Four problems related to air bag light on have been reported for the 2002 Nissan Altima. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Nissan Altima based on all problems reported for the 2002 Altima.
My airbag light on my 2002 Nissan Altima flashes intermittently and has for several weeks now. I have discovered that two recalls were issue for 2002 Nissan Altimas. One was recall #69520 on April 17, 2002, for which Nissan did send me a recall notice. The other was recall #44046 on February 27, 2003, for which I was not notified by Nissan. When I contacted Nissan of north America on September 9, 2009, they studied my case until September 21, 2009 and advised me that recall #44046 did not apply to my VIN and that I was solely responsible for the repairs, in excess of $2,000. Given that my daughter will soon be driving the car, I feel I have no choice but to proceed with the repair, at my own cost. However, it seems suspicious to me that the recall #44046 describes my airbag problem but does not cover my specific VIN.
Turned on car and the air bag light remained on. Air bag module and swirl cable needed to be replaced at $1500. 00.
I had a small incident where somebody damaged the rear passenger side door when the car was parked in a public place. I got body work done after about 15 days (no problem with airbag until now) and when I took the delivery of the car, I noticed that air bag light started blinking. I took it back to the body shop and they were clueless. Nevertheless they asked me to take it a Nissan dealer to get it inspected. Nissan dealership charged $110 and told me everything was all right and they reset the light. The airbag light started blinking again after 2 days. I took the car back to dealership and now they tell me that drivers side airbag cables are shorted and it will cost $1170 to replace the spiral cable. I do not think the airbag issue is got anything to do with incident I had. The airbag system should not be so weak to cause this kind of issue and potentially put me at risk everyday not knowing if the airbag will deploy in case of an accident. There is a recall related to this for Nissan Altima 2002, but that does not match the VIN number of my car. I called Nissan consumer affairs and they tell me it is not related. Regardless whether it is related or not I feel this is a safety issue and Nissan should fix it free of cost.
: the contact stated the air bag light on the dash flashed constantly. There is a safety improvement campaign, # 02i001000, regarding the air bag. The vehicle has the same problems as indicated in the safety improvement campaign; however it is not included in the safety improvement campaign due to the VIN. Updated 4/17/2006 - the vehicle was taken to a dealer who indicated that eh air bag was defective. The dealer refused any assistance because the vehicle was 2000 mile out of warranty. The check engine light illuminated. The dealer found antifreeze leaking into the cylinders. The driver's side low beam headlamp was inop. The tech replaced the right side headlight bulb. Radiator leaked coolant. The heater blew out cool air when the vehicle was stopped. The tech found an air pocket in the coolant system. Replaced clutch assembly. Cylinder head gasket was replaced.