2014 Nissan Altima on 2040-cars

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Nissan recalling more than 1M vehicles for airbags that may fail to deploy

Nissan and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a recall for 989,701 vehicles in the US due to an issue with their passenger-side airbag systems. Affected Nissan models include the Altima, Leaf, Pathfinder and Sentra from the 2013 and 2014 model years, and 2013 NV200 taxis. Affected Infiniti models include the 2013 JX35 and 2014 Q50 and QX60 utility vehicles.
Reuters is reporting that a total of 1,053,479 vehicles are included in the recall globally, with about 60,000 of the affected vehicles having been sold in Canada.
The fault apparently lies in something called the occupant classification system, which may, in the recalled vehicles, incorrectly classify the passenger seat as empty when it is in fact occupied by an adult. When the system fails to recognize the passenger, the passenger-side airbag may deactivate, and could therefore fail to deploy in the event of a crash.

Ex-Green Beret arrested in Ghosn's escape has lived a life of danger

This Dec. 30, 2019, image from security camera video shows Michael L. Taylor, center, and George-Antoine Zayek at passport control at Istanbul Airport in Turkey. Taylor, a former Green Beret, and his son, Peter Taylor, 27, were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan ex-Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box in December 2019, while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. / AP   Decades before a security camera caught Michael Taylor coming off a jet that was carrying one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives, the former Green Beret had a hard-earned reputation for taking on dicey assignments. Over the years, Taylor had been hired by parents to rescue abducted children. He went undercover for the FBI to sting a Massachusetts drug gang. And he worked as a military contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, an assignment that landed him in a Utah jail in a federal fraud case. So when Taylor was linked to the December escape of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn from Japan, where the executive awaited trial on financial misconduct charges, some in U.S. military and legal circles immediately recognized the name. Taylor has “gotten himself involved in situations that most people would never even think of, dangerous situations, but for all the right reasons,” Paul Kelly, a former federal prosecutor in Boston who has known the security consultant since the early 1990s, said earlier this year. “Was I surprised when I read the story that he may have been involved in what took place in Japan? No, not at all.” Wednesday, after months as fugitives, Taylor, 59, and his son, Peter, 27, were arrested in Massachusetts on charges accusing them of hiding Ghosn in a shipping case drilled with air holes and smuggling him out of Japan on a chartered jet. Investigators were still seeking George-Antoine Zayek, a Lebanese-born colleague of Taylor. “He is the most all-American man I know,” TaylorÂ’s assistant, Barbara Auterio, wrote to a federal judge before his sentencing in 2015. “His favorite song is the national anthem.” Kelly, now serving as the attorney for the Taylors, said they plan to challenge JapanÂ’s extradition request “on several legal and factual grounds.” “Michael Taylor is a distinguished veteran and patriot, and both he and his son deserve a full and fair hearing regarding these issues,” Kelly said in an email.

Nissan says Leaf battery packs are nearly bulletproof

Like the old 1970s Schoolhouse Rock song (and an early-90s remake from hip-hop artists De La Soul), three, indeed, is the magic number. That's how many Nissan Leaf batteries have conked out in Europe during the past four-plus years. Out of about 35,000. I'd hate to be a member of that unlucky trio. The Japanese automaker says it has shut up the naysayers who once crowed that electric motors may be less reliable than gas- or diesel-powered engines. Nissan has done so by maintaining a 99.99 percent "battery success rate" in Europe. With only an on-board charger, inverter and motor, the Leaf's electric motor costs 40 percent less to maintain that gas- or diesel-powered engines. Nissan does seem to be getting more converts across the Pond. Nissan boosted European sales of the Leaf by about 33 percent last year to more than 15,000 units. Meanwhile, here in the States, sales jumped 34 percent last year to more than 30,000 vehicles, though early 2015 sales appear to be down as lower gas prices are leading American car shoppers to larger, more gas-swilling vehicles. Still, Nissan recently said it surpassed sales of 75,000 units in the US and we expect the March sales numbers to show that the Leaf has become the top-selling plug-in vehicle in US history. Take a look at Nissan Europe's press release below. Related Videos: Nissan LEAF battery reliably outperforms cynics, critics and alternatives Five years on, Nissan reports 99.99% battery success rate across Europe More reliable than a petrol or diesel engine, according to industry averages Nissan LEAF is the world's best-selling all-electric car, with over 165,000 sold globally Rolle, Switzerland, 23 March 2015: Five years and more than 35,000 European sales since the launch of its all-electric LEAF, proprietary data released by Nissan for the first time shows that 99.99 percent of its battery units remain entirely fit for purpose. The failure rate of the battery power unit is less than 0.01 percent - or just three units in total - a fraction of the equivalent industry-wide? figure for defects affecting traditional combustion engines. To prove the long-term reliability of the battery technology, Nissan tracked down a rather infamous early model, whose owner is still enjoying fault-free motoring in her LEAF three years on: http://youtu.be/6V1bJJwJhEg Electric vehicle advocate and presenter of online TV channel Fully Charged, Robert Llewellyn commented: "This comes as no surprise.