenger front air bag module, and also the fasteners securing the steering shaft positioning bracket may not have been tightened to the proper torque specification. In the event of a crash, the passenger front air bag deployment trajectory might be affected. The fasteners could possibly come out of the steering column positioning bracket, increasing the risk of a crash. The safety recall is expected to begin during April 2010. 10V-115.