NHTSA Complaint #10513350 — 2012 NISSAN XTERRA

PASSENGER SIDE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT INTERMITTENTLY GOES ON W/ SEAT OCCUPIED (120LB ADULT), SEAT BELT FASTENED, SEAT IN NORMAL UPRIGHT POSITION - INDICATING THE AIR BAG IS DEACTIVATED. I ASKED THE DEALER I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE (NEW) FROM ABOUT THIS ANOMALY AT THE FIRST SERVICE (2220 MILES/3MOS) ON 2-20-2013 AND WAS TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO - "READ THE OWNERS MANUAL". WE DID MANY DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTS WITH SEATING POSITION, SEAT BACK ANGLE ON SUBSEQUENT TRIPS, WITH NO POSITIVE RESULTS. THE ONLY EXPERIMENT THAT PROVIDED POSITIVE RESULTS WAS FOR HER TO HOLD OUR 20 LB DOG ON HER LAP - NOT A SATISFACTORY OR PERMANENT SOLUTION. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO ANOTHER DEALER FOR THIS SPECIFIC ISSUE ON 4-22-2013 AND WAS TOLD THEY COULD DO NOTHING, AND THAT I SHOULD CONTACT NISSAN CONSUMER AFFAIRS WHICH I HAVE DONE WITH ZERO HELP OR SATISFACTION AS OF TODAY. AS SOMEONE WHO SPENT SOME 30 YEARS IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS LIKE THIS AND OVERSEEING THE DEVELOPMENT, TESTING AND PRODUCTION OF FIXES FOR AIRCRAFT, THE ENGINEERING REQUIRED TO PROVIDE OWNERS LIKE US WITH A SUITABLE FIX TO THIS PROBLEM WOULD NOT SEEM TO ME TO BE ALL THAT LARGE OR COSTLY. GIVEN THAT THIS REOCCURRING PROBLEM IN AN IMPORTANT SAFTEY SYSTEM ON THIS AND OTHER NISSAN MODELS AS WELL AS MANY IN VEHICLES PRODUCED BY OTHER MANUFACTURERS, I AM CONFIDENT YOUR OFFICES COULD PRODUCE QUICK AND MEANINGFUL RESULTS FOR EVRYONE - OWNERS AND MANUFACTURERS BY APPLYING PRESSURE AND ESTABLISHING A MEANINGFUL CRITERION FOR THE ACTIVATION/DEACTIVATION OF THE PASSENGER SEAT AIR BAG SYSTEM. *TR