YOKOHAMA (dpa-AFX) - Nissan is urging owners of around 84,000 older cars to stop driving them, citing concern over explosion of Takada air bag inflators.
The warning comes as one Nissan car owner was killed by an exploding front-passenger inflator, and as many as 58 people were injured since 2015, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration or NHTSA.
'Due to the age of the vehicles equipped with defective Takata air bag inflators, there is an increased risk the inflator could explode during an air bag deployment, propelling sharp metal fragments which can cause serious injury or death,' Nissan posted on its website.
The Japanese company stated that the 'Do Not Drive' warning covers 2002-06 Nissan Sentra cars, 2002-04 Pathfinder SUVs, and 2002-03 Infiniti QX4 SUVs.
'Even minor crashes can result in exploding Takata air bags that can kill or produce life-altering, gruesome injuries. Older model year vehicles put their occupants at higher risk, as the age of the air bag is one of the contributing factors,' the NHTSA warned.
The U.S. agency further advised owners of impacted cars to contact their dealer to replace inflators for free.
For smooth replacement services, Nissan is offering free tow services, and even mobile service and loaner cars in certain locations.
'Nissan is committed to the safety of its customers and is issuing this DO NOT DRIVE warning to urge them to complete the free recall repair. Nissan Group strongly advises drivers not to drive affected vehicles until the repair has been completed,' Nissan emphasized.
Earlier, the automaker had recalled 736,422 of the vehicles in 2020 to replace the Takata inflators. However, around 84,000 remain unrepaired even though the company repeatedly urged owners to replace the inflators.
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