Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (front, side and curtain air bags, sensors and inflators).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2008 Nissan Sentra owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owns a 2008 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving approximately 45 mph, the vehicle in front abruptly depressed its brake pedal causing the driver to crash into the rear of the vehicle. During the crash, the front end of the vehicle was severely damaged but no air bags were deployed. No injuries were reported. A police report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was towed away. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 117,000.
The car's airbag dashboard light has been on and blinking for about a month now- indicating an issue. I have not been in any recent accidents and it appeared on its own. Subsequently, the car horn does not work. Airbags and car horn are necessary to prevent accidents and serious injury, including death in the event of an accident. I advised my local Nissan dealership who stated there are no current recalls and the car would need to be inspected- which will likely be costly. No inspections have been made at this time.
Driver Air bag sensor light came on. The dealership reset it several times but it continues to come on. We paid the money to have them put the car on the diagnostic system. They are saying after review, the airbag needs to be replaced. It costs $1500 to replace the airbag. Which makes zero sense. The car has never been wrecked. Reports have shown issues with airbags in hundreds of thousands of Nissans. The 2008 Nissan Sentra needs to be reviewed for an airbag recall. This is extremely dangerous.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 Nissan Sentra. While driving approximately 50 MPH, the contact's vehicle struck a deer. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was repaired for the frame damage. During a second incident, the air bags failed to deploy again and the air bag warning light illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the air bag sensor failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred and the dealer diagnosed that the passenger side seat belt failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was diagnoised a third time for an electrical failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 112,000.
Airbag blinking on dashboard due to passenger side seat airbag sensor malfunction and/or failure. My wife has purchased the vehicle used, and we happened to have accident hit by other car on the driver side door while I had been trying to get back home on the weekend after grocery shopping trip with my whole family at 02/05/2017. It happened at the service road of sh 121 tx. While I was turning left on the straight/left lane on green light. After the accident, none of the airbags were deployed but somehow the airbag light started blinking on the dash board, of course we took it to the repair shop and the service adviser has explained that airbag sensor on passenger seat was malfunctioning and they would have it fixed. So we thought we got it fixed, and drove it around for a few months. …
Air bag safety issue. On October 14, 2015 I took my car in for service at mcgrath Nissan because the "cs air bag light is flashing" more spicifly the code readout was b1134 for sensor for air bag front left side. Their diagnosis was that the entire [and very expensive at $3000] air bag module must be replaced. Nissan is uncertain whether the air bags will work or not in a front left side crash. The part was ordered and was expected to become available before end of 2015. The part was 87651ze90b frame assy-front sea and I put down a 50% deposit on the part. It is now May 30, 2016. Numerous calls to the dealership, who followed up with Nissan, occurred. The answers varried. In some of the calls statements where made that Nissan was having supplier issues. In other calls I was given a new date for arrival of the part, and part has not yet arrived. …
Having issues with my passenger seat occupancy sensor. The only correction the dealer issued was to replace the seat with a new or used seat. A new seat would be over $3,000 and a used one well over $700 plus labor to change seat covers. Error code b1018. The vehicle is beyond warranty however, because this is an obvious safety issue regarding faulty hardware, I feel Nissan should graciously address this without charge. There are airbag recall campaigns open for other Nissan models regarding this very issue but it unfortunately does not include my 2008 Nissan Sentra. The recall obviously needs to be expanded! At this point I May be forced to acquire a used seat at a local junk yard, but it would be impossible to verify the sensor is working in the used seat prior to installation. Again, this is an obvious safety issue and should be addressed promptly. Thank you for your time!
My 2008 Nissan Sentra air bag light came on in the past and I had it reset by the dealer. It stayed out for a long period of time. Later when it came on again, I learned how to reset it myself using the ignition key and I did so with success. The light would stay out for at first a month or two, then it became a week or two, but now the light comes on and my resetting it will only last for less than a day. So I took the car to the dealer this week. The dealer advised me that it is a faulty air bag. The dealer did a diagnosis/inspection and found code 81134. The dealer advised me to replace the left side seat assembly and that it would cost me approximately $3,400 to do so. Is this possible for a 2008 Nissan with only 56,000 miles on it? The air bags for this model are not on the recall list, but I'm questioning if they should be.
Front passenger side airbag has turned off and air bag light is flashing on the instrument panel. Lancaster Nissan says it will not deploy in a crash. The dealer says the sensors in the seat and/or the seat is bent and won't bolt to the floor of my car. The dealer replaced the seat twice. The new seat didn't solve anything -- the air bag light is still flashing on my dash to this day. Nissan said that I needed a $675.00 computer chip but could not say with certainty that this would fix the problem. At this time, lancaster Nissan stated that "Nissan was done with me." this is clearly a safety issue that Nissan has refused to fix. They have failed to stay behind their product -- I do not have passengers ride in the front passenger seat due to this problem and I cannot re-sell the car in this condition.
August 13, 2014 I took my Nissan to dealer because of air bag light on passenger side flashing. It started while driving. I was informed it was caused by right front seat belt pretensioner failure, they replaced the right front seat belt assy. Under a warranty. October 20, 2014 took back to dealer due to air bag light again flashing. Informed it was cost $975 to install a new censor. I declined work because of price. To date, 5/2/16, the light continues to flash. I also have a flashing light on my dash for a tire censor. I was told it would cost $135 to find which tire or if it was a main censor that was causing this. I declined to have it diagnosed due to the cost -$135 to find it then another cost to fix it. This has been flashing for almost two years. Car was in motion when the flashing started.
Airbag complaints in other Sentra years
Frequently asked questions
How common are airbag problems on the 2008 Nissan Sentra?
NHTSA has 53 complaints about the air bags of the 2008 Nissan Sentra, 32% of the model year's 167 complaints. The component named most often is side/window (1 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2008 Nissan Sentra airbag problems?
No. NHTSA lists no air bags recall for the 2008 Nissan Sentra, though it has 3 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2008 Nissan Sentra airbag problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 104,000 miles, and 10% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 11 crashes, 0 fires and 11 injuries to air bags problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.