NHTSA recall 07V178000

What's wrong: Certain passenger vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard no. 208, 'occupant crash protection.' The front passenger seat has a sensing system to detect if the seat is occupied. This sensing is programmed to detect if the seat is occupied by a small adult or certain child restraint seats. Placing certain child seats on the front passenger seat is designed to result in the…

Why it matters: In some cases, the sensing system may misinterpret a properly seated small adult as one of these specific child seats, resulting in deactivation of the front passenger air bag when the air bag might be beneficial for the adult, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

The fix: Dealers will replace the front passenger seat sensor. The recall began on May 21, 2007.