Purchased a new 2013 altima sedan 3.5sl in november 2012. Within days noticed that the passenger airbag light was always on, whether a passenger was in the passenger seat or not. Took car into dealer and was told that the sensor had been incorrectly calibrated at 200 pounds instead of 0 pounds. They recalibrated the sensor and the airbag light worked fine... For approximately 2 weeks. The passenger airbag warning light is now always on. This issue concerns me because I must assume that the passenger airbag will never deploy.
2013 Nissan Altima airbags complaints
Page 18 of 18: complaints 491 to 514 of 514, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The "passenger air bag off" warning light may come on when an adult or large teenager is sitting in the front passenger seat. This failure happens occasionally. At times, the warning light will go off after a few minutes of driving. It appears that either the seat sensor(s) or the software that reads the sensor(s) and determines the size/weight of the front passenger may be faulty. I am amazed that there has been no recall of the 2013 altima for this issue, given the number of complaints on this website.
The first six weeks we had the car it operated normally. Than the passenger air bag off light occasionally would come on with my 120 lb wife in the seat. Now it will come on all of the time. If you start the car before she gets in the light usually stays off after she gets in but not always. With a 50 lb person in the seat the light does not come on, that is when I think it should come on.
I have owned this 2013 altima for 5 months and the passenger airbags continuously stay on "off mode". I am a female and weigh 136 pounds and my husband rides on the passenger side as well at times and he is 160 pounds, so there is definitely enough weight. I believe there is a defect within the sensors. In my vehicle it will stay off for hours or sometimes it will take 15-30 minutes and it will turn on, but it never stays on.I have seen several complaints with the same issue. And it could be life threatening to a passenger in one of these vehicles if the airbags do not deploy in a crash. Nissan needs to take a closer look at this issue before someone loses there life. There is definitely something wrong and something needs to be done quickly to resolve this issue its a serious matter. There are lives at stake here..
Few days after I purchased the vehicle (09/23/12) the seat belt light would not shut off. The passenger airbag light would also indicate that the passenger airbag was disengaged with a passenger in the vehicle. Tonight (2/10/13) the passenger airbag sensor once again indicated no passenger when my 120 lb wife was sitting in the seat. I tried it with myself (155lb) and again it occurred. This is an unacceptable safety concern.
The day I purchased the vehicle (1/23/13) the seat belt light would not shut off. The passenger airbag light would also indicate that the passenger airbag was disengaged with a passenger in the vehicle. The dealership (rosenthal nissan of tysons) took the car in back and made some adjustments. The problem apparently went away. Tonight (2/9/13) the passenger airbag sensor once again indicated no passenger when my 110 lb wife was sitting in the seat. I tried it with myself (175lb) and again it occurred. This is an unacceptable safety concern.
Was driving 45 MPH to take child to school. While at light made sure no parking brake on. Then put car in park turned vehicle off and on twice as braking light still on. Kept vehicle off for approximally 1 minute and turned back on. The following day took vehicle in for service which they stated break fluid not topped off. So on 2/8/2013 driving with 8 yr.old daughter sitting in front set. Airbag light was on the showing airbag off but then the light went off. Pulled over had my daughter stand up, remove booster seat and then put back down. Airbag light still remained off. Turned vehicle off 3 times before turning back on. My husband called dealership to discuss and advise taking in for service and problems after just purchasing vehicle on 2/4/2013. On the way home brake light came on and wouldn't go off.
The passenger airbag light is constantly on meaning that the airbag is not activating no matter who is sitting on the seat. We took it to the dealer one week after we purchased it and they "supposedly" reset the sensor. We left the dealership and the problem persisted immediately. We took it back to the dealer a week later and a nissan engineer was there that day and he looked at it and said that there was nothing they could do about. This is a serious safety issue. A person's life could be lost because of the manufacturing defect. Nissan should seriously look into this and recall the cars before something serious happens to any of us who purchased this car. We can't believe that knowing that there is this serious problem, they will not even try to fix it. It shows lack of concern and responsibility on their part for their customers. We are going to use the "lemon law" and return the car since this is a safety issue and a manufacturers defect. Safecar.gov and the national highway safety administration needs to investigate this issue. There are plenty of complaints in regards to this issue. Back in 2009 nissan recalled several of their cars (including the altima) for this same problem. I can't believe that they still haven't gotten it right.
I have owned this car for all of a week. There are at least 2 major safety concerns. The first is the passenger air bag. The light on the dash indicates that the air bag is "off" when my wife sits in the passenger seats. She is an adult, height about 5' 2" and weighs approx. 120 lbs. Apparently I am not the only one with this issue. Calls to nissan are a waste of time at this point as I'm told nothing about how this will be resolved. The other issue is with the CVT transmission. Under light acceleration, at about 1200-1500 RPM there is a vibration and its very noisy. It almost seems like the car is going to die out. The other issues I am having with the car of which there are a few are not necessarily safety related so I wont post them here. Needless to say, there are better and safer choices out there. Choose wisely.
