Nissan Motor Company is recalling more than 240,000 trucks in Iowa and 19 other cold weather states to fix an airbag defect, according to the Associated Press article.The glitch involves a problem that could prevent the vehicles’ front air bags from deploying in a crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site, the recall affects the Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra from the 2005 to 2009 model years.

In cold-weather states where winter time road salt is used, a mix of snow, water and salt could get into a crash zone sensor area of the airbag system causing rust and interrupting the signal. Nissan officials say that could prevent the front airbags from deploying in the event of an auto accident. They also say the glitch was discovered through warranty claims. However, officials say, there were no crashes, injuries or fatalities linked to this particular airbag product defect. Apparently, the red airbag warning light in the vehicle will illuminate indicating a problem.

The 242,720 vehicles involved in this recall are trucks sold or registered in Iowa, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. Owners should get the recall notice in the mail by the end of January. After the recall begins, dealers will install a redesigned sensor at no cost.

Airbag defects can be extremely serious. In this case, the rust in the crash sensor causes the airbag to not deploy, which means the occupants of a vehicle would be unprotected in the event of an auto accident. The technology of airbags has improved tremendously over the last decade. But we continue to see a number of defective airbag recalls involving several auto makers. In some cases, the airbags fail to deploy and in other cases, they deploy at the wrong time, both of which are dangerous. If you have experienced such dangerous airbag defects, I’d like to hear about it.