Passenger side airbag remains "off" even when occupied. Took to dealer and was told it would be $1900 to replace the entire seat which is where the sensor is kept. Blue book value of the car is not even $5000, seems ridiculous to spend that much for an entire seat when the whole car is barely worth that much! as a serious safety concern I feel like Kia should be doing something about this

- Centreville, VA, USA

Shortly after purchase (bought it used), air bag light came on and passenger seat sensor began working erratically. Was told it would be over $1500 to fix, thought I was a victim of bad luck but read the other complaints on here that seem to indicate it's a recurring problem with this model of Kia. Was told airbags will not work until this is fixed.

- New Orleans, LA, USA

The pass. Air bag light comes on with a little weight on the seat. I was told the problem will cost $1800 to fix and there is no re-call on this. Also they said none of the air bags will work until fixed. A large number of people have or had this problem.

- Manistee, MI, USA

Airbag light came on and stayed on. Took the car to the Kia dealership, hooked it up to the computer, it was the OCS sensor mat. Is going to cost $1000-$2000 for a new seat with a new osc! the car only has about 53,000 miles and the passenger seat isn't/ hasn't been used often, as this is primarily a car that I drive to work and back by myself, alone. Of course it isn't under warranty! this should be a recall Kia! safety needs to matter!

- Morgantown, WV, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Kia Spectra. The contact stated that the air bag warning sensor illuminated continuously and caused the passneger seat to malfunction. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the air bag sensor and the passenger seat needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Richfield, WA, USA

My airbag light would not turn off so I took the car to a Kia dealer. I was told that I would need to replace the passenger seat to the tune of over 2 grand! I then contacted the Kia company directly to ask for their assistance. After waiting a week for the promised 48 hour call back I was told there would be no assistance and they took no responsibility for the failure even though I rarely have anyone riding in the passenger seat. They also could not tell me whether the airbag would deploy or not if someone was riding in the passenger seat.

- Ridgefield, WA, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Kia Spectra. While the vehicle was parked, the air bag warning light illuminated. The failure occurred constantly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the occupant classification system failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 85,000.

- Tewksbury, MA, USA

Air bag warning light on. Car has only 25,000 miles but out of warrantee. Dealer wants $109. Just to scan it. Multi complaints online.

- Hamburg, NY, USA

I noticed investigation: PE 15-031 where the OCS seat sensor mat is failing on a number of Kia Spectra models. My airbag light came on a few weeks ago so I too the car to the dealer and they charged me $100 to determine the OCS seat sensor mat was bad. Diagnostic code B1448. They told me it would be about $1500 to replace the entire passenger seat to fix the problem. Needless to say I have not gotten the problem fixed. The vehicle only has 52,000 miles on it and until about 3 years ago when my wife started riding to work with me I rarely ever had anyone in the front passenger seat so the mat shouldn't have seen much use. As of today your ODI resume says there were 43 complaints on this issue but you can change that to 44 if you would like. Something as important as a passenger airbag system should not be susceptible to inferior parts like this.

- Indian Land, SC, USA

Vehicle has 115000 miles and air bag light stays on. This is a $2000 repair according to info on line. There have been many complaints on this. Why hasn't NHTSA issued a recall" does it take death or serious injury first"

- Fairport, NY, USA

Airbag light popped on months ago without force or any accidents

- Kirkwood, MO, USA

2009 Kia Spectra air bag won't turn off. Car has 48000 miles. Afraid to take in for repair after reading of cost to repair.I just don't the funds to get it repaired.

- Terre Haute, IN, USA

My car is a 2009 Kia Spectra ex. It was purchased in 2011 from enterprise car sales. The mileage at purchase was approximately 46K. In may of 2015, around 74K mileage, the air bag light would turn off and on sporadically. One day the air bag light never turned off. At this point, I decided to have the car inspected my a certified Kia dealer. The air bag code received from inspection was B1378 which indicated a problem with the 'side air bag - resistance too high'. the inspector than hooked up the air bag to side air bag connector and the air bag light went out indicating that the driver side air bag would need to be replaced. The technician suggested that to fix the issue I would need to obtain an entire driver's seat from a pre-owned vehicle to replace the current driver's seat (cost part & labor: $ $694, but no guarantee that this would be effective) or purchase a brand new air bag directly from Kia factory (cost of parts & labor: $1341.73) I have seen that other's are having similar issues in other forums. This issue with defective air bags has been a problem for Kia in the past with cars of same year but different model. I am fortunate to have never been in an accident, but I was informed by the dealership if I was ever in an accident this air bag would not deploy.

- East Haven, CT, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Kia Spectra. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 mph, the air bag warning indicator illuminated. The contact stated that this was a recurring failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000.

- Oneonta, NY, USA

Air bag light will not go off. I did take my car to a Kia dealership and they told me that I would have to replace my entire passenger seat, in order to fix the air bag system. They wanted to charge me about $2,000 because my vehicle is no longer under warranty. In February of 2014, was when the incident first started to happen and is when I brought my car to the dealership. I was told it was dangerous to drive around with my air bag system messed up. I did look to see if there were any recalls or complaints about the vehicle but I did not find any at that time. I did make a complaint on some other site but I just learned about this site within the last couple of months and just noticed that I am not the only one who is going through the same problems....updated 10-26-15

- Jacksonville, FL, USA

My airbag light had been flashing off and on intermittently, and I had thought that it was when there was no weight in the passenger seat to activate it. At some point after that, it stopped flashing and was on constantly. I brought my car in for its yearly inspection and it was not passed due to the fact that my air bag system had been disabled. This was due to a faulty sensor in the front passenger seat. This will cost me over $2000 to fix and is a safety hazard for my day to day driving. I was informed that if I were to get into a collision that my air bags would not deploy. I contacted several dealerships and the Kia company itself and was told that my warranty had just expired and that I would have to repair this in full myself. I have read several complaints of the same nature and I cannot believe that the company will not recall this part and provide peace of mind and safety to its customers.

- New Bedford, MA, USA

Air bag light will not go off....updated 09/22/15 updated 11/03/2017

- Laurel, MS, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Kia Spectra. The contact stated that the air bag warning lamp flashed sporadically, which indicated a malfunction. As the failure progressed, the front passenger side air bag flashed off and on intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on multiple occasions. The technician indicated that there was no failure, but rather the weight capacity in the front passenger seat. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was not available. Updated 09/01/15 updated 10/19/2017

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

I am filing this for my mom. She rear ended a car who had stopped the flow of traffic at a green light to let a vehicle out of a parking lot. My mothers air bags did not deploy and she received a double open fracture to her right ankle and a fractured sternum and intense chest traura. She was life flighted to a hospital in wv ruby memorial she underwent surgery and they saved her right foot they wher unsure if they could save and talked before surgery of possible amputation

- Uniontown