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Problems with 2002 Nissan Altima AIR BAGS

On average, the 2002 Nissan Altima starts to “feel” problems with the AIR BAGS and its various aspects after 80 235 miles.

Components Affected by AIR BAGS Issues

We have classified the 20 complaints from 2002 Nissan Altima about AIR BAGS into the following categories.

FRONTAL 7 SIDE/WINDOW 2

Recently reported AIR BAGS problems on 2002 Nissan Altima

My car was hit but not hard enough to make the airbag deploy on the passenger side . it should not be so sensitive .witch made my tcs and abs lights come on . just to let you know the car was in motion but from a standstill at a light . unknown

Tl* the contact owned a 2002 nissan altima equipped with general altimax rt43 (na) tires, size: 215/60/r16 (na). while driving 45 mph and depressing the brake pedal, the contact lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a ditch. the contact stated that the air bags failed to deploy and a police report was filed. no injuries were sustained. the vehicle was destroyed and towed to an independent mechanic. the vehicle was then towed to the contact's insurance company for investigative purposes. the contact stated that the insurance company confirmed that the rear passenger side sidewall had detached from the tire. the tires were not replaced. the tires were replacement tires. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate vehicle failure mileage was 118,000 and the tire failure mileage was 1,000.

I was involed in an accident going around 40 mph when the collision happened. my entire front end of my car was crushed to and beyond the radiator, as well as the hood bent like an a shape. none of my air bags deployed at all and nissan has not contacted me after there first email saying someone would be in contact with me within 2 to 3 days. i was driving in the right lane on a two lane road when a vehicle from the left lane moved over right in front of me and locked up their brakes for no reason. i didn't even have time to hardly hit my brakes before we colliding. the was a police report and everything , but know they cant find the driver of the other vehicle and i cant get nissan to talk to me about why my airbags would not work at a crash at that speed. this took place in a city. i still have not gotten any police report or anything and its been almost a month. im having doctor bills pile up and don't know what to do.

I was at a light proceeding to go and a vehicle did not yield to turn and she slammed right into the front of my vehicle at 50 mph, my air bags didn't deploy and my head hit the windshield .im glad i had my seatbelt .the windshield of the vehicle was broken by my head. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 nissan altima.while driving 30 mph, the contact was involved in a front end crash. during the crash, the contact noticed that only the front passenger side air bag deployed even though there were no passengers. the contact suffered minor injuries and a police report was filed. the failure had not been diagnosed and had not been repaired. the failure and current mileages were 97,000.

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. *tr

Nissan recall on frontal drivers side air bag. shortage that would prevent airbag from deploying in the event of an accident. contact nissan my vin# was not included in recall. nissan should be responsible since problem caused by defect in their product. *tr

As i was driving the road at a good distance from the vehicle in front of me, the other veh stopped suddenly. i put foot on the brakes but i skid to his rear bumper with my front end. i was traveling about 40 miles per hour. the passenager side air bags deployed and the seatbelt tighten, but mind did not. which caused me to strike the steering wheel and multiple injuries that i'm still suffering. when my vehicle was take to mechanic , he stated my air bag sensors were not activated and he stated that i did not have anti-lock brakes which could have caused me not to have the accident. i purchased the vehicle from a local dealership in july 2007, before purchasing i had firestone inspect the veh for any defects or mechanical problems. they never said anything was wrong with my sensors or that i lacked anti-lock brakes. the dealership was to have done a safety check on my vehicle and i was never told that my vehicle had a recall for air bags. had i known i would made it was fixed before purchasing and i would have not suffered injuries. my vehicle was totalled from that crash anther other vehicle a 2006 nissan maxim had a couple dents and scratches. my vehicle was totalled on 03/17/08 and i'm still going to the doctor for pain. i do not know what to do about this issue but i going to make sure something is done very soon. *tr

My 2002 nissan altima vehicle was taken in for service at bob bell chevrolet nissan, 7900 eastern avenue, baltimore, maryland, 21224, on thursday, august 2, 2007. it was brought in for servicing of all the vehicles' recalls, a soft grinding noise that could be heard when turning the steering wheel and low freon levels for air conditioning. on friday afternoon, august 3, 2007 around 5pm, i was contacted by the service department and strongly advised to pick up the vehicle before the service division closed at 6pm. the dealership stated that all recalls and issues had been resolved and completed. i picked the vehicle up around 5:45pm and proceeded to travel home. after only fifteen minutes, the vehicle engine started to smoke profusely. the engine started shaking harder and harder and a loud rattling noise could be heard from within the engine. the teenage passenger in the vehicle began to vomit and her eyes started swelling due to the volume of fumes expelled from the cars engine through the ventilation and into the car. i immediately pulled over (3700 eastern blvd.) and rushed to get her out of the seat where she continued to vomit once outside the vehicle. the dealership now denies ever seeing smoke from the engine (see attach.), as well as, denied causing damage to my car that potentially resulted in the engine smoking. the vehicle was picked up on wednesday, august 8, 2007 with the engine rattling uncontrollably even after being returned a second time to the dealership. the vehicle cut off while attempting to de-accelerate at a red light the following day. uncertainty surrounds whether the vehicle will cut off again while de-accelerating proving it hazardous to drive, whether the vehicles five recalls where all properly addressed, and if the engine will start smoking again. *tr

