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On September 15, 2008, Nissan Motor Co Ltd announced a recall of 204,361 vehicles from its 2007 and 2008 model years in the United States due to the possibility that a passenger side airbag could fail to deploy properly in an accident.

The voluntary recall covers 2007 and 2008 Nissan Altima, Altima Coupe, 350Z, Murano and Rogue; and Infiniti G35 Sedan, G37 Coupe and EX35 built from March 12, 2007 to May 27, 2008, the company said in a notice to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nissan said it began to investigate the issue in November 2007 after receiving several warranty reports of airbag warning lamps flashing. In late September, Nissan determined that a safety-related defect existed and it should conduct a recall.

In some vehicles, the passenger side airbag could fail to receive a proper signal and a supplemental airbag warning light could flash and a status light would illuminate to warn the driver that it is not working properly.

Nissan believes less than 1% of the vehicles actually contain the defect. It plans to test the vehicles and replace the hardware if necessary. The recall is expected to begin November 3, 2008.

Continental Automotive Systems U.S. Inc supplied the component to Nissan, according to the notice from the highway safety administration. The supplier is a unit of Continental AG.

The design is unique to Nissan, a Continental spokeswoman said.

Ford Motor Co. made the public aware on February 1, 2008, that 225,000 vehicles that were previously fixed as part of an earlier recall are being recalled again. The affected vehicles represent a small share of the 9.5 million cars and trucks that Ford has recalled since 1999 to fix a potentially serious defect in the cruise control switch, which caused some vehicles to catch fire, sometimes causing deaths.

Ford responded to that dilemma by installing new wiring harnesses in the recalled vehicles. Now, some of those wiring harnesses appear to be defective. The harnesses, all of which came from a single supplier, have improper fusing.

Ford discovered this latest predicament while repairing a vehicle in its own fleet, and stressed that no accidents or injuries have been caused by the defect. In fact, the company said the issue does not appear to have affected any customers yet.

“It turned out that this group did not have the intended protection, so we are re-recalling them and replacing that,” Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said Friday.
Mostly older models

the affected vehicles mostly are older models, the bulk of them — 185,000 — E-Series vans with model years ranging from 1992 to 2003. Other affected vehicles include:

• 1993-95 Ford Taurus SHO
• 1992-98 Ford Crown Victoria/ Mercury Grand Marquis
• 1992-95 Lincoln Town Car
• 1993 Ford Bronco
• 1993 Ford Super Duty (gas engine only)
• 1995-97 Ford Super Duty stripped chassis (gas fueled only)

Ford stressed that not all vehicles in those model years had the faulty wiring harness installed. It knows which vehicles were fitted with the defective part and will notify owners directly.

“It tells you a lot about the quality control systems that are in place both at Ford and at its vendors,” said Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a vehicle safety research and advocacy firm based in Rehoboth, Mass. “It was embarrassing enough for them the first time.”