Nissan tells my wife to sit in the BACK SEAT!

Recently the passenger Airbag OFF light has been illuminating intermittently when my wife is in the passenger seat.

I called Nissan corporate and they said that parts to fix the issue are on back-order. They said the pressure switch in the passenger side may not be sensing her "light weight" This is the first time my wife has been called "light weight" She is not overweight but she is probably 140 pounds.

Nissan corporate said to have my wife sit in the back seat until they can get parts. WIFE NOT HAPPY!!!

Flyct said:

This is the first time my wife has been called "light weight" She is not overweight but she is probably 140 pounds.

Nissan corporate said to have my wife sit in the back seat until they can get parts. WIFE NOT HAPPY!!!

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Ummm, :shock: ,and hopefully she won't read that post, as apparently Flyct didn't take the Marriage 101 class, or watch the Geico Abraham Lincoln commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPX2cQP8uoI

Good luck, with everything.

Flyct said:

Recently the passenger Airbag OFF light has been illuminating intermittently when my wife is in the passenger seat.

I called Nissan corporate and they said that parts to fix the issue are on back-order. They said the pressure switch in the passenger side may not be sensing her "light weight" This is the first time my wife has been called "light weight" She is not overweight but she is probably 140 pounds.

Nissan corporate said to have my wife sit in the back seat until they can get parts. WIFE NOT HAPPY!!!

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Is she not happy with Nissan, or with you for the comments about (and revealing) her weight?

It's not an ideal solution, but Nissan is offering the safest solution until the parts are available for the repair. It would be negligent for them to offer any other option. Of course, you have the right to not take their advice.

If your wife is willing to ride in a car with no passenger side airbag, she can sit wherever she wants. Nissan is worried more about lawsuits than her safety.

I recommend one of these:

sub3marathonman said:

Flyct said:

This is the first time my wife has been called "light weight" She is not overweight but she is probably 140 pounds.

Nissan corporate said to have my wife sit in the back seat until they can get parts. WIFE NOT HAPPY!!!

Click to expand...

Ummm, :shock: ,and hopefully she won't read that post, as apparently Flyct didn't take the Marriage 101 class, or watch the Geico Abraham Lincoln commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPX2cQP8uoI

Good luck, with everything.

Click to expand...

I don't understand women and weight fetish. When my wife goes to the doctor and gets on the scale she takes off her shoes and removes her earrings.

Flyct said:

I don't understand women and weight fetish. When my wife goes to the doctor and gets on the scale she takes off her shoes and removes her earrings.

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Ah, I found a picture of your wife:

Seems like they should have been able to turn the airbag on full time until they get the sensor replaced instead of keeping the airbag off full time and asking for nobody to sit in the front seat.

Carry around a sack of potatoes and have your wife hold them when in the seat.

2k1Toaster said:

Carry around a sack of potatoes and have your wife hold them when in the seat.

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A sack of onions will work too.

I know 10 pounds in the passenger seat will turn on the fasten seatbelt light (gallon of milk is 8 pounds + a couple of random objects)

I don't know how many pounds are required to enable the airbag.

garsh said:

Flyct said:

I don't understand women and weight fetish. When my wife goes to the doctor and gets on the scale she takes off her shoes and removes her earrings.

Click to expand...

Ah, I found a picture of your wife:

Click to expand...

We have the information from Flyct that his wife, at 140 lbs, is still too light to force the airbag light to turn on. Are some here suggesting she GAIN weight??? Or just wear bigger earrings????

I'm thinking that Flyct is a very fortunate man with a beautiful wife, and for her safety everyone should be fine with her riding in the backseat for awhile.

Why would riding in the back with no airbag be safer than riding in the front with no airbag?

nr427 said:

Why would riding in the back with no airbag be safer than riding in the front with no airbag?

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Ta back seat is softer than the dash and father from the windshield and promotes safer driving by definition of the position.

nr427 said:

Why would riding in the back with no airbag be safer than riding in the front with no airbag?

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more crumple zone, softer materials, bench seat vs bucket (better attachment to the frame), higher roof clearance, and so on.

Generally the center of the car is the safest place overall but of course the type of impact means the safest place varies.

If you are rear ended the front seats are probably just as safe as the "rear" which sit in the middle of the car.

If you are in a head on collision the rear seats are safer for sure.

For another attitude on "rear" consider the Model S with 3rd row rear facing "jump seats". Driver/passenger first row, what is the "rear seat" in a leaf becomes the middle seats, and there is a 3rd row essentially in the hatch. But then the Tesla frame/battery pack is way more crash worthy / safer. I'd rather be sitting in the rear jump seats in a Model S than the front seat of a Leaf if I knew I had to survive a crash.

palmermd said:

Seems like they should have been able to turn the airbag on full time until they get the sensor replaced instead of keeping the airbag off full time and asking for nobody to sit in the front seat.

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No that would be rather unsafe. A front airbag with a rear facing child seat or a small child in that seat is far more dangerous than no airbag for a belted adult in the front seat. That is the reason the seats attempt to detect the weight of the passenger and turn it off if they think it is a child instead of an adult. And they aren't about to force it on and simply trust that the owner won't put a child there or a subsequent and uninformed owner won't do that.

As for the airbag being turned off for an adult, that really just reverts the car to safety levels from the early 90's or late 80's. And given the issues with the debris from bad airbags, it might actually be safer for it to be off if you aren't certain that airbag doesn't have that defect.

DarthPuppy said:

palmermd said:

Seems like they should have been able to turn the airbag on full time until they get the sensor replaced instead of keeping the airbag off full time and asking for nobody to sit in the front seat.

Click to expand...

No that would be rather unsafe. A front airbag with a rear facing child seat or a small child in that seat is far more dangerous than no airbag for a belted adult in the front seat. That is the reason the seats attempt to detect the weight of the passenger and turn it off if they think it is a child instead of an adult. And they aren't about to force it on and simply trust that the owner won't put a child there or a subsequent and uninformed owner won't do that.

As for the airbag being turned off for an adult, that really just reverts the car to safety levels from the early 90's or late 80's. And given the issues with the debris from bad airbags, it might actually be safer for it to be off if you aren't certain that airbag doesn't have that defect.

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We'll, we are not talking about putting kids in the front seat, we are talking about his wife. I agree, turning it on full time and just leaving it that way is not a permanent solution. We are talking about the time it takes for them to order a new part and get it installed. By turning it on full time his wife can sit in the front seat while they are waiting for the part to arrive instead of getting sent to the back seat.

My sister rode in the backseat of their Subaru for 6 weeks while waiting for the part due to the airbag recall. The dealership advised her to do that and she said better safe than sorry.

palmermd said:

We'll, we are not talking about putting kids in the front seat, we are talking about his wife. I agree, turning it on full time and just leaving it that way is not a permanent solution. We are talking about the time it takes for them to order a new part and get it installed. By turning it on full time his wife can sit in the front seat while they are waiting for the part to arrive instead of getting sent to the back seat.

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While that may be the owner's intention, the fact that Nissan won't have control of who sits there once it leaves their service center, they will not want to force it on. They also have no way to force the car to return when the parts come in so they can properly fix it. As such, they are not going to want a jury-rigged fix running around that could translate to liability for them.

Subaru said the same thing to us.

It is not a conspiracy..... just being realistic about safety. The rear seat is the temporary but immediate solution.