Air bag light on due to passenger seat switch...quoted $2,500 to replace. Alternate solutions?

How many miles on your car? Could you claim that under the extended warranty if you have one? I would check and see if the airbag system is covered under a warranty that is normally longer than the standard . Show them this . Doesn't Hyundai have a longer warranty than other cars, like 10 years? http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp? section=buy&subject=warranty

I couldn't get your link to work, however, our Hyundai definitely has a better warranty than our Honda... Unfortunately, per the dealer at the initial check the warranty that would cover the air bag sensors was only good until 60k miles and the fault was detected at 63k. They reportedly checked with Hyundai to ask for coverage at 63k and it was denied. I also tried calling several customer lines and was told there was nothing to be done except get eth $2,500 fix. I am now over 70k (my understanding was that this did not impact airbag performance) and up against a sate safety inspection that will require the repair...

Thanks Tom. Sorry that I wasn't clear... I did check with the dealer and separately with a local mechanic and both quotes were within $200 of each other in the $2,500 range.

Did you say " I am now over 70k (my understanding was that this did not impact airbag performance) and up against a sate safety inspection that will require the repair... " OK, who told you this? What safety inspection are you talking about? Is this a requirement in your state every year? You're making an excellent argument for purchasing an extended warranty? So, if does not impact airbag performance, can you just skip having the light fixed? I understand that were only talking about the light indicator for the passenger seat? This has nothing to do with the driver's airbag and when you have no passengers, what difference does it make? So, just because you have a 10 years warranty on the Hyundai, doesn't mean they'll cover you on this? And, the capricious decision to cut you off at the knees at 63,000 miles is a pretty low blow. Talk about "poor customer service ", haven't they heard about negative word of mouth advertising. I think that Honda is a better car company than Hyundai, even with their longer warranty which did not help you at all in this case. So, are you going to fix your car? If you do, I would definitely consider selling or trading it in. The best predictor of future performance is past performance and right now things don't look rosy. Your car is still relatively young, only five years old and lower than average miles at 70,000.

My 2010 Touring has been doing this for a year now, too. I PM'd the OP to ask/suggest about contacting NHTSA about this. This is the THIRD safety-sensor-related issue on these vehicles, adding to the power steering (software) and ESC disable (brake switch) issues. This needs to be covered by a recall as this sort of failure is totally unacceptable :(

These cars must be a electronic nightmare,caues,my heater comes on ( when it feels like it) my 2 window motors went out,my tire light is constantly on,and noe my engine light is on ( and had it checked for codrs,not one problem) whats the point of these items,if there gonna send off false signals.