The first airbag warning appeared the day after I took ownership of the car. Back it went for a few parts to be taken out, shaken about and plugged back in again, fortunately under warranty. The second warning appeared six months later and back it went. That time, a cable under the passenger seat which does something or other airbaggy, had become detached - whether by a groping passenger trying to adjust the seat, or bad luck, or slippery connection or perhaps a weevil tunnelling around in the upholstery, we shall never know. Anyway, they plugged it back in under warranty.
Having heard this account, I duly lay on the ground next to the car and had a look under the passenger seat and there, flapping around without a care in the world, was too much wire with too little restraint. Immediately I thought I would get a cable tie and attach the wire to something under the seat, thereby possibly preventing a recurrence. About eighteen months later, I have still not got around to it and it occurs to me that perhaps the Nissan genius who designed this wiring also thought that cable ties would be the answer but never got around to introducing them to the manufacturing process of the car. They don't make the Primera anymore - possibly due to their inability to get around to fastening the airbaggy wire that flaps around under the passenger seat.
Who knows what evil fault will be found and exorcised this time around? It's going in on Monday for its operation.
Be that as it may - I hate this car. I bought it as a replacement for my lovely 1991 Nissan Primera which I fear I prematurely consigned to the scrap heap simply because it did things like not start when you asked it to and, oddly symmetrically, not always immediately stopping when you took the key out. The sharks at the dealership told me it sounded expensive and, like a fool, albeit a fool with the MOT and road tax due in a matter of days, I asked them what they had by way of upgrade.
So I mainly hate this car for the manner in which it came into my ownership but also because of its persistent complaining about its airbag and the annoying rattle in the dashboard which Nissan UK tell me they will fix under warranty if the fault is something that is covered by warranty but they can't possibly tell (or even guess) whether it would be and so I might have to pay three hundred quid for them to take the whole dashboard apart to find out. I'm living with the rattle and hating the car.
I do like the remote locking. This might seem tremendously old hat but remember, my previous car came from the medieval period and so, to me, it's practically an act of magic - even more than the air conditioning and the instant fuel economy calculation (see earlier posting). Although, when did you ever see someone with a similar lock on the front door of their house? If it's secure enough for cars, why isn't it good enough for homes? And if it isn't good enough for homes, why is it secure enough for cars? And no, I don't count remote garage doors because they are just for people too lazy to get out of the car. I'm talking about the ability to stagger up the front path, laden with shopping bags, press a tiny button on the key in your pocket and gently shoulder the door open on your way in without having to put anything down. Surely this could be available to the mass market? Answers on a postcard, or even in the comments after this post. (I ask and ask but does anyone write anything? Well, take a look for yourselves. Hello? Is there anybody alive out there?)
And finally, some wonderful news. Old baldy Grass-Head is bald no more, although I appreciate it's hard to make out more than a couple of grass spikes in the photo - trust me, there are sixteen (I've counted). And Victoria Sandwich cakes are buy-one-get-one-half-price at Marks & Spencer. Obviously if I hadn't tried to get the cake boxes in the picture, I could have focussed on the grass but where would be the fun in that?
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