Nissan Motor Co. is recalling 16,365 Murano and Infiniti EX 35 sport-utility vehicles to fix a software program that may lead passenger air bags to fail.
The recall affects 11,511 Muranos from model year 2009 and 4,854 Infiniti EX35s from 2008, according to a Feb. 12 letter from Nissan posted on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site.
The air bags may fail to inflate in a crash because of incorrectly programmed software, increasing the risk of injury, according to the agency.
Nissan sold 76,358 Muranos last year, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata Corp. The Infiniti EX, a compact sport-utility vehicle introduced in December to compete with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's X3 and Honda Motor Co.'s Acura RDX, sold 305 units in 2007.
Jeannine Ginivan, a spokeswoman for Nissan, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Tokyo-based Nissan is Japan's third-largest automaker, behind Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda.
Volkswagen AG's 2003 and 2004 New Beetles are being investigated by U.S. safety regulators for a sensor malfunction that can reduce air-bag protection.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it received five complaints
that the failure of the front crash sensor triggered an air-bag warning light. The
preliminary inquiry may involve 104,000 vehicles, the Washington-based agency said today on its Web site.
"There have been no incidents or accidents resulting from this and we are
cooperating fully" with the agency, Keith Price, a spokesman for Volkswagen's Auburn Hills, Mich.-based U.S. unit, said in an interview.
About half of the initial inquiries by NHTSA result in a recall. Volkswagen, based in
Wolfsburg, Germany, is Europe's biggest carmaker.
Ford Recalls 470,000 Mustangs to update air bag software
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it is recalling 470,000 Ford Mustangs from the 2005-2008 model years to recalibrate how forcefully the air bag deploys on the front passenger side of the car.