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Nissan X-Trail Takata inflator rupture causes fire in Japan [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Autoblog has received Nissan's official statement about the Takata inflator rupture in Japan. It confirms the details of the case, but contradicts one part of the original story. Nissan says that the vehicle's owner was notified about the recall, but the X-Trail wasn't repaired. We've updated the story to reflect this, and the full statement is embedded below. Nissan is the latest automaker to be directly affected by faulty Takata airbags in its vehicles. In this case, a 2001 X-Trail crossover in Japan caught fire after an accident when its passenger side inflator ruptured, shot out hot shrapnel, and caused the dashboard to ignite. The driver suffered light burns to the cheek during the crash, according to Reuters. Nissan has covered this model of X-Trail under its Takata recall in Japan since April 2013, but a company spokesperson told Reuters that the driver didn't receive the notice. The inflator in the crossover was made at Takata's factory in Moses Lake, WA. This was Nissan's first case in Japan of one of these parts rupturing. While a root cause isn't known, the problem with these components is believed to come from moisture getting into the inflator and causing the propellant to ignite too quickly. The Takata airbag recall has affected millions of vehicles worldwide and has been linked to eight deaths worldwide. In May, Nissan added 1.56 million of its models globally to replace the parts. Subsequently, the company added thousands more for the passenger side in the US and Canada. According to Reuters, the company has called in 813,000 vehicles in Japan, and 85 percent of them have been repaired there. The repair rate in the US has been far lower, though. Takata is producing around a million repair kits a month, but there are 34 million affected vehicles here from 11 automakers. According to a Congressional hearing in early June, it could be years before the whole problem is properly sorted out. Related Video: Nissan Statement Nissan is aware of a June 25 2015 incident in Japan involving improper deployment of a passenger side air bag in a 2001 Nissan X-Trail. The driver of the vehicle reported minor injuries. This vehicle was already subject to a Takata recall and owner notification was made. However, for unknown reasons, the vehicle has not been remedied. Relevant authorities have been notified. This incident is subject to an ongoing investigation and no further information will be available at this time.

Next Nissan Rogue flaunts its new look

Remember last April, when Nissan told us it would be launching five new models over the course of 15 months? Well, we've seen the Altima, Pathfinder, Sentra and Versa Note, so that magical fifth model has to be the new Rogue, which our spy photographers recently caught testing. Despite looking like a hodge-podge of black duct tape and garbage bags, we can clearly see that the new Rogue takes a lot of its styling cues from the Hi-Cross concept that Nissan showed at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. And that's fine - we found that CUV concept to be a decidedly handsome thing, and certainly more attractive than the weird little Rogue that currently roams the streets.
Details surrounding the next Rogue are still very unclear, though our spies suggest that it could be powered by a new 1.2-liter supercharged four-cylinder engine, good for something like 113 horsepower and 140 pound-feet of torque. We'll see about that, since those numbers represent a drastic drop in power versus the current Rogue - to the tune of 57 hp and 35 lb-ft. A diesel engine for other markets is expected to be on offer, and a plug-in hybrid version is also rumored to be in the works, though that won't show up at the vehicle's initial launch.
If Nissan sticks to its plan of showing these five new models in the course of 15 months, that means we should see the Rogue in July. Of course, since things don't always go as planned, it could be many more months before all that camouflage is taken away.

Nissan Xterra's fate hangs in the balance

The Nissan Xterra might not be long for this world, according to a report from Edmunds. The rugged SUV, which has always been a bit more of a hardcore, purpose-built vehicle than the rest of the Nissan SUV range. But it has also suffered from slowing sales, low fuel economy relative to the competition and general neglect, as Nissan has focused on other offerings in its range.
"There are plans to replace it, there are always plans, (but) I am not sure it will happen. I would say in the next six months to a year," Pierre Loing, vice president of product planning for Nissan Americas told Edmunds. Part of the problem, he added, was that the Xterra is a US-only vehicle, which makes it a hard sell in a world where automakers are increasingly depending on global cars.
Besides the economic forces working against the Xterra, it's just a vehicle that hasn't been a huge sales success of late. Customers are more conscious of fuel economy and a body-on-frame SUV that only nets 16 miles per gallon just isn't good enough; arguably why Nissan barely sold 17,000 units last year. We can hold out hope, as the Xterra remains a fun off-roader that we'd hate to see go, but unless Nissan finds a business case or some global partners, this is a vehicle that is on its last leg.