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Airbag Rattles

Submitted: Monday, Jul 03, 2006 at 23:22

Member - Kingsley N (SA)

I have had my GU patrol from new and after about 12 months I noticed that the airbag on the LHS sets up quite a rattle on corrugations. I have had it looked at by the dealer on three occasions now and each time they removed the lid and checked the installation. They can't stop the rattle! Of course they can't simulate the conditions around town (corrugations), so they don't really know what they are doing other than checking the installation. They claim to have checked with Nissan Australia and have had no other complaints. It feels like there is something banging against the lid from inside. Mind you, the whole dash moves quite a bit too.

Has any one else experienced this problem. My vehicle is a GU 2003 ST-L which came with a "safety pack" including 2 airbags and ABS.

Kings
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AnswerID: 181728   Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006 at 08:59

Peter McG (Member, Melbourne) replied:

KIngs

Had exactly the same issues. had a new airbag assembly fitted, some foam around the assembly but still have one rattle that won't go away. I just hope they have fixed it in the GUIV. By the way, now have steel wheels!

Peter
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Peter
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AnswerID: 181729   Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006 at 09:00

Member - Captain (WA) replied:

Hi Kingsley,

I had a rattle that appeared to be from my passangers airbag on my 2003 ST-S. It only appeared at certain rpm (1800-2200) and was not related to corrugations. However, I swore it was coming from my airbag/glovebox and reckoned I could "feel" it at times. Nissan tighten cables, lid etc... but after ~5 visits to Nissan they finally found a broken weld on an inner guard bracket after removing my snorkel, inner guard lining and other bits and pieces. Turns out a spot weld had failed and was vibrating at certain frequencies.

While this may not be your problem, at least its somewhere else to look. But be aware that Nissan has replaced several passenger airbags for the exact rattle you are describing. I thought my problem was the airbag until they found the true cause. Don't accept Nissan's "never heard of that before" stock reply to all problems, its must be standard Nissan training to "deny, deny deny". Check out old Nissan Patrol forums on Yahoo, it was a hot topic for a while and seems like there was a bad batch of airbags in 2003.

Cheers

Captain
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AnswerID: 181735   Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006 at 10:10

Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) replied:

Mine also, probably they all do!!
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AnswerID: 181741   Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006 at 11:20

Member - Kingsley N (SA) replied:

Thanks for the replies, fellas. It has given me more ammunition.

We are setting off for three weeks in the Simpson (Double Crossing) next week. The rattle will probably drive my wife mad.

I will get on to the Nissan Forum and search, Captain.

Nissan did a big job on the vehicle to correct a roof drumming when it was new, and I quite like the mob I use. Unfortunately, they reckon that they can't fix it if they can't hear it! They have advised me to check in at Broken Hill on the way back from our trip to see if any of their vehicles have had a problem.

Cheers
Kings
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AnswerID: 181753   Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006 at 12:27

Member - Oldplodder (QLD) replied:

Had a rattle from my right side airbag.

Ended up being the heat shield installed with the air bag, and fastened to the exhaust where it passed the spring and air bag.

Top of the heat shield was catching the top of the coil mount.

Was Ok cold, but when it heated up it deformed and just caught. You could shake everything cold and no noise.

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