Takata airbag and parts availability... what to do?

"adamftw" (adamftw) 09/25/2017 at 10:00 • Filed to: None

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My wife’s 2010 Versa just got hit the with Takata recall, driver’s side airbag. No parts until “Spring 2018.” Anyone else have this issue? I pulled the airbag fuse this morning and gave her the keys to my truck to take to work so I’m driving it now, but wtf do I do now? Call Nissan corporate and fight to get a loaner? Am I just SOL? I’m not about to just drive this thing for half a year without the airbags. Pretty funny how the notice they sent says “may result in serious injury or death” and then says “we can’t do anything about it SRYLOL”

UPDATE: Spoke with the GM, we get a loaner until they get the parts in. We just have to sign a waiver and not drive the Versa until then. Works for me, I have plenty of driveway space.

pip bip - choose Corrour > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 10:03

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ring Nissan and demand a loaner!

adamftw > pip bip - choose Corrour 09/25/2017 at 10:05

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corporate right? not a dealer? that was my next step

haveacarortwoorthree2 > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 10:10

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I waited two years to get a new airbag for my car. Just drove it in the meantime because that’s the kind of badass thrillseeker I am! :)

adamftw > haveacarortwoorthree2 09/25/2017 at 10:14

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I’m cool with seeking thrills, however, I do believe that death is something that should be reasonably avoided.

AM3R, lost another burner > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 10:16

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Have the same issue with my BMW. On the forums, a decent amount of people had success talking to corporate and getting a loaner, but they had to park their cars. Like no mileage could be put on while waiting for the parts. Also, what I did, was complain to the GM of the dealership, and then corporate. On 2 separate occasions the local dealer sent me a letter saying they had the part for my car, and to bring it in. Both times, they have me wait an hour and then come out and hand me a service sheet saying “part not available”. Had to track down my service advisor just to get him to tell me they didn’t fix it. Needless to say, I was pissed the first time around, and livid the second time.

adamftw > AM3R, lost another burner 09/25/2017 at 10:24

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My buddy at Oyster Bay BMW said they were giving out long term loaners for a while. I have no problem parking the car, it’s just transportation for my wife to get to work and whatever and she’d love a new loaner for a few months. We’re about 2 years out from getting her something new and fancy and the Versa has been nothing but plucky and reliable for it’s 95k life thus far. Looks like I’ll start with the dealership’s service department and work my way up.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 10:26

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If you pulled your airbag’s fuse, and you wear your seatbelt properly, you should be fine. Airbags really don’t do a whole lot for an average sized person wearing a properly adjusted seatbelt, they mostly save people that aren’t wearing a seatbelt, are wearing a seatbelt improperly, or are too small or large for a seatbelt to work properly.

I just kept driving the car and avoided running into anyone, but I can’t fault anyone for pushing to get a loaner. It’s a shitty situation. I think I had to wait a year for the drivers side airbag and 6 months for the passenger side airbag, but both times they had the parts on hand and had a loaner for me while it was in the shop. I really don’t think there was much more the dealer could have done about it, they can afford to give a loaner car to everyone affected, if they did that they’d have no cars left to sell.

adamftw > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP 09/25/2017 at 10:28

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I’m not letting my wife drive a car with it’s engineered safety features knowingly defeated. End of conversation on that one. Just “avoiding hitting anyone” works great for someone who gets hit by a driver running a red light or driving while drunk.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 10:30

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Call your dealer and ask nicely if they are able to order parts for it. I got a similar recall notice for my Subaru many months ago. Basically it said “your passenger side airbag is actually a bomb, don’t let anyone sit there and sorrylol we’ve got no replacement parts, we’ll let you know in a year or so when we get parts.” I happened by the dealer a month or two ago and asked them, and their service guy said “yeah, it’s limited availability but we can usually get them in a couple weeks.” A week later they called me that the parts were in.

So Shiney. So Chrome! So Frunky > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 11:18

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For those airbag infiltrators to be dangerous they need a lot of exposure to heat and humidity over time. True the seatbelt does the heavy lifting in a crash but they are designed to work with the airbag. I’d highly discourage anyone pulling the airbag fuse as you’re trading a statistically tiny chance of harm for a certainty of less safety. Even more if you live someplace that is not hot and humid all year. Just my two cents. Best of luck getting it fixed as soon as possible.

Source: I’m an engineer for an automotive safety systems company (Seatbelts).

notsomethingstructural > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 11:20

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I know when my RX-8 had the same issue on the passenger side if I took it to the dealer while waiting for parts they would install a “temporary fix,” which was disable the passenger side airbag, tell you there was no passenger side airbag and not to drive it with passengers, and put the car back on the road. If I recall, this was Mazda corporate policy. The drivers side I believe they had loaners available but I took possession of the car very shortly before I could get parts so no issue. Mine was escalated because it was 12 years old and spent most of those years in the B-hazard region.

Honestly, if you look at the failure incidence rates I’m not sure how many 2010's have had a catastrophic failure in the field, especially if you’re not in a hot/humid climate like Georgia. Not to be a dick, but a 2010 located in heating controlled climate would not be remotely high on their priority list.

CaptDale - is secretly British > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 11:43

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Weird, we have no issues getting them for Subaru and GM. We did at first, but the last year and a half there have been zero availability issues.

And Subaru was giving out rentals left and right when we couldn’t get airbags and the person wanted one. It was the customer’s choice for a rental or not, but the vehicle COULD NOT be driven if they got a rental.

AM3R, lost another burner > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 13:05

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Yeah, I didn’t bother going down the loaner route as the car would just be sitting out front of my house as I waited and driving my 335i is more fun than driving some rental cruze or impala. Definitely reach out to the service department. Keep bugging them too, because ultimately you will speak to someone who can fix this for you.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 14:14

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I’ve been waiting for well over a year for a replacement on my M3... Nice that you got the loaner.

adamftw > AM3R, lost another burner 09/25/2017 at 14:22

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Yea, I get it. Any loaner is an improvement for my wife’s car, so that’s nice I guess.

NojustNo > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 17:25

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Give the wife a helmet. Maybe she will be inspired to get race car. Win-win!

pip bip - choose Corrour > adamftw 09/25/2017 at 23:22

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Yep corporate hq