B1049 is the air bag diagnosis sensor unit reporting an open circuit on the driver airbag firing loop. Nissan's detection logic includes the spiral cable in that circuit, which is the part most shops call the clock spring. On a vehicle with no accident history, the spiral cable is the first thing to look at.
The driver airbag on these vehicles is a dual stage unit wired back to the air bag diagnosis sensor unit through the spiral cable in the steering column. The diagnosis sensor unit watches those lines for opens and shorts every time the key comes on. B1049 covers the first driver circuit. B1054 is the same failure on the second circuit, and the two often set together.
Nissan's diagnosis procedure is short and worth following in order. Check the harness connector. Check the wiring harness externals. Disconnect the driver air bag module harness connector and the combination switch connector, which is the spiral cable, then check continuity between them and to ground. If that continuity is bad, the manual says replace the combination switch. Only after that does the chart move to the diagnosis sensor unit and then to the driver air bag module itself.
The spiral cable earns its place at the top of the list. It is a ribbon conductor that winds and unwinds every time the wheel turns, and after enough years and enough turns the ribbon fractures. The break is often intermittent at first, showing up only at certain steering angles.
Circuit. B1049 describes what the module measured across a pair of wires. There is one overlap to watch for: a deployed driver airbag reads as an open loop, so after a frontal collision B1049 commonly appears next to B1209, Nissan's frontal collision detection code. B1209 holds the deployment record and is a separate problem from the wiring.
Not on its own. Clearing memory does nothing for a fractured spiral cable or an unplugged connector, and the code returns at the next key cycle. Repair the circuit and the light should go out by itself if B1049 was the only thing stored.
When the spiral cable is the failed part, we supply genuine OEM clock springs, and we list driver airbags when the bag itself deployed. If the vehicle was in a collision and the diagnosis sensor unit locked with crash data, the module goes out for an airbag module reset after the physical repairs are finished.
B1049 in this form belongs to Nissan and Infiniti vehicles built around the air bag diagnosis sensor unit, and it turns up across Altima, Sentra, Versa, Rogue, Juke, Pathfinder, Xterra, Frontier, NV200, and the Infiniti G and Q cars. Other manufacturers assign B1049 to their own circuits, so confirm the code came from a Nissan family module first.
Before anything comes apart, disconnect the battery and let the system sit at least three minutes so the backup power supply bleeds down. Then pull the driver airbag and unplug it at the wheel. Look at that connector and the yellow SRS connector at the base of the column for spread terminals, and check whether the spiral cable pigtail shows chafing where it exits the housing.
Check continuity through the spiral cable across the full range of steering travel, not only at center. An intermittent break shows itself when the wheel is turned. If B1054 is stored alongside B1049, both driver circuits are open and the spiral cable moves to the top of the list. B1050 and B1051 cover the same circuit shorted to a power supply and shorted to ground. Anything not listed on the site can be sourced through a part request.
Related codes: B1054, B1050, B1051, B1001
Keep reading:
Code scope: Nissan, Infiniti. The same number can mean something different on another manufacturer, so match the code to your make before you act on it.
A reset clears stored crash data. A replacement part fixes a hardware fault. We have read these codes since the nineties and will tell you which one you are looking at.
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