2002 nissan altima 2.5s, while driving on the expressway the altima just cut off completely. the steering locked not giving me time to pull over off the road. this has happened 5 times. twice at high speed and 2 times at low speed and once stopped at a traffic light. i have read many complaints about this same problem and actually spoke to one driver with the same exact car with the same problem. that driver took the car in, and was told by the dealer that they couldn't find anything wrong. i will be taking my car to dealer at a rate of $110.00 to have it checked . someone should recall all these cars for the safety of the owners and their passengers. this is a serious problem for so many people to complain about, not including the one's that have not taken out time to voice their complaints. please inform me of any recalls involving this matter. i also, had other problems with the knocking from the engine, and the air conditioner. when i took it in to be checked while under warranty they again claimed they didn't t find anything wrong. please investigate before and not after someone is seriously hurt or killed. *ak

Tl* - the contact owns a 2002 nissan altima. the air bag light has been flashing continuously. the mechanic stated that during diagnosis the code was b1057. there is a short in the driver's side air bag module. there was recall 02i001000 for the connectors related to that code. the mechanic took the air bag apart, and stated the connectors were not the failure, the module was the failure. there have been 2 previous recalls, campaign#02i001000, dated april 16, 2002, and recall campaign#03v061000, dated feb 21, 2003 for bags frontal driver side inflater air module. the contact received no recall notice for the vehicle. she also called the nissan altima national division, and the mechanic advised her that the air bag will not deploy without the repair if a collision occurred. the abs light was reset on several occasions and continued to illuminate. the failure and current mileage were both 72500. *ak the air bag was on back order. updated 03/30/07. *jb

Tl*-the contact owns a 2002 nissan altima there is a recall on the fuel pump screen which caused the engine to stall, and the engine service light to remain on. during the diagnosis they found a service engine code pertaining to the catalyst. he took it to the dealership and called nissan, who inform him that the dealer would fix it, but nissan called back refusing to cover the cost of the repair. the failure mileage was 74,000 , and the current mileage was 80,000.*ak the manifold exhaust was replaced, when the vehicle was in idle, it would surge. the air bag sensor was replaced. updated 05/22/07. *jb

Turned on car and the air bag light remained on. air bag module and swirl cable needed to be replaced at $1500.00. *nm

Air bag warning light came on. dealer says codes point to spiral cable or air bag unit but can't say for sure which caused one light to come on. *tr

The air bag warning light was flashing, so a brought the car into the dealer to get it checked. the dealer diagnosed the problem as a passenger side air bag module sensor and it would need to be replaced or the passenger side air bag would not work in a crash. at the time i was purchasing the car the same air bag light was flashing during our test drive of the car. the dealer checked into the flashing warning light and reset the module before we bought the car. this stopped the flashing warning light from flashing. about 2-3 months later the same air bag warning light started flashing again. the dealer reset the module a second time. on my last visit for the warning light flashing on 9/29/2006 the dealer said the module was not able to be reset and that it had failed and would need to be replaced at a cost of $1,100.00 parts/labor. i purchased the car with 59,000 miles on it. it currently has 79,000 miles. the dealer said this problem is not covered in the previous recall r3001. i am concerned the flashing air bag warning light indicated a problem early on, it needed to be reset twice before it finally failed. *nm

I noticed my 2002 nissan altima air bag indicator light started blinking for no reason. i previously received a call from nissan world,spring field nj stating there was a recall out on my car. i went on line and checked www.nissanusa.com website to see if i can identify if my car was affected. i saw a notice on the same 2002 nissan altima air bag connector clip causing the air bag light to blink on and off which in the case of an accident the airbag will not deploy. as noted by nissan, i immediately contacted the dealer and was told that there was no recalls out for my vehicle (my vin). just because my vin does not fall within the approximated range as posted on your website, i see no reason why a company such as nissan will not re-compensate me for the cost to repair the same problem as stated on their website. i do hope nissan usa can re-evaluate this air bag issue since it definitely not limited to the vin range as posted. all it require is a minimal cost of repairing a connector clip. this small duty will and can prove to save lives. nissan should extend the posted recall to all 2002 nissan altima owners, and compensate those of us who had to pay for the said problem they claim to affect the selected few. thank you. *jb

