Engine light shows" Airbag". Ram Auto did a diagnostic and error code did not show up. Ram tried to delete the code, could not. They suggested search re-calls since this is a hot topic in the news about Hyundai’s problem with airbag opening without cause. Did a research and there are no re-call for the year 2003-there are re-call for the year 2004. If the airbag light stays on and there is cause for it to open, it will not.
Is Ram Auto the Hyundai dealer?
It’s very rare for me to recommend seeing a dealer, but in this case I will. The Hyundai dealer will have the proper tools to read the fault code, diagnose the system, and fix it, and they’ll also be able to access the recall coverage if it applies. This one is important.
By the way, what year IS your Hyundai?
Concur w/TSM above, this will probably require you use a shop that has the Hyundai specific scan tool. So a dealer or a Hyundai specialist is the best place to go. How to fix it will depend on which air bag it is. The scan tool should be able to identify it. Probably the most common airbag that causes this problem (in general, not necessarily for Hyundia) is the one in the steering wheel, as the connections there get flexed every time the steering wheel is turned. If the scan tool identifies it as the steering wheel airbag, that would probably require an investigation into the steering wheel clock spring mechanism.
I strongly suspect “Ram Auto” used a cheapo OBD2 code reader
That won’t retrieve airbag codes
I agree that clock springs are quite often the culprit, but get the code read with the proper tool, and please report back
“If the airbag light stays on and there is cause for it to open, it will not.”
I agree. You need to get that malfunction corrected immediately.
“You need to get that malfunction corrected immediately.”
…unless he/she is one of those Luddites who says, “You’re always better-off being “thrown clear” in an accident”.
Those people apparently live in an alternate universe where there is no broken glass on the road surface, where the shoulders are covered with TempurPedic mattresses, where there are no steel guardrails, and where there is no other traffic to run you over after you have been…“thrown clear”.
;-))
Hold on a minute here…there’s no airbag system failure that will cause the check engine light to come on. Original poster needs to give us better/more/clearer information with specific systems affected and specific fault codes if known.
@VDCdriver … when seat belts were just starting to become standard equipment on new cars, I was just a kid then, but I definitely recall hearing neighbors say that the “new fangled” seatbelts would make their car less safe rather than more safe, so they weren’t going to retrofit their current cars with seatbelts. Usually if challenged they’d say they knew someone that got hit from the side, and b/c they had no belt they just slide along the front seat uninjured. And the amazing thing to me was, most of these anti-seat-belt folks seemed to be well educated and pretty bright when discussing other topics.
@GeorgeSanJose
There’s intelligence . . .
And there’s smarts
Those guys you mentioned, they had the former, but were lacking the latter
I suspect both the check engine and “airbag” warning lights are on…
I removed seat belts from multiple vehicles back in the 60’s. Some because I wanted them out, and others because I was asked to remove them.
Fortunately we change as we grow.
Hold on a minute here...there's no airbag system failure that will cause the check engine light to come on.
My wifes 96 Accord had an Engine light and a SRS (Secondary Restraining System…aka Airbags) light.
“I removed seat belts from multiple vehicles back in the 60’s”
I recall an aunt of mine who bought a new Malibu in the mid-'70s, and within a couple of days of buying it she took a steak knife to the seat belts of that brand new car. When I asked her why she removed the belts, her response was, “If I suffered a broken arm in an accident, I wouldn’t be able to open the seat belt latch, and I would be trapped in the car”.
My response was, “If you suffered a broken arm in an accident, you also wouldn’t be able to open the car door, so the seat belts shouldn’t really be an issue”. She angrily replied, “Stop being impertinent”!
Sadly, she became more and more irrational over the next few years.
I suspect the OP was calling the airbag warning light an “engine light”.
I Recall That When Seat Belts Became Standard Equipment In The 60s, One Of The Major Complaints From Car Owners Was One Of Comfort, That They Hurt When Car Occupants Sat On Them.
CSA
“I suspect both the check engine and “airbag” warning lights are on…”
I agree. I had both a CEL and an airbag warning light come on when the connector came loose on my passenger seat. The CEL is probably used to attract attention to the airbag warning light.
I bought my 59 Pontiac in 1968. First thing I did Saturday morning was go to the auto parts store and buy two seat belts, then to the DX station to have them put in.
I don’t agree
I suspect ONLY the airbag light is on
I also suspect OP doesn’t really know the difference between the two
I further suspect OP thinks a $50 el cheapo OBD2 code reader will retrieve any and all codes on the car, front to back
M late father bought his first new car with seat belts in 1968, a big Chevy Biscayne. He was going to cut out the seat belts but I convinced him to leave them in; I told him the car would have less resale value and it was “illegal” to remove them (I made that up). His jurisdiction did not have seat belt laws at that time.
However, he never used them, and they disappeared into the seat folds.
In my community, the J.C.'s had a seat belt installation program, in the early 60’s. I had seat belts put in my old car, and since then have never driven a car without belts. If you had ridden with me in those days, you would have also wanted belts. Heh, heh.