Hello CarTalk community,
I’ve gotten sound advice here before and so I am back again as I need some help! I have a 2010 Hyundai Elantra with 107K miles on it. A couple of months ago, the passenger airbag light started flickering on and off. Then at some point, the airbag light on the dash turned on. The passenger airbag light (letting me know that airbag is turned off because no one is sitting in that seat) now seems to be functioning properly (no, I don’t know that for sure) but the airbag light is still on on the dash. I took my car into a hyundai dealership today to have it looked and and fixed. They told me that it would cost $3,135 to fix this issue. $878 for the module assembly (which seems to be the driver airbag sensor system) and $1925 for the track assembly (which seems to be the passenger airbag sensor system). I was shocked at this price - it’s not what I was expecting. Also, I wonder if they really looked at the issue because I don’t think I’m having issues with the driver side airbag (of course I don’t know that for sure). I can’t afford to pay this much to do this repair. Is that a normal rate for something like this? I have calls out to other shops to get estimates from them. Is this something that one who isn’t a mechanic but is handy could fix on their own? Any other advice that you might have is welcomed!
I would think that, like the the seat belts, it’s covered by safety waranty? Ask them to give you the area service rep name and contact them to see if it’s covered.
2010 chances of getting covered is slim imhop. My 03 trailblazer has Takata airbags, no recall, asked about getting the airbags disconnected, no can do. I might try cleaning the connections under the seat first. No idea if doing that could be a hazard.
I wouldn’t attempt it.
If your car was covered by one of the many Takata recalls, you would probably not have to pay for this type of repair, but if your vehicle isn’t included in one of those recalls, I advise that you pay a professional to perform this repair.