If you want to see if your car is affected by the Sonata Airbag Control Unit Recall, enter your VIN.
In the US, Hyundai has issued a safety recall for specific vehicles’ electronic airbag control units because:
- Vehicles with the Hyundai Sonata model year 2011–2013.
- Vehicles with the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid model year 2011–2012
How does the safety recall work? The concerned vehicles have an airbag control unit that detects crashes and directs the deployment of seat belt pretensioners and airbags as needed. The frontal air bags, seat belt pretensioners, and side air bags may not deploy in some cases due to electrical overstress damage to the module circuitry.
How will Hyundai respond? In the case that your airbag control unit is impacted, your Hyundai dealer will install an external wire filter kit to prevent electrical overstress. This service is offered FREE of charge. The FAQ section contains additional information.
In This Article...
281,000 Hyundai vehicles are being recalled to fix seatbelt explosions.
The parallels between remembers can at times be astounding. For instance, Takata’s exploding airbags grabbed headlines a few years ago when the auto industry issued its largest-ever safety recall. Hyundai has now made similar news this week by recalling 281,000 vehicles to remedy exploding seatbelt pretensioners, although being much smaller.
Since around 2014, anytime someone brought up explosive issues with safety systems, you automatically believed they were referring to the Takata airbag disaster, which erupted everywhere and ultimately brought down the airbag manufacturer.
- affecting over 55 million airbags globally
- 20 major auto manufacturers are affected
- affecting millions of vehicles worldwide
- causing the largest safety recall in the history of the automobile
- more than 20 victims in the United States
- badly hurting more than 200 individuals
The Takata airbag recall is still ongoing, despite the fact that it appears to be coming to an end at this time. Three other manufacturers have since taken over for the key airbag maker Takata. The Honda and Ford vehicle lines that are subject to the safety recall are two of the most renowned. Honda discovered that the airbag recall affected Civics and Accords because it owned an interest in the airbag manufacturer. Ford discovered that the recall mostly affected older compact pickups, including the first Ranger. The identical truck was sold by Mazda under the B2000/B3000 label, therefore that company was also impacted. But as mentioned, the airbag recall affected all manufacturers.
After receiving three injury reports, Hyundai decided to recall the cars, according to Automotive News. The magazine claims that if a collision occurs, the front seatbelt pretensioners on the driver’s or passenger’s side could blow up when they deploy. The safety system includes seatbelt pretensioners, which “lock the seatbelt in place during an accident to give additional protection to occupants.” Dealers will cap the pretensioners in order to solve the issue.
The recall announced this week “expands and replaces four prior recalls. The new patch must be finished on all Accent, Elantra, and Elantra HEV vehicles that have already received repairs as a result of earlier recalls, according to NHTSA.
The current recall, according to Hyundai, “includes 239,000 vehicles in the U.S. and 42,000 in Canada.”
Two of the three recorded injuries occurred in the United States, while one occurred in Singapore.
NHTSA informed the company of “a collision occurrence involving a 2021 Elantra” in one of the incidents. The “driver-side seatbelt pretensioner” apparently “deployed unexpectedly, causing metal pieces to hurt one occupant’s leg,” according to information regarding the collision. The safety organization requested Hyundai to investigate the event.
Hyundai said in a statement to Automotive News that it is currently investigating all of its cars, including the previously recalled Genesis GV70/GV80 models.
Typical Questions.
A car’s manufacturer, general characteristics (such as the model and body), and particular distinguishing features are all identified by the VIN, which is a code that is specific to each individual vehicle.
The Takata Airbag Recall does not apply to Hyundai Australia vehicles. Visit the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for additional information.
To verify if your car has any safety recalls, kindly use our safety recall checker. In the event that there are any safety recalls, we will let you know what to do next to keep driving safely.
When the work is done by an authorized Hyundai Service Center, neither labor nor components will cost you any more.
Overview
The recall affects tens of millions of automobiles with Takata air bags. These air bags may explode if exposed to intense heat and humidity for an extended period of time. These explosions have resulted in accidents and fatalities.
In the latter part of 2019, Takata recalled a different batch of faulty air bags. This Takata recall concerns non-azide driver inflators as opposed to the air bag inflators in the bigger Takata recalls. Due to a flaw in the NADI inflators, the air bag may explode or deploy with insufficient air pressure. VIEW MORE
Although it’s unrelated to Takata, Hyundai has urgently recalled its most popular model’s airbags.
Hyundai has issued a recall for 106,441 i30 cars that were sold between 2007 and 2012 due to a potentially fatal flaw that might cause the frontal airbags and seatbelt pretensioners to deploy while the vehicle is being driven normally.
