2015-2016 Chevrolet City Express Recalled Over Potential Issue With Passenger-Side Airbag

The Chevrolet City Express van is being recalled due to an issue with the passenger-side airbag sensor, which may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied.

It’s worth noting that the recall is part of a larger action initiated by Nissan that impacts 3.1 million vehicles. Nissan developed and manufactures the City Express for Chevrolet, and sells its own variant of the City Express as the Nissan NV200.

The defect: in affected vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash.

The hazards: if the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.

Affected vehicles:

• Chevrolet
  • 2015-2016 Chevrolet City Express
• Nissan
  • 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima
  • 2013-2016 Nissan Altima
  • 2013-2016 Nissan NV200
  • 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi
  • 2013-2016 Nissan LEAF
  • 2013-2016 Nissan Sentra
  • 2013-2017 Nissan Pathfinder
  • 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue
  • 2015-2016 Nissan Murano
• Infiniti
  • 2014-2016 Infiniti Q50
  • 2014-2016 Infiniti Q60
  • 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles

Number of vehicles affected: 3,177,645 vehicles (United States figure that includes all Nissan, Infiniti, and Chevrolet vehicles).

The fix:

• Nofifying customers:
  • General Motors will notify Chevrolet City Express owners
  • Nissan will notify Nissan and Infiniti owners
• Repairs: dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and in the Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge.

Owners should: customers looking to find out if their vehicle is included in this Chevrolet City Express recall should visit recalls.gm.com. There, owners will be able to enter their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to see any open recalls as well as customer satisfaction programs. If the vehicle is part of the recall, customers should take it to a Chevrolet, Nissan, or Infiniti dealer, as appropriate.

Owners can also contact Chevrolet, Nissan or Infiniti customer service (as appropriate) with questions by using the following information.

Contacts:

• Chevrolet Customer Service: 1-800-222-1020
• Nissan Customer Service: 1-800-867-7669
• Infiniti Customer Service: 1-888-833-3216
• NHTSA Toll Free: 1-888-327-4236
• NHTSA (TTY): 1-800-424-9153
• NHTSA Website: www.safecar.gov
• NHTSA Recall Number: 16V244000