Nissan Faces Class Action Alleging Air Bag Defect in Frontier Trucks

On Monday, a class action lawsuit was filed against Nissan North America Inc., alleging the automaker concealed an air bag defect in certain Nissan Frontier trucks.

Plaintiff Bobette Brantley filed the Nissan class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and all Californians who purchased or leased 2011-2012 Nissan Frontier trucks. Brantley alleges the affected Nissan Frontier vehicles experience unnecessary side air bag deployment, which occurs while the vehicles are being used in a safe and normal manner.

This unnecessary air bag deployment puts drivers at risk of losing control of their vehicles while driving, increasing the risk that they will be injured in an accident, according to the Nissan Frontier class action lawsuit. In addition, the deployed air bags allegedly emit smoke, putting passengers at risk of choking and irritation.

Once the air bags are deployed, the Nissan class action lawsuit alleges, it is no longer safe to operate the vehicles without having them repaired. These repairs can cost thousands of dollars and cause the vehicles to have diminished value.

Brantley alleges that Nissan was aware of the air bag defect before it distributed the Nissan Frontier vehicles to Nissan dealerships. Despite knowing about the defect, Nissan allegedly failed to disclose and actively concealed the air bag defect to consumers.

The airbag defect class action lawsuit points to the Nissan Frontier owner’s manual, which allegedly reads: “Curtain rollover air bags are also designed to inflate in certain types of rollover conditions, or near rollover conditions. As a result, certain vehicle movements … may cause the curtain and rollover bags to inflate.”

Brantley asserts that the air bag system’s “near rollover conditions” design “signals deployment under conditions where there is no true risk of rollover,” posing a safety risk and causing unnecessary damage to the vehicles.

According to the Nissan air bag class action lawsuit, the Nissan Frontier owner’s manuals state that the vehicle is designed for both normal and off-road use. However, Brantley claims that, due to the “sensitive nature” of the vehicles, they are not suitable for off-road use. In fact, she asserts that the sensitivity causes the air bags to sometimes deploy even under normal driving conditions.

Nissan refuses to cover the damage caused by the air bag defect under warranty, and refuses to reimburse consumers for their out-of-pocket expenses related to repairing the damage caused by the air bag defect, the Nissan Frontier class action lawsuit alleges. In addition, Nissan has allegedly failed to rectify the Nissan Frontier air bag defect and continues to put drivers and passengers at risk.

By filing the air bag defect class action lawsuit, Brantley is seeking to have Nissan notify consumers about the air bag defect and to repair the Frontier vehicles with the alleged air bag defect. In addition, Brantley argues that Nissan should be responsible for reimbursing Class Members for the cost of repairing the damage caused by the alleged air bag defect.

Brantley is represented by Robert L. Starr and Adam Rose of The Law Offices of Robert L. Starr and Stephen M. Harris of The Law Offices of Stephen M. Harris.

The Nissan Frontier Air Bag Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Brantley v. Nissan North America Inc., et al., Case No. BC609400, in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.

UPDATE: On Feb. 9, 2017, a federal judge denied Nissan’s motion to dismiss a defective air bag class action lawsuit.