Front Driver Side Air Bag Inflator problems of the 1998 Infiniti I30

Air bag light flashing, dealership indicated "a very common problem" for this year and make infiniiti . Well a common problem to me seems like it should be a recall. I was told by dealership that it would over $1000 does this have anything to do with takata inflators that have been recalls on millions of cars but just skipped this year and make? I was told airbag will still deploy, well I was involved in a front end accident, air bag did not deploy! this is a real concern, this needs to be investigated, and recall implemented before someone dies as a result!.