Nissan issues ‘do not drive’ alert for 84,000 older models

Nissan has warned owners of older vehicles with recalled, unrepaired Takata air bags to stop driving them, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Wednesday.

The Japanese carmaker’s “Do Not Drive” alert applies to 83,920 certain model year 2002-2006 Nissan Sentra, 2002-2004 Nissan Pathfinder and 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4 vehicles that may have Takata air bags that were recalled in 2020.

The stock was down nearly 3% during Wednesday’s session following the warning.

“NHTSA is urging all vehicle owners to immediately check to see if their vehicle has an open Takata air bag recall,” the NHTSA said in a statement. “If you have one of these vehicles, do not drive it until the repair is completed and the defective air bag is replaced.”

Nissan and Infiniti will offer affected owners free towing and mobile repair, as well as loaner cars in select locations.

“Due to the age of the vehicles equipped with defective Takata air bag inflators, there is an increased risk the inflator could explode during an air bag deployment, propelling sharp metal fragments which can cause serious injury or death,” a Nissan spokesperson told CNBC in a statement (name?).

According to the NHTSA, 27 people in the United States have been killed by a defective Takata air bag that exploded, and at least 400 people have allegedly been injured by them.

At least 67 million Takata air bag inflators have been recalled in the country, and more than 100 million have been recalled worldwide, making it one of the largest auto safety callbacks in history.

In 2017, Takata filed for bankruptcy in Japan and the U.S. after agreeing to pay $1 billion in criminal penalties tied to its allegedly fraudulent conduct in the sales of its defective air bag inflators.