NHTSA Complaint #11569397 — 2016 HYUNDAI ACCENT

This reports a recurring Safety Restraint System (SRS) airbag warning light issue for no apparent reason other than potentially defective components. Please investigate this! Any issues with the SRS system of a vehicle by default puts the safety of the vehicle's passengers at risk. The SRS airbag warning light first turned on randomly in June 2023 and remained on for a few weeks every time the car was on or being driven. (I am the second owner of the car, and this happened a year after purchase; I do not know if the original owners also had issues with this SRS warning light.) This SRS warning light turned itself off randomly a few weeks later. I had scheduled with a Hyundai Service Dept. to diagnose the issue for the price of $184.50 but ended up cancelling since the SRS light turned itself off 2 weeks before my appointment. The rough phone estimate by this Hyundai Service Dept. said that depending on if it is a sensor, control module, or something else, it could cost between $500 to $3000 to resolve. I was told that an issue with the SRS would not be investigated/covered by the manufacturer original warranty. (But SRS is a non-maintainable system so should work properly for the lifetime of the vehicle.) The SRS airbag warning light remained off until on Dec. 22, 2023, when it turned on again randomly. It stayed on again (anytime the car was on or being driven) for a few days then turned off randomly again. The SRS airbag warning light turned on again 1/26/24, then turned off on again on 1/29/24. It turned on AGAIN on 1/30/24 and is still on (2/1/24). This recurring SRS light issue indicates an urgent, underlying issue with the SRS system that has occurred randomly, without warning or reason, to my vehicle and to others with this vehicle according to this NHTSA web site. This SRS warning light issue suggests that the SRS system may not be working properly and could case the airbags to deploy incorrectly, or not deploy when needed, which is unacceptable.