Side/window Air Bag Problems of Nissan Xterra

Purchased vehicle in March 2018 with the passenger seat airbag alert flashing on the instrument panel. Everything I tried would not extinguish it, connecting releasing and reconnecting the passenger seatbelt, turning the passenger side airbag off and on a couple of times. So I decided to check on recalls and found three of the four complaints for this make/model are for this same problem.

See all problems of the 2011 Nissan Xterra 🔎.

Air bag deployment 23 June 2011 location: pleasant valley trail, panamint mountains, death valley national park, CA time: approximately 6 pm I was driving on a popular 4x4 trail on the western edge of death valley national park on the evening of 23 June 2011. I was alone and crawling down a steep decline in 4 wheel drive, low range, in 1st gear. I made a transition from one set of deep ruts to another. The car rocked from the driver’s side to the passenger side and back. The motion was abrupt, but not violent in any way, and the same motion that any other vehicle that travels on this popular trail would face. On completion of the rocking motion the side curtain airbags deployed. At the time of deployment my face was against the window checking my side clearance on the road. My elbow was resting on the window sill, and I was steering with one hand at the 9 o’clock position and the other at the 5 o’clock position. On deployment my face was struck on the left front and side, leaving me with facial pain, bruising, a bloody nose, and ringing ears. The arm resting on the window sill was forced down and forward, levering my shoulder up and forward. I was dazed and disoriented for a few minutes. The seatbelt pre-tensioner fired, pulling the belt tight enough around my pelvis to leave bruises and pain. I was very lucky that the incident occurred while I was in first gear, low range. The vehicle stopped when I pulled my foot from the accelerator, if I had been in 4 wheel high range the vehicle would have likely continued downhill and gone over the embankment and down a 400’ 60 degree slope. This is a significant product design error and could have resulted in far greater injuries or death. The motion that set off the deployment was one that I have had on hundreds of occasions with other vehicles in my more than 30 years of off road driving experience. It occurred on a popular trail used by thousands of vehicles each year.

See all problems of the 2009 Nissan Xterra 🔎.

Both side curtain airbags deployed and driver and front passenger seatbelts locked up. Vehicle was traveling over a gravel road. It was loaded up but not heavily weighted. Speed was about 5mph.

See all problems of the 2008 Nissan Xterra 🔎.

I have purchased a new 2007 Nissan Xterra s 4x4 SUV so that I can go off-roading for sports activities such as skiing (snow), hunting (mountains, dirt roads). However, I have went to test the 4 wheel drive system of my vehicle several times to ohv parks, and the last time I visited a park, I was driving through plain mud on a plain dirt ground and without any impact nor any bad driving the curtain airbags from both sides have deployed giving me a trauma for airbags. I have taken the car for repair to cerritos Nissan dealer, but they told me that it will not be covered under warranty because the car had a rock dent from previous off-roading which had nothing to do with the day of the airbag deployment. As for evidence, I have uploaded on youtube the video of my airbags deploying so that people can see that it deployed for no reason. It is brand new vehicle, with less than 7500 miles on it, the dealer will not respond, and so I had to talk with Nissan America corporate office in which they will make another analysis of this vehicle in which I do believe that it is a defect. For this repair, they will have to replace the entire roof ceiling in which I do not believe that it will be the same as before, and so I have requested them to get me a new vehicle because I lost confidence of my defective one. From now on, I will have the trauma of airbags deploying at any time, and I am doing this complaint because I do think that it is dangerous to let them have such system because I can imagine that because of these airbags, I could have gotten into a big accident, and wish that it is fixed for everyone for the safety of human kind!!! I have researched online, and I am not the only person with this same experience. . . There are few more out there with the same problem. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2007 Nissan Xterra 🔎.

There is significant variance in when the passenger side airbag disengagement light will come on when my wife is in the car. My wife is approximately 115 pounds and there is not any consistency as to when the airbag becomes turned off. For example I will be cruising at 60 miles per hour with her sitting perfectly centered on her seat. With these conditions constant the light will go on for a variable amount of time and then turn back off. The same results can be observed regardless of what speed we are going. For example, the same situation can be observed cruising at 30 mph. The dealership, service center and regional customer service center will not acknowledge that there is a problem. There reasoning is that this is the way safety feature is designed and the vehicle passes their diagnostic test. When I ask for the design parameters that cause the light to go on and off they do not give me a specific enough reason or parameters as to why the light goes on and off. This is an obvious design failure or safety defect, but no one at Nissan is is willing to take responsibility to help us. We are basically stuck with a very unsafe vehicle for anybody with a passenger between 100 to 130 pounds. This is a weight range where children and young adults are specifically at risk to this safety defect. I can understand how the airbags can be optimized to turn on and off based on various factors. But there is no consistency on what those thresholds are. We appreciate any help someone can provide in helping to get a recall for this very dangerous vehicle.

I have a 2006 Nissan Xterra off road edition. It is a manual and I paid for the $700 for the extra airbags. They are side impact/rollover air curtain airbags. Nissan advertises this vehicle as an off road vehicle, this was one of the main reasons I got this vehicle, to go off roading in. I have 12,000 miles on my Xterra. On September 30th I was heading up to the mountains to go 4 wheeling. I was on a dirt road that took me to the trail head of this 4x4 trail. On this dirt road my airbags went off. Both side impact airbags went off, thankfully not the front airbags. There was no reason for my airbags to go off. There was no accident or impact and my car wasn't sideways or rolled over. I brought the car to a Nissan dealer that Monday, oct. 2nd, 2006. The reason I'm filing a complaint is it took Nissan 30 days to even say they would fix it under warranty. I have tried and still fail to see how it would even be an issue that this wouldn't be covered under warranty. Also, Nissan claims the airbags worked properly and that they are only fixing them out of good will. If these airbags worked properly, then I feel Nissan has a defective product and they should do a recall or find a way to disconnect this side curtain airbags. Nissan claims that the sensors detected a rollover. If you look at my car there is no damage, and I know my car wasn't sideways or anything that it could have been close to flipping over, but I have no way to prove it. I was on a dirt road that was rough and bumpy, but there was no off-camber angles that could have made my airbags go off. Knowing that the airbags worked the way they were supposed to, according to Nissan, I am scared to drive my Xterra in fear that they will go off again. I truly believe Nissan has major problem with these airbags and this is why I'm filing a complaint. My girlfriend was with me and didn't suffer any major injuries, but was beaten up pretty bad and sore for a few days after the incident.

See all problems of the 2006 Nissan Xterra 🔎.

While driving 35-40mph vehicle was rear ended and pushed into another vehicle, and neither driver side nor passenger's side airbags deployed. Dealer has not seen vehicle. . There were 2 injuries.

See all problems of the 2002 Nissan Xterra 🔎.