2017 Leaf red airbag light flashing and passenger airbag off sign

I have a 2017 Nissan Leaf. For several months now, the red airbag sensor light has been flashing on the dash as well as the passenger airbag sign shows off. I just moved from Hawaii to Boise and finally took the car into the Nissan dealership here and the technician doesn't seem to know much about EVs or their warranties. He said he ran a test and it looks like the computer and sensors are malfunctioning and we should just replace them all.

He said he thinks it would be under the basic warranty which just expired (3 year). I asked him what the 5 year EV system warranty is for and he doesn't even know. I asked him to please call and talk to someone who knows and to see if something like this is covered or not. Or if there are any other options. This seems so drastic.

Since he's not giving me any specifics as to why this could even be happening, I'm just confused by what caused this. At one point, I drove the car to a hike where there was a tree stump that the right front of the car ran into and it dented it a bit. I'm wondering if this somehow caused the airbag to turn off?

Does anyone have experience with this or any information? I'd really appreciate any feedback.

Thank you!

Searching https://www.nissanusa.com/content/dam/Nissan/us/manuals-and-guides/leaf/2017/2017-Nissan-LEAF-warranty-booklet.pdf for bag seems to indicate they're covered by the 5 year/60K mile (whichever comes first) powertrain warranty.

Better get it done before the warranty expires.

So I have some more specifics... it's the OCS main control unit that he says needs to be replaced. He says the sensors might not need to be replaced if that takes care of it. Again, not covered by warranty since the 3 years is up.

He also said it has nothing to do with the PCM and doesn't fall under the powertrain warranty.

Don't trust this tech - or that dealership - on the warranty coverage. A Leaf-certified tech needs to look at the car, and the warranty needs to be clarified. At this point you are looking at paying to replace something that may not be broken, and may be under warranty.

Did he give you a DTC?

I was trying to find service campaigns or recall on 2017 Leaf OCS and I found https://www.nissan-techinfo.com/documents/NTB19-071.pdf.

One would think that the below might cover what you're asking about:
"RESTRAINT SYSTEM
Air bags and related electronic control systems."

I've got a day job that's keeping me busy and takes precedence so hopefully someone else can dig or knows more.

No DTC. He said the certified Leaf tech hooked up the system to do a computer scan and couldn't get communication with the OCS control unit or sensors.

I asked him to try to do a reset. He said the next step is to replace the OCS entirely (about $700).

I see that too! I asked him about the powertrain warranty and he said he spoke to the warranty people and they said no it's not covered under that. I'm going to ask him to check again and specifically reference this portion of the manual. Thank you.

Your 12v isn't iffy is it?

I have noticed that the battery does not keep as much of a charge since we’ve moved from Hawaii to Boise. I assume it has to do with the colder weather, but I’ve asked them to check the battery diagnostics as well.

graceshan said:

I have noticed that the battery does not keep as much of a charge since we’ve moved from Hawaii to Boise. I assume it has to do with the colder weather

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Can you elaborate? How are you determining this?

Well, in Hawaii, when my Leaf was 100% charged, I would get around 100 miles on the charge. Now, after moving to Boise, 100% gives me around 60-70ish miles. At least this is what the display is now showing. This happened pretty quickly. We moved here less than 3 months ago.

That's very likely normal reduction of range due to Winter driving.

Ahhh so does that mean it might go back up during the summer?

Yes, indeed. A/C doesn't use as much power as heat, except in moderate temps with heatpump-equipped Leafs. Winter driving generally yields about 2/3 of Summer range - more like 50% in frigid weather.

The other thing is that if your 12v is iffy, you can get all sorts of codes - increased drain on the 12v could cause an accelerated 12v death

Very helpful info. Thank you!

Didn't hear back from the dealer today, so hopefully I'll get answers tomorrow regarding the other issue.

graceshan said:

I see that too! I asked him about the powertrain warranty and he said he spoke to the warranty people and they said no it's not covered under that. I'm going to ask him to check again and specifically reference this portion of the manual. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Here are some dealer pages for the Leaf showing the "Restraint System" and "Related Electronic Control Systems" under the 60 month Powertrain Warranty:
https://www.gatesnissan.net/manufacturer-information/nissan-warranty-coverage/
https://www.scottevansnissanusa.com/what-does-the-nissan-powertrain-warranty-cover/
https://www.advantagenissan.com/manufacturer-information/what-does-the-nissan-powertrain-warranty-cover/

While these are for more recent years, the warranty booklet is unchanged, so if the dealer text aligns with the 2020/2021 model year warranty booklet, it also aligns with the earlier booklets.

The best advice I have heard around here is to try another dealer because you may get a more positive interpretation of the warranty terms. Yeah I know that is just not right. You could also follow the directions in the warranty booklet, first contacting Nissan's EV hotline on page 3 of the warranty and then if that does not work, the BBB Auto Line folks also on page 3. The BBB Auto Line folks told me they only do arbitration for the first three years of ownership, the length of the basic 36 month warranty.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much for your help. They ARE going to cover it under the warranty now, thankfully.

I also received the battery report and it shows a 2 bar capacity loss and score of 82. The recommendation says "Your score is very high and good for your battery". I'm honestly not even sure how useful this report is with regards to my battery's condition.

The battery report is useless, as you probably know by now. If your car has had the BMS firmware update you might qualify for a replacement battery before the warranty expires. If not, the dealership should do it now and that can drastically affect the SOH reported by the BMS.

Were you in a hot part of Hawaii by any chance?

We lived on the windward side of Oahu (breezy and not as hot), but we parked outdoors so the car definitely had some heat for it's lifetime.