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2013 Nissan Pathfinder airbags problems

177 complaints (20% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 10,500. 6 crashes reported.

owner complaints
177
of this car's complaints
20%
typical mileage
10,500
crashes
6
recalls
3

Which part fails

  • Sensor: occupant classification: front passenger
    1
  • Sensor: occupant classification
    1

At what mileage

Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.

0k-25k
25k-50k
50k-75k
75k-100k
100k-125k
125k-150k
150k-175k
175k-200k
200k+

Nissan Pathfinder airbags problems in other years

1994200020052010201520202026

Specific symptoms reported on the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder airbags

Phrases found in the owners' own descriptions, so one complaint can mention several symptoms.

Airbag light 89

Related recalls

Air bags: sensor: occupant classificationReported April 26, 2016 · 3,296,947 vehicles affected
What is wrong
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF, Sentra, and Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60, QX60 Hybrid, and Q50 Hybrid, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue and Infiniti Q50, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Murano Hybrid, and Chevrolet City Express, 2014-2015 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles. In these vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash.
Risk
If the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.
Remedy
Nissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1‑800‑867‑7669, Infiniti customer service at 1‑888‑833‑3216 or Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020.

Recall number 16V244000 · Recall details

Air bags: sensor: occupant classificationReported October 20, 2015 · 919 vehicles affected
What is wrong
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 Altima and Pathfinder vehicles, 2013-2014 Nissan Sentra vehicles, 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles, 2014-2015 Infiniti QX60 vehicles and 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid vehicles. The affected vehicles received an incorrect occupant classification system (OCS) control unit during a repair. These OCS control units may incorrectly classify the front passenger seat as empty, when it is occupied by an adult.
Risk
If the OCS does not detect an adult occupant in the passenger seat, the passenger air bag would be deactivated. Failure of the passenger airbag to deploy during a crash (where deployment is warranted) could increase the risk of injury to the passenger.
Remedy
Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will update the OCS software, free of charge. The recall began on November 30, 2015. Owners may contact Nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.

Recall number 15V681000 · Recall details

Air bagsReported March 1, 2013 · 82,038 vehicles affected
What is wrong
Nissan is recalling certain model year 2013 Altima, LEAF, Pathfinder, Sentra, and Infiniti JX35 vehicles. Sensors within the passenger Occupant Detection System (ODS) may have been manufactured out of specification. This may cause the system to malfunction and permanently suppress the passenger airbag.
Risk
If the vehicle is involved in a crash necessitating airbag deployment and the passenger airbag is suppressed, there may be an increased risk of personal injury.
Remedy
Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the ODS sensors and replace them as neccessary, free of charge. The recall began on May 6, 2013. Owners may contact Nissan Customer Service at 1‑800‑647‑7261.

Recall number 13V069000 · Recall details

Related investigations

Occupant Classification System FailureOpened August 31, 2015, closed May 2, 2017

In May 2016, Nissan North America issued a safety recall (16V‑244) to address the problem of improper classification of adult front seat passengers in approximately 3.3 million vehicles, including those in the scope of this investigation when it was opened (almost one million vehicles) and additional vehicles, as shown below.Nissan models: certain model year 2013-2016 Altima, 2013-2016 LEAF, 2016-2017 Maxima, 2015-016 Murano and Murano Hybrid, 2013-2016 Pathfinder, 2014-2015 Pathfinder Hybrid, 2014-2017 Rogue, 2013-2016 Sentra, 2013-2016 NV200, and 2014-2016 Taxi.Infiniti models: certain model year 2013 JX35, 2014-2017 Q50, 2014-2016 Q50 Hybrid, and 2014-2016 QX60 and QX60 Hybrid.Chevrolet model: certain model year 2015-2016 City Express.Additional information on the above-referenced recalls is available online at the numbers shown in the above failure report summary are for the original vehicle population, as opposed to the entire recall population, and the ODI reports cited are as of May 31, 2016 when Nissan began to notify the affected owners of recall 16V‑244.Based on the recall actions taken by Nissan, this Engineering Analysis is closed.Additional information on this closing resume and the investigation are in the EA15-004 public file available online at ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at under the following identification numbers: 10583283 10585264 10585349 10585379 10592434 10593399 10593501 10594329 10594614 10594755 10595161 10595645 10595946 10596128 10596459 10596952 10597037 10597452 10597518 10597719 10598537 10598869 10604755 10604834 10605188 10605251 10606565 10606828 10607038 10609649 10610519 10610991 10614467 10614609 10614745 10616905 10617008 10617507 10617903 10618099 10618202 10619059 10619563 10620719 10621840 10622214 10625808 10625981 10625998 10626006 10626023 10626335 10626458 10626732 10628355 10629382 10629460 10629606 10630441 10630502 10630990 10632251 10632588 10632934 10632997 10633714 10633810 10637994 10638591 10639040 10639147 10639324 10639473 10643046 10643843 10644203 10644333 10644341 10644690 10644891 10644985 10648834 10648997 10649414 10649772 10649874 10651360 10651564 10651924 10651982 10652024 10658665 10658844 10659484 10660294 10661195 10661358 10661541 10661795 10661855 10662901 10663033 10663338 10663860 10663978 10668054 10668768 10670538 10672807 10673088 10676471 10678478 10678997 10679512 10680748 10680769 10680975 10681656 10682235 10682902 10682993 10683391 10683689 10689672 10689809 10689981 10691626 10692137 10692558 10692625 10693168 10695312 10700614 10700960 10701008 10701011 10701014 10701018 10701023 10701027 10701031 10701032 10701035 10701045 10701055 10701064 10701074 10701146 10701196 10701228 10701237 10701254 10701301 10701306 10701326 10701367 10701370 10701384 10701415 10701453 10701526 10701558 10701656 10701670 10701946 10702003 10702667 10702798 10703032 10703657 10703766 10703813 10704196 10704988 10705530 10705919 10706621 10712543 10712568 10712575 10713335 10714316 10714330 10714536 10714980 10715132 10715945 10717336 10720918 10720971 10721331 10721746 10723424 10724568 10731167 10731868 10732012 10732065 10733877 10735438 10745948 10745982 10746399 10747660 10748077 10749091 10749110 10758979 10761398 10761433 10763320 10764590 10766486 10775946 10777923 10779712 10781422 10781449 10781508 10781901 10783624 10783776 10785993 10786461 10786713 10786788 10787867 10788370 10788371 10788962 10789694 10790181 10790230 10790362 10794790 10806647 10806933 10807302 10807841 10810487 10810558 10811858 10811864 10816502 10816686 10818702 10820204 10821247 10821751

