Malfunctioning Air Bags

[amit]

Hey all..
I was going thru the owner's forum at edmunds.com and it seems that quite a few Hyundai Elantra 04's had a problem of malfunctioning air bags. I quote from the site:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]from autoweek:
"About 50 owners of the 2004 Hyundai Elantra have complained to the company that the passenger-side airbag system won't turn on when the passenger is seated.


Hyundai engineers in Korea have been studying the problem since February but don't know how to repair it. Hyundai Motor America recommends that owners of the affected cars tell passengers to sit in the back seat or else trade in their car and purchase a different model.


Hyundai would not identify its airbag supplier."

TELL PASSENGERS TO SIT IN THE BACK OR TRADE IT IN?!?!?!?!! What a brilliant suggestion.
I wonder how many of these owners will trade their cars in for another Hyundai

[Revvmaster]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] I wonder how many of these owners will trade their cars in for another Hyundai

If it were India, i'd say none! Especially since the trade in possibility would be the Sonata, and with that dreaded FE, they'd rather wanna live with an unsafe, yet "fuel-efficient" car rather than otherwise.

Revv

[lamborghini]

but sreiously ..........
its quite serious and im surprised that hyundai is not takin this seriously as this is one of their safer cars........
if it were honda then they would replace their car and not make the passengers sit in the back.........

[lamborghini]

i bet that even fiat would replace their cars ........
just goes to show hyndais careless attitude ..............
sadly we indians dont notice it and many of us buy the product because of a slick salesman .......
no offense to t-bhpites who own hyundais and even more to those who have the crdi

[ported_head]

i'd say VFM solution from a VFM company. i don't mind sitting at the back, but what if you had a Santro, the back seat ride would kill you anyways.

[Rehaan]

Hey,

The Elantra uses smart airbag technology, which is a new (still very buggy) technology where the car tries to determine if the person in the passenger seat is large enough for the airbag to safely deploy (as airbags deploying when there is a small child sitting on the edge of the seat can break their neck).
There are only 51 models of cars, not makes, but models, that have smart airbag technology available in the US. 7 of those 51 models have flaws that have been brought to the attention of the NHTSA.
About a dozen owners of Jaguar, Jeep, Lexus and Toyota models also have complained to NHTSA about defective airbags.
There have been instances where Lexus owners complain that it takes close to a 100lbs of weight on the passenger seat to activate the airbag.

So that is the story represented in full.

The Elantra requires a weight of 150lbs on the passengers seat in order to switch on the airbag (kind of a stupidly high figure if you ask me)
Hyundai having spent 6months working on the problem and not comming to a solution is not comprehendable by me!
I really fail to understand how they cannot figure out a way to repair it unless this has been misrepresented in the article. Id imagine it would be as simple as changing a chip in the electronics.

cya
R