Airbag inflator rupture on the 2007 Nissan Versa
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Nissan Versa report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 87,500 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
14% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37,500 miles | 62,250 miles | 85,000 miles | 117,650 miles | 125,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $0–$0 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 111; the 2007 has 93. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I received notice of the takata passenger airbag recall in august, 2016. I have been unable to have passengers in my car since august without risking their deaths. Nissan has done absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. Despite many calls & many promises from them that the parts will be in "soon," they have done nothing but apologize. Toyota & honda seem to be able to get parts but nissan says they can't. Now they're telling me it might be march of 2017 before I can get my vehicle fixed; 8 months after their original recall notice. This recall is a huge inconvenience to me & my family, never mind possible danger to me as the driver should the airbag deploy erroneously. Nissan's behavior is irresponsible & unacceptable. Nissan needs to be disciplined.
Takata recall. Its been 7 months with several phone calls to nissan. The air bag problem is a huge safety issue, not to mention the inconvenience. Nissan is doing nothing. It needs fixed now.
Takata recall on november 9th I brought my versa into the dealer and they performed the recall, replacing the passenger airbag. However, some of the things that they said and did made me suspicious that perhaps they did not actually perform the work or replace the old airbag. Sometime in early 2016 I received a letter from nissan informing me of the passenger airbag recall and telling me not to allow anyone to sit in the front passenger seat, and to wait until I got a second letter when the part was available. In early november, I had already been waiting for many months for this second letter from nissan, but the letter never came and still has not come. So I called my dealer on november 8th to see if perhaps the second letter had been lost in the mail, and if the part was now available. The dealer said yes, the new inflator just came in, and to bring my vehicle in, which I did first thing the next morning. They called an hour later to say they could not find the part. Then they later said they found it. Then they performed the work in about an hour or less. It seemed too fast. As I was driving away, I realized that I only had…
Also reported on the 2007 Nissan Versa
Strut, shock or spring failure
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other suspension problem
Fuel pump failure
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 93 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2007 Nissan Versa?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag inflator rupture on the 2007 Nissan Versa?
93 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed