Owners of Some Older Nissans Warned to Stop Driving Them

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the owners of almost 84,000 older Nissan and Infiniti vehicles in the US need to stop driving them—now. The affected vehicles have Takata air bags that were recalled in 2020 but have not yet been fixed, CNN reports. The NHTSA announcement came after the Japanese automaker's own warning Wednesday regarding 2002-2006 model year Nissan Sentras, 2002-2004 Nissan Pathfinders, and 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4s. The Takata air bag recall is the biggest car safety recall ever recorded; more than 100 million of the air bag inflators have been recalled across the globe over the past 10 years because they can explode, causing serious injuries or death even in a minor crash. But around 9% of the affected vehicles still have not been repaired, the AP reports.

More than 30 deaths linked to the air bags have been reported since 2009, 27 of those in the US. The AP's explainer includes a section on how to check if your vehicle is involved in the Takata recall—search for it here. Nissan dealers are offering free towing or mobile repair options, and some dealers are also offering loaner vehicles. Other automakers, including Honda, Ford, BMW, Toyota, Stellantis, and Mazda, have previously issued "do not drive" warnings related to the air bag recall. (More Nissan stories.)