The Hyundai i30 recall is unrelated to the ongoing and extensive Takata airbag recall because it doesn’t involve the airbags themselves. Instead, the problem is with the airbag control unit, which, due to “improper programming,” could cause the airbags to activate even when no impact has been felt.
Having an airbag mistakenly activate could result in an accident because airbag deployment is an extremely violent event and the driver’s airbag normally expands with enough force to remove a person’s grasp on the steering wheel. If that occurs, the front occupants would no longer be protected by airbags because they would have already been used up.
Hyundai will write to owners to inform them of the problem and will free of charge reprogram the affected airbag control units. Owners who believe their vehicle may be affected can verify its VIN on this list or call Hyundai’s customer service line at 1800 186 306.
Investigation of Takata airbags and the Hyundai recall
According to a report from the automaker published on Saturday on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Hyundai is recalling nearly 205,000 of its Elantra cars because the power steering could abruptly cease working, making the vehicle harder to manoeuvre.
Congress has been harshly critical of the NHTSA and automakers over the past year due to safety concerns, much of which was sparked by a fatal ignition-switch problem that affected millions of General Motors vehicles but was long ignored.
In an explanation report posted on the NHTSA website, Hyundai stated that it had been aware of issues with the power steering in the Elantra since 2010, but had refrained from conducting a recall because “Hyundai’s understanding has been that the loss of power steering assist has not, in the past, been considered as a safety-related defect in the United States.” But because “the industry has progressively dealt with comparable issues through safety recalls,” Hyundai claimed, it came to the conclusion that one was required “to maintain consistent with that industry trend.”
The safety agency also announced that it was stepping up its investigation into Takaka airbags, which can cause metal fragments to fly into a car’s interior during a collision. At least six fatalities have been connected to the issue, which has already resulted in the recall of more than 18 million vehicles worldwide.
An estimated 11.5 million vehicles from manufacturers including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, G.M., Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota are included in that probe, which started last year.
Vehicles Affected by the Recall of Takata Airbags:
BMW: There are 627,615 total vehicles that could be impacted:
Chrysler: A total of 371,309 vehicles may be impacted:
Ford: 58,669 total vehicles that could be impacted:
Unknown total number of General Motors cars that could be impacted:
Honda: There are 5,051,364 possibly affected automobiles in total.
Mazda: There are 64,872 possibly affected automobiles in total.
Mitsubishi: 11,985 total vehicles that could be impacted:
Nissan: There are 694,626 total vehicles that could be impacted:
Subaru: 17,516 total vehicles that could be impacted:
What vehicles do not have Takata airbags?
- Audi Group
- Ford
- Honda
- Hyundai-Kia.
- Land Rover and Jaguar.
- Mazda.
- Nissan
- Subaru
How can I tell whether the airbags in my car are Takata?
To find out if your car is subject to a recall, go to NHTSA.gov/recalls. Safe Cars Save Lives. All recalled air bags will be replaced at no cost in order to safeguard the public. The recalls cover multiple air bag models, not just one, all manufactured by Takata.
Honda still employs Takata airbags, right?
- Honda learned in the spring of 2015 that Takata had fabricated and altered test results for specific airbag inflators. Honda expects its suppliers to conduct themselves honestly at all times, therefore this behavior on the part of one of our suppliers continues to bother us much.
- Honda implemented the following actions in response to worries regarding the effectiveness and caliber of Takata’s airbag inflators:
- No upcoming Honda or Acura model will be released anywhere in the world with a front driver or passenger Takata airbag inflator. Takata airbag inflators were not used in any new Honda or Acura automobiles built for sale in the United States as of late 2016.
- Takata no longer provides the replacement inflators needed to service Honda and Acura automobiles. Alternative suppliers now produce all replacement inflators.
- Takata hired a third party to undertake a thorough audit of all Takata dual stage frontal airbag inflator test data and related material that was provided to Honda at the request of the automaker. This audit’s second phase is now in progress after the first phase was finished in September 2016.
- The United States Department of Justice filed criminal wire fraud charges against Takata Corporation on January 13, 2017, and the company pleaded guilty to the charges. As a result, Takata Corporation agreed to pay a total fine of $1 billion for its fraudulent actions in connection with the sales of faulty airbag inflators to various automakers, including Honda.
The devastation Takata’s malfeasance has done to our customers makes Honda incredibly sad. Honda is still committed to making urgent efforts to stop more casualties caused by the ruptured Takata airbag inflators. We implore owners of impacted vehicles to carry out the necessary recall repairs right away. All authorized Honda and Acura dealerships around the nation are offering these repairs for free.