EA15004

Occupant Classification System FailureOpened March 18, 2015, closed September 1, 2015

In April 2014, Nissan North America launched Safety Recall 14V‑138 to address problems with the Occupant Classification System (OCS) algorithm in the following vehicles: model year (MY) 2013-2014 Nissan Altima, Pathfinder, Sentra and LEAF; MY 2013 Infiniti JX35; MY 2014 Infiniti QX60 and Q50; and MY 2013 Nissan NV 200/Taxi vehicles.According to Nissan, the OCS may misclassify adult front passenger occupants and turn off the passenger's frontal air bag for an adult occupant of sufficient weight.In March 2015, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Recall Query after the agency received approximately 124 complaints alleging problems with the OCS after the recall repairs and/or other OCS related repairs were made by Nissan/Infiniti dealers.The majority of the complaints alleged the passenger air bag status light stays on (i.e., indicating passenger air bag is turned off) for adult front passengers of sufficient weight.Many of the complaints stated the dealers have made multiple repairs but the problem still persists.In its June 2015 response to ODI's information request under the Recall Query, Nissan provided approximately 1,121 complaints and field reports on the recalled vehicles.These reports alleged OCS issues similar to the federal safety agency reports described above.At this time, the federal safety agency has received a total of approximately 208 complaints (note: total of 1,271 reports shown in the table above eliminates 58 duplicative reports received by ODI and manufacturer).This Recall Query has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA15-004) to conduct a comparative assessment and further evaluate the effectiveness of the recall remedy which will include a thorough review of the countermeasures taken by Nissan and its suppliers.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at http://www-odi.the federal safety agency.dot.gov/owners/Searchreference under the following identification numbers:10583283 10585264 10585349 10585379 10592434 10593399 10593501 10594329 10594614 10594755 10595161 10595645 10595946 10596128 10596459 10596952 10597037 10597452 10597518 10597719 10598537 10598869 10604755 10604834 10605188 10605251 10606565 10606828 10607038 10609649 10610519 10610991 10614467 10614609 10614745 10616905 10617008 10617507 10617903 10618099 10618202 10619059 10619563 10620719 10621840 10622214 10625808 10625981 10625998 10626006 10626023 10626335 10626458 10626732 10628355 10629382 10629460 10629606 10630441 10630502 10630990 10632251 10632588 10632934 10632997 10633714 10633810 10637994 10638591 10639040 10639147 10639324 10639473 10643046 10643843 10644203 10644333 10644341 10644690 10644891 10644985 10648834 10648997 10649414 10649772 10649874 10651360 10651564 10651924 10651982 10652024 10658665 10658844 10659484 10660294 10661195 10661358 10661541 10661795 10661855 10662901 10663033 10663338 10663860 10663978 10668054 10668768 10670538 10672807 10673088 10676471 10678478 10678997 10679512 10680748 10680769 10680975 10681656 10682235 10682902 10682993 10683391 10683689 10689672 10689809 10689981 10691626 10692137 10692558 10692625 10693168 10695312 10700614 10700960 10701008 10701011 10701014 10701018 10701023 10701027 10701031 10701032 10701035 10701045 10701055 10701064 10701074 10701146 10701196 10701228 10701237 10701254 10701301 10701306 10701326 10701367 10701370 10701384 10701415 10701453 10701526 10701558 10701656 10701670 10701946 10702003 10702667 10702798 10703032 10703657 10703766 10703813 10704196 10704988 10705530 10705919 10706621 10712543 10712568 10712575 10713335 10714316 10714330 10714536 10714980 10715132 10715945 10717336 10720918 10720971 10721331 10721746 10723424 10724568 10731167 10731868 10732012 10732065

RQ15001

What 2013 Nissan Pathfinder owners say

Most recent owner complaints, unedited.