With a 140 lb adult sitting upright in the passenger seat the airbag light stays on. It even fails sometimes with an adult weighing 155 lbs. I took the car to the dealership and they said no system errors are detected. The tried a 120lb adult and the airbag light was on also. They said that to repair nissan has to advise them what the issue is.
There is an intermittent passenger airbag detection issue with 2013 nissan altima 2.5 sv. There were in multiple times when a full grown person(weight > 150lbs) sitting on the passenger side, while car was being driven, 'passenger side air bag off' indicator would turn on, indicating that car is not detecting anyone in the front passenger side and in result airbags were turned off. This warning indication stayed on throughout our drive and sometimes turned off after 10-15 minutes of drive and in other occasions it didn't turn off at all until car was turned off. If this was just a feature issue then much lower priority should been assigned but it is a major safety issue/concern and I request an investigation. A blatant disregard from the manufacturer of this issue may result in death, injury and property damage. I request the help of the federal safety agency for quick and thorough investigation on this matter. Thank you!
With a full-size adult sitting in the front passenger seat, the airbag light stays illuminated (which indicates the passenger side airbag is not engaged). This happened every single time I've operated my vehicle since I purchased it on december 28th, no matter the size of the adult sitting in the passenger seat - anywhere from 130 lb. Individual to 220 lb. Individual. For reference, my friend has a rogue and the airbag engages (I.e. Light goes off) with just her handbag in the seat. I took it to the local dealership since the car is fully covered by warranty. They ordered a new sensor from nissan and have not been able to resolve the issue with the new sensor. They have had my brand new vehicle (500 miles) for 6 days. I read on-line boards that indicate this is a problem with 2013 nissan altimas (http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/2013-nissan-altima-discussion-2-5-3-5/331394-passenger-airbag-light.html) and am very concerned I purchased this vehicle. I may be returning it under the lemon law.
The passenger air bag off warning light comes on intermittently while an adult over 125 lbs is seated in the passenger seat. This has happened multiple times with multiple adults of various weights. If the car is stopped, turned off and turned back on it usually clears the problem. I have brought the car into the nissan service center four times. Each time they have done something else to try to resolve the problem but it keeps happening. I am awaiting a call back from the manager of the nissan service center. I am very concerned that in the event of an accident my passenger will not be protected by a working front air bag. I have searched this problem on line and seen many post of similar problems for the 2013 nissan altima. I have also seem many instances of this problem with previous altima models and other nissan vehicles.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 nissan altima. The contact stated the passenger side air bag light illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer twice, who test drive the vehicle four miles and advised the contact that they could not duplicate or repair the failure. The manufacturer was notified and lodged a complaint for the contact. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 4,600.
Female passenger, 5ft. 0in., weighing 100lbs causes front passenger airbag to be disabled (front passenger airbag status light on). Light would go away after a while. For a female passenger, 5ft. 5in., weighing 120-125lbs causes intermittent front passenger airbag operation. Appeared to operate normally before. 12/24/2012: vehicle was brought to dealer and was found that the scale on the front passenger side seat was off by 25. Scale was zeroed out in the front passenger seat. Issue appears to be resolved for female passenger, 5ft. 5in., weighing 120-125lbs. 01/07/2013: front passenger airbag disabled for male passenger 5ft. 6in., weighing 160lbs. Resolved by restarting vehicle.
The passenger side air bag does not engage when individuals sit in the passenger seat. The airbag sensor shows the airbag non-operational even when individuals of appropriate size and weight are sitting in the passenger seat. Nissan has no known fixes for the situation and state that its a "break in" period. This is a brand new car purchased one week ago. Serious injury could result from an non-operational airbag and I am not willing to wait for the break in period.
Passanger air back indicator(light) sometime come up even though adult sitting on passenger sheet.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 nissan altima. While parked, the contact noticed that the air bag warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing five times. The technician recalibrated the air bag sensor and replaced the seat cushion but the failure continued. The vehicle was not further repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 5.
2013 nissan altima 2.5 sl. On multiple occasions with a person in the passenger the passenger side air bag was indicated as being off. This is happening with full grown adults all of whom have been over 150 pounds. I believe this to he a faulty sensor in the cars seat cushion. Once driving for 10-15 minutes the light goes off indicating airbag is now on. This usually occurs if the car is already running and a passenger enters the vehicle.
Passenger airbag off light is on when adult passenger is sitting in the seat. Light goes on and off after driving for several minutes.
Intermittently, "passenger airbag off" warning light remains on even though passenger (130 lbs) is in the front passenger, it occurred several times, had to turn off and restart the car to clear the light.
Passenger airbag "off" light stays on even when someone is sitting in the passenger seat. Intermittent problem - ongoing since new.
The passenger air bag off light remained illuminated even though there was a passenger sitting in the seat that was over 100 pounds. I took the vehicle to the local dealership and they said that nothing could be done since there was no error code in the system. I had to shut off and restart the vehicle in order for the passenger air bag to function properly. Since the initial incident, this problem has occurred one other time.
Intermittently, "passenger airbag off" warning light remains on even though passenger (130 lbs) is in the front passenger (cloth) seat.
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