Airbag light

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??

 

I have no certain answers, but it's my theory that the terminals in th
side air bag connector get a small amount of oxidation on them, increasin
the resistance of the circuit enough to turn on the lamp.

Because the air bag is such a critical item, very small changes i
resistance (1 Ohm or so) can be enough to set the lamp. I've had goo
luck with retensioning the terminals so that there's more positiv
contact. Few vehicles come back after I've done this

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ultimately, there's not enough information here for any of us to determin
whether the air bags operated normally. In most cases, no problem i
found when the air bag lamp isn't on.

Since no air bags deployed, it would be simple for a repair facility t
check whether there were any faults even after the collision. Since n
air bags deployed, we can probably presume that no trouble codes were se
from air bag deployment, leaving only those codes that would indicat
problems with the system, which likely were present even prior to th
collision.

In your specific case, the distance the car was pushed and the speed o
the car that struck it from the rear are irrelevant. Presuming th
implication that a front air bag should have deployed, the relevant facto
the rate of deceleration at the time of frontal impact.

Additionally, the problem I was referring to above (and presumably th
original poster's problem as well) has to do specifically with connector
for the side air bags. Since you're alleging a problem with the fronta
air bags, neither problem has anything to do with the other.

The one thing about your post that's absolutely true is that seat belt
need to be worn. Occupant restraints are designed to be most effectiv
when all are active/used

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 agree with you, thanks for the comment. Opened my eyes and makes good
sense. You can't plan for all events possible in this world, just wish
we could! LOL Thanks again and best regards.

 

I apologize if I went too strong, now I see, from your response, that
you are NOT that kind of person, I should had read all the post before
jumping unto your last one, I took that out of context, my fault.

What I agree with you 100% is your statement about seatbelts, yes they
work, my son and his future best man are alive thanks to those, their
car did not had airbags, hit on the side by a Volvo, dragged 27 ft over
the curb into a pole .... only thing recoverable from his car was one
(1) wheel, total loss ..... but both were walking within 5 days.

Yes the seatbelts DO work.

 

Thanks to all that replied, didn't mean to start a P ing contest.
Got my first seat belts in the early 50's when the PX at NAS Corpus Christi
was giving them to anybody that would install them, only lap belts then.
Have always used and insisted that others riding in or driveing my car use.
If you ever swapped directions on an icy road you know the value of a belt
keeping you behind the wheel. 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

 

Why don't you have both done at the same place? Surely it is not the most
economical way of doing things, even if Firetstone does free rotations.

 

Local Hyundai dealer don't do alignment. When I bought the car I didn't like
the alignment. Dealer sent me to Firestone. Bought as lifetime alignment
package from them so I let them roatate & balance.