Nissan Expands Recall For Vehicles With Possibly Defective Takata Airbags

(Russ Swift)

In a year marred by vehicle recalls, Nissan remained relatively under the radar with fewer than 500,000 cars recalled. But that changed on Saturday when the car company expanded a previous recall over defective Takata-produced airbags, bringing its total to more than 664,000.

The expanded recall includes 226,000 model year 2002 to 2004 Infiniti, Maxima, Pathfinder and Sentra cars, the Associated Press reports.

According to a filing [PDF] with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a safety defect in the passenger side frontal airbag which, in the event of a crash, may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the airbag.

Officials with Nissan tell the AP they are unaware of any accidents or injuries related to the issues.

The expanded recall addresses both the passenger side frontal airbags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement airbags that may have been installed as replacement service parts. A replacement airbag may have been installed, as one example, if a vehicle had been in a crash necessitating the replacement of the passenger side frontal airbag.

In June, Nissan, along with Honda and Mazda, announced recalls of vehicles with Takata-produced airbags, bringing the total number of affected cars to roughly 10 million in the past five years.

The most recent issues with Takata airbags began in early June when Toyota reissued a 2013 recall of more than 766,300 vehicles because the company may have received an incomplete list of potentially defective airbags from the car part manufacturer.

Just a day later, NHTSA announced an investigation [PDF] into whether Takata airbags made after 2002 were prone to failing after receiving six reports of airbag ruptures in Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda and Chrysler vehicles. Regulators are also looking to determine if high-humidity climates contributed to the reported airbag explosions.

While Takata officials say [PDF] they are working with regulators on the investigation, they have yet to admit the airbags include a safety defect.

Nissan expands recall prompted by faulty air bag [The Associated Press]