Too many issues to remember than all but i'll try: - excessive oil use - excessive coolant use - overheating to the aforementioned issues - intermittent transmission issues - failing airbag - electrical issues - broken sensors - catalytic converters gone bad - oxygen sensors gone bad - intermittent failure to start - intermittent car shaking and so on. *tr

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. *nm

Dt*: 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. *nm

Dt: 2002 nissan altima. the side air bags went off while the consumer was driving. the vehicle was taken to the dealership and they stated it happened because the sensor failed. the air bag light was on before this. the consumer was not injured when this occurred. she was nine months pregnant, and her 2 year old daughter was in the back seat and was not hurt. also, the passengers in the vehicle were not injured. *ak *jb

Dt: the contact's wife was involved two accidents in which the air bags did not deploy. there was a safety campaign number 02i001000; air bags. the dealer was not contacted after the first accident. now, the dealer and manufacturer stated they do not know anything about the campaign. they offered no free remedy. *ak

First was the service engine light was coming on and off. then i noticed as i accelerate there was a strange noise, which was getting more pronounced daily, finally the last two days as i was traveling and accelerated to go faster it was almost like it was slowing down instead of increasing in speed. the noise also is obvious in park now. i went on-line and noticed a recall (03v455000) for the exact same symptoms so i called the dealer and was told "no that does not incude your vin #, we go by vin#'s and yours isn't listed. i said"but this is what is going on with my car and it says it can stall at high sppeds and crash". she said she could charge me $85 to hook it up and check it out but it is not under a recall nor warranty. perhaps their recall is not broad enough and should include more vin#'s... not sure what to do from here, afraid to drive it, and the dealer is 50+ miles away. another recall (03v061000) is for driver air bag intermittent which is also whats going on in my car. *ak

The dealer refuses to honor the vehicle's recall (recall no. 03v061000) regarding on driver side air bags inflator module. dealer stated that the front oxygen sensor needs to be repaired first. the cause has yet to be determined. *la *sc

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 nissan altima. the contact received a recall notice for nhtsa campaign id number 03v455000 (engine and engine cooling) and had the repair work performed on the vehicle. three years later, while driving approximately 45 mph, the engine light illuminated. the vehicle restarted five minutes later. the dealer stated that his vin was not included in nhtsa campaign id number 07v527000 (engine and engine cooling). the vehicle has not been repaired. he filed a formal complaint with the manufacturer. the failure mileage was 63,600 and current mileage was 63,640. updated 3/18/08 *cn the consumer stated had the airbag sensor recall performed. updated 03/18/08 *tr

The consumer's vehicle was hit on the side rear driver's side while driving at 30 mph. upon impact, the side air bags did not deploy. *ak the vehicle nosed dived into a ditch and landed on the driver's side. the consumer was pinned in the vehicle for several minutes. none of the air bags deployed. *sc *jb

I had an accident where i was hit going about 35 mph in the front passenger side corner and the air bag did not deploy.*ak

Consumer states that while driving at 50mph. vehicle was in a head on collision. consumer states that both front airbags did not deploy. dealer notified. there was a recall on the vehicle. *ak *cb

Consumer called complaining about having problems with the air bag not deploying. was contacted, and stated that the impact was not hard enough , the driver's air bag did not deploy, but the passenger's air bag did.*ak

No summary listed for above vehicle. *ak

This car has been a lemon since day one, in and out of dealership for one reason or the other, it started with the car running hard, dealership told me it was because i have broke the car in and now this is how they run, took it back again 3 to 4 more times with same problem,told them car idles high, shifts bad, runs bad, they said nothing wrong, i do alot of highway miles and as soon as i was over the miles and out of the warrenty they told me that the motor mounts were gone only 800 to get fixed, i was then hit by a car head on and really hurt i suffered major back problems , come to find out i probaby could have prevented some of the damage to my self if i had a saver car, my air bags didn;t deploy. i have had every recall to this car , the service men at the dealserships are the rudest men i have ever delt with. i was right the whole time !!!!! i have also experienced the same thing with the lights cost around 800 to fox kept changing the lights not to mentions the tickets i recieved from the cops , i explained to them the light keeps going out, they are like this is a 02 that doesn't happen, if they only knew!!! i am really tired of this car , now i was just told that the car has another problem, it over heats they think it might be the therostat but they don't know. how much money will that cost me??? i am one angry person when it comes to this car!!!!!!!*ak

Another vehicle ran a stop sign and consumer's vehicle hit that vehicle on the driver's side rear at about 15 mph. upon impact, none of consumer's vehicle airbags deployed. please provide any further information.*ak

In a side collision none of the air bags deployed on impact, causing minor injuries.*ak.*jg

Airbag warning light goes off - dealer orders new airbag module and combination must be replaced. has happened at 600 mile and again at 3700 miles , still not repaired- parts are on nation wide back order - major safety factor: ignition noise and static in radio from coils. *ak

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