Filed Nov 11, 2025 · Airbags · FL

Brought our 2013 Nissan Pathfinder to Naples Nissan because of a flashing airbag warning light and a Warning light that passenger airbag was not working . Dealer fixed other recalls and charged us $179 to tell us we needed 2 new OCS sensors for $1050. We provided copy of OCS sensor recall for 2013 pathfinder (PC216 13V -069. NYB13-035a) which states dealer is responsible to remove OCS sensors and check the lot codes for campaign eligibility . Dealer has ignored the request and simply repeated that the all outstanding recalls have been taken care of and we would need to pay $1050 to repair this important safety problem . Please help us ?

Filed Mar 28, 2024 · Airbags · NJ

The front passenger air bag turned off when an adult or teen sits in the seat. The air bag has remained turned off. The warning light also started to flash periodically and now continuously flashes.

Filed Sep 11, 2023 · Airbags · VA

Hi, in 2018, Nissan replaced the passenger occupancy module as part of a recall. That module has now gone bad again (~5 years), and Nissan is charging its customers to replace. Maybe we are unlucky, but wondering if the repair with a faulty part is a pattern that is introducing risk and unnecessary cost to customers. Hoping the federal safety agency can review data to determine whether this is a pattern or one-off. Thank you.

Filed Oct 12, 2022 · Airbags · TN

While pushing the auto button to slid the passenger front seat to vacuum the floor carpet the airbag sensor broke off. This made the airbag system to be non operational on the front passerenger seat putting any passenger in danger with no airbags. Poor design of such an important safety system that just sliding the seat would break such an important part!

Filed Aug 19, 2022 · Airbags · FL

The air bag light indicating that the passenger air bag is disabled does not go off when someone sits in the passenger seat. This matches the federal safety agency Campaign Number 15V681000 from October 20, 2015 with the description Air Bag may not Detect Passenger in Seat. However, Nissan says that my VIN is not part of the recall. This makes no sense to me since my vehicle has this issue. I do not know exactly when this started as I don't often carry passengers. The date I put in was around the last time I took this vehicle in for what I believe was to address a recall issue. I'm also concerned that my vehicle could have the issue from April 26, 2016, the federal safety agency CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 16V244000, Passenger Air Bag may not Deploy due to OCS Error.

Filed Jul 28, 2022 · Airbags · PA

Passenger side airbag does not show as engage due to a faulty (OCS) sensor per inspection by Nissan dealership names #1 Cochran. This is a known problem covered under Nissan's recall PC216. This recall was performed on the vehicle in 2017. The sensor is faulty again. The fix that Nissan proposed is not a long term correction of the problem. Obviously, if the vehicle is involved in an accident with my wife in the passenger seat the airbag would not work due to a faulty sensor that registers no one being present in the passenger seat.

Filed Jun 19, 2022 · Airbags · TX

Passenger airbag sensor indicates seat is empty even though someone is sitting in it. Have not had it checked yet. Going this week.

Filed Nov 3, 2021 · Airbags · 102,000 miles · PA

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the front passenger’s side air bag and the "solid air bag #2" warning lights were illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the air bag sensor to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 13V069000 (Air Bags) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 102,000. Consumer has not stated when the incident occured.

Filed Sep 29, 2021 · Airbags · 149,989 miles · NC

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. He also stated that the OCS sensor failed to recognize an occupant seated in the passenger’s side seat, which would cause the air bag to become inoperable. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed him that there were no recalls on the vehicle. Upon investigation, the contact discovered the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 15V681000 (Air Bags) which he linked to the failure. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 149,989

Filed Sep 13, 2021 · Airbags · FL

passenger side airbag light is always on (passenger or not) indicating that the passenger side airbag is off. also, when there is no passenger in the seat, the red airbag light flashes. however, when there is a passenger in the seat, the red airbag light is not on.

Questions about the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder airbags

Does the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder have airbags problems?

Owners have filed 177 complaints about the airbags of the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder, 20% of all its complaints.

At what mileage do 2013 Nissan Pathfinder airbags problems start?

The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 10,500 miles.

Was there a recall on the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder airbags?

Yes, 3 recalls: 16V244000, 15V681000, 13V069000. Check your VIN to see if your car still needs the free repair.

What year does the Nissan Pathfinder have bad airbags?

The Nissan Pathfinder model years with the most airbags complaints are 2013 (177 complaints), 2014 (92 complaints) and 2015 (55 complaints).

Other 2013 Nissan Pathfinder problems

Transmission 371Engine 110Body 83Brakes 67Visibility 54Electrical 50Acceleration 47Suspension 29Fuel system 26Lights 14Driver assistance 13Seat belts 13Steering 13Seats 12Wheels 8Locks 5Tires 3

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