Nissan preliminary evaluation PE16013
Inadvertent Curtain and Seat Air Bag. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the air bags on 1 model year (2012). Opened Sep 28, 2016, closed Mar 20, 2017 after 6 months. It led to safety recall 17V144000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedThe Office of Defects Investigations opened this Preliminary Evaluation to investigate complaints alleging an inadvertent deployment of side air bags on model year 2012 Nissan Versa vehicles. The three complaints indicate the driver or passenger curtain and seat mounted air bags deployed when the front door on the same (affected) side was shut. According to Nissan, the defect identified involved the dissimilarity of the metals used in the side air bag sensor electrical connectors, gold versus tin materials. This combination may lead to fretting and oxidation on the connector pins of the Satellite Sensor and the harness which connects it to the Airbag Control Unit (ACU).Fretting and oxidation increases the likelihood of a momentary loss of connectivity, and thus communication from the sensor to the ACU. When communication is lost between the side impact sensor and the ACU, the system is designed to enter a ?backup state? mode of operation. The backup state allows the curtain and seat-mounted side air bags to deploy should the communication be accidentally lost during the course of a crash event. In this mode, the ?safing path? is used in the ACU algorithm for a deployment decision. By design, the safing path has a lower threshold for deployment compared to the normal state which requires both safing and trigger path thresholds to be met. Consequently, if this momentary communication loss occurs when the door is closed forcefully, it may cause the curtain and seat-mounted side air bag, as well as the seat belt pretensioner to deploy inadvertently. On March, 6, 2017, Nissan North America, Inc, submitted a Defect Information Report to NHTSA establishing that it will address this issue. See recall action 17V-144 for further details; remedy details and timing are to be determined. Accordingly, the investigation is closed. The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at SaferCar.gov under the following ID numbers: 10743601, 10732337, 10779675
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2012 Nissan Versa.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE16013 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 17V144000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE16013 still open?
No. It closed on Mar 20, 2017 and led to recall 17V144000.
Which vehicles does PE16013 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2012 Nissan Versa. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.