news.knology.net said:2005 XG350L Airbag light came on 6 months ago dealer clean some plug and ok.
Now its on again and I about due to take it in for oil change. Running
Google lots of complaints with is problem and no much in permanent fixes.
Any words of wisdom out there??
Steve and Janet said:Hyundai has a history of such problems. I had a 2001 Elantra that would
show the airbag light very often, starting at 2000 miles. Had it at the
dealer for the problem 7 times in two years. Not long after the last visit
the car was hit from behind while stopped waiting for traffic, the
offender was estimated to be going 70+ mph. The car was driven forward
into another car and demolished the front end as well. My daughter was
injured. Not one airbag deployed. Some research on the net leads me to
believe it is not an uncommon event. Please be sure to wear your seatbelt
too and never assume the airbags will save you.
Bob said:And, it may well be that the Airbag system operated as designed. It operates
based on rapid deceleration while the vehicle is moving forward. Probably,
there wasn't much in the way of forward motion to decelerate from.
hyundaitech said:Ultimately, there's not enough information here for any of us to determine
whether the air bags operated normally. In most cases, no problem is
found when the air bag lamp isn't on.
Since no air bags deployed, it would be simple for a repair facility to
check whether there were any faults even after the collision. Since no
air bags deployed, we can probably presume that no trouble codes were set
from air bag deployment, leaving only those codes that would indicate
problems with the system, which likely were present even prior to the
collision.
In your specific case, the distance the car was pushed and the speed of
the car that struck it from the rear are irrelevant. Presuming the
implication that a front air bag should have deployed, the relevant factor
the rate of deceleration at the time of frontal impact.
Additionally, the problem I was referring to above (and presumably the
original poster's problem as well) has to do specifically with connectors
for the side air bags. Since you're alleging a problem with the frontal
air bags, neither problem has anything to do with the other.
The one thing about your post that's absolutely true is that seat belts
need to be worn. Occupant restraints are designed to be most effective
when all are active/used.
Steve said:What would be your conclusion about the operation of the airbags as
you stood and looked at the front of the car, to see the radiator torn
apart and pushed into the engine. It looked as though another vehicle
had struck it from the front. Would you think that was a significant
decelleration? What if the injuries included those which could only
have been caused by decelleration? Should a deceleration strong enough
to fracture bones cause the airbags to deploy? What if the car had
been to the dealer repeatedly with the airbag light on. What would you
think? The technical details do not always tell the whole story, if
that were so, the car would have only required one visit to the dealer
for this problem. I understand the minute details here, and I
certainly respect your opinion, and the opinion of others, but as a
Dad, it is hard to take the fact that I paid for a car with airbags
and they didn't work, which caused injuries that didn't have to be.
Sometimes we buy cars that are mechanical nightmares and the problems
remain elusive, and this was one of them. I am not anti Hyundai, I
have a 2003 Accent and plan to buy another Hyundai in the near future.
My only point was to not depend on airbags to save you, as they
sometimes fail, as evidenced my many reports, including this one. Best
regards.
Vic said:So you are that kind of people that expects that everything is perfect,
IT's NOT your fault, and somebody has to pay for it.....
Well, this is REAL LIFE .... SH*T* happens ....
Look at yourself .... are you perfect ????????????? clearly NOT.........
People like you are the ones making this Country be the worse one on the
planet, when it use to be the BEST one ever.
Steve said:The car traveled 31 feet forward before striking another stopped car. If
this is normal operation, then a design change is needed. My daughter
had some neck injuries, but her more serious injuries resulted from the
front end impact, even though she was wearing a seatbelt.
Matt said:One can't be sure without seeing the crash or at least the vehicles
involved, but this doesn't surprise me. Air bags are intended for
fairly severe frontal collisions. It takes an impact of up to 14 MPH
into a SOLID barrier to trigger the impact sensors. If your car
traveled 31 feet before hitting the car in front, there is a good chance
that it was going less than 14 MPH at impact AND given that you hit
another car, which isn't a solid, fixed barrier and itself will move
when hit, it could take an impact speed of up to 28 MPH to trigger the
airbags in that scenario.
Remember that two cars colliding head-on simulate one car colliding into
a fixed barrier (assuming the cars are equal weight). If each car is
traveling 14 MPH, then the closure rate between the two cars is 28 MPH.
If one car is not moving, then the other car has to be traveling at 28
MPH to have the same impact is if both cars were coming at each other at
14 MPH.
I'm not saying that your airbags were working correctly and maybe they
weren't, but one can't be sure from your description of the accident
alone. The really extreme impact in your case was at the rear of your
car and there are no air bag sensors there.
Matt
I apologize if I went too strong, now I see, from your response, thatSteve said:I don't expect everything to be perfect at all, and I don't expect
anyone to pay for this. There certainly will not be any effort to make
anyone pay for this in any way. In my mind, the airbags may well have
not deployed because the front impact was not severe enough to trigger
them, as has been also stated by others here.
My only point was to urge people to wear their seatbelts and not
depend on airbags totally, as Hyundai recommends, and to realize that
not everything is perfect, including airbags. If I came off as being
an elite snob and trying to make Hyundai pay for something that was
not their fault, I apologize. Being a combat veteran, I clearly know
that s*** happens, and I certainly do not think this country is
becoming the worse one on the planet, far from it.
I believe Hyundai is a great company, that is why I have purchased two
of them and will buy another soon. My other Hyundai has had no
problems and has performed flawlessly, the best car I ever owned. I
continue to recommend Hyundai to anyone who asks. And I not will be
leary of the new car's airbag system. The incident may well have just
been a fluke.
No one will be expected to pay in any way for this. The insurance
company of the vehicle that hit the car has already payed for the
damaged, and our insurance has paid the medical bills. That is the way
things are supposed to work. There will be no further action on this.
This clearly was not my fault though, the fault rests with the person
who was clearly not paying attention and hit the car, let's not forget
that.
I am actually grateful that the Elantra held up so well from the
impact, it could have been so much worse. The car was hit from behind
at a high rate of speed, yet it did not catch fire, and the driver's
area was intact. I thank God, and Hyundai for that. Please folks, wear
your seatbelts, there are too many deaths from car accidents where
people do not wear them, thinking airbags are sufficient protection.
Best regards.
news.knology.net said:Bought this beast Dec. 7th 05, have 10,000 miles on it. Will be taking it
in next week for semiannual oil change, seatbelt light and whatever. Then
the following month to Firestone for tire roate and alignment