Nissan Expands Recall Of Vehicles With Takata Airbags, Includes Some Sentra Models

After several months without additional recalls of vehicles with potentially defective Takata-produced airbags, Nissan has opened the gates again, adding some 45,000 sedans to the list of cars equipped with airbags found to spew pieces of shrapnel at passengers and drivers upon deployment.

Bloomberg reports that Nissan will notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of its intent to add 45,000 model year 2004 to 2006 Sentra sedans to the ongoing Takata airbag recall roster.

Nissan says the expanded recall was initiated after a woman says she was injured by shrapnel from the safety device in her 2006 Sentra after a crash last month.

The woman, who suffered cuts, burns and partial hearing loss from the accident, filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that the Sentra’s passenger-side air bag deployed even though no one was in the seat.

Previously, the 2004 to 2006 Sentras were not included on the list of recalls. A spokesperson for Nissan tells Bloomberg that was because the manufacturer didn’t have enough data to determine there was an issue in the vehicles.

“We’re moving as quickly as we can to expand the recalls,” he says.

Since 2013 Nissan has recalled more than 600,000 vehicles with Takata-produced passenger side airbags including the model year 2001 to 2003 Maxima, Pathfinder, Infiniti I30 and I35 and the 2002 to 2003 Sentra and Infiniti QX4 and the 2003 FX.

Additionally, the company issued a regional recall last summer of the 2003 to 2004 Pathfinder and the 2003 to 2005 FX35 and FX45, as well as the 2003 to 2004 I35 and the 2006 M35 and M45 Infiniti vehicles. The regional recall covered only areas of high-humidity including Florida, Georgia, coastal areas of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and tropical U.S. territories.

Nissan says that owners of vehicles affected by the expanded recall will be notified within 60 days.

Nissan to Expand U.S. Recalls Tied to Takata Air-Bag Flaw [Bloomberg]

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