NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE16-013: Inadvertent Curtain and Seat Air Bag
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE16-013 on September 28, 2016 and closed it on March 20, 2017. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2012 Nissan Versa for it and links recall 17V-144 to it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE16-013 (also written PE16013)
- Investigation type
- Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
- Status
- Closed March 20, 2017
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Nissan North America, Inc.
- Components
- Air Bags; Air Bags — Side/Window
- Recall linked by NHTSA
- 17V-144: Side Air Bags may Deploy Unexpectedly, reported
- Vehicles and equipment
- 2012 Nissan Versa
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE16-013.
The Office of Defects Investigations opened this Preliminary Evaluation to investigate complaints alleging an inadvertent deployment of side air bags on model year 2012 Nissan Versa vehicles.
The three complaints indicate the driver or passenger curtain and seat mounted air bags deployed when the front door on the same (affected) side was shut.
According to Nissan, the defect identified involved the dissimilarity of the metals used in the side air bag sensor electrical connectors, gold versus tin materials.
This combination may lead to fretting and oxidation on the connector pins of the Satellite Sensor and the harness which connects it to the Airbag Control Unit (ACU).
Fretting and oxidation increases the likelihood of a momentary loss of connectivity, and thus communication from the sensor to the ACU.When communication is lost between the side impact sensor and the ACU, the system is designed to enter a ?backup state? mode of operation.
The backup state allows the curtain and seat-mounted side air bags to deploy should the communication be accidentally lost during the course of a crash event. In this mode, the ?safing path? is used in the ACU algorithm for a deployment decision.
By design, the safing path has a lower threshold for deployment compared to the normal state which requires both safing and trigger path thresholds to be met.
Consequently, if this momentary communication loss occurs when the door is closed forcefully, it may cause the curtain and seat-mounted side air bag, as well as the seat belt pretensioner to deploy inadvertently.
On March, 6, 2017, Nissan North America, Inc, submitted a Defect Information Report to NHTSA establishing that it will address this issue.
See recall action 17V-144 for further details; remedy details and timing are to be determined.
Accordingly, the investigation is closed.
The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at SaferCar.gov under the following ID numbers: 10743601, 10732337, 10779675
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE16-013. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Nissan
Nissan Versa
What an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Nissan VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for PE16-013
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.