NISSAN AIRBAG DEFECT - reclaim costs ?

trivial

Hi All,

For the last 4/5 years the airbag warning light on my Nissan Almera has been going off for no apparent reason and since around 2011/2012-ish any warning lights that are lit up when you have an MOT results in failure. Therefore I have been taking it to a local garage to plug in their specialised diagnostic system which resets the chip and that stops the light going off.

Problem is it always comes back on after a few months and therefore I have had to pay out £50 + VAT every year since then just before my MOT in order to pass it.

Recently I received an airbag defect safety recall from Nissan which was fixed for free by a local Nissan dealer and immediately afterwards the airbag light went off and has stayed off. I believe the problem was caused by the defect and want to know if anyone else has had this and if they have been able to claim any compensation for the costs incurred ?


Cheers !

Silver-Surfer_2

If you'd taken it to Nissan in the first place what do you think will have happened?

trivial

The problem first happened before the official safety recall so my guess is that Nissan would have just told me I have to replace the entire unit and they would sting me for several hundred quid !

EdGasket

If you have receipts you can ask Nissan for your consequential loss however they will probably decline to pay. At that point you could pursue a small claim; I think you have above 50% chance of winning.

Johno100

trivial wrote: »

Recently I received an airbag defect safety recall from Nissan which was fixed for free by a local Nissan dealer and immediately afterwards the airbag light went off and has stayed off. I believe the problem was caused by the defect and want to know if anyone else has had this and if they have been able to claim any compensation for the costs incurred ?

And you have got an engineers report to support that contention?

My understanding is that the worldwide recall of Nissan's was because of faulty airbags sending out shards of metal from the units when they activated in the event of a crash, nothing to do with warning lights coming on or not.

trivial

Thanks Ed.

Is "consequential loss" the official legal term for this ?

I didn't keep receipts unfortunately but I think I will still ask Nissan for repayment.

trivial

Thanks Johno.

I don't have any engineers report to support this. I believe you're right about the reason for the recall but the defect in itself may well have caused the airbag light indication.

Johno100

Well you are going to need some evidence of a linkage, if as is being suggested here you take them to court. Have you tried looking on any make/model specific forums for others who have proved a link?

forgotmyname

No receipts and no proof that was the fault? I would say less than 50% chance of winning.

Your going to ask them for repayment with no proof you have spent anything? get proof first.

The recall is for airbags that inflate with too much force, they still work but could cause more injury than if they were not fitted.
Sounds like there may have been a dodgy connection and they fixed it properly where the people fixing it for the MOT maybe just bodged it to get the light off?

arcon5

It always comes on a few months after the reset...
You've just had the recall done...
So howd you know it won't come back...

Hintza

trivial wrote: »

The problem first happened before the official safety recall so my guess is that Nissan would have just told me I have to replace the entire unit and they would sting me for several hundred quid !

Your guess! You didn't even ask them so you have no claim.

And paying £50 a go to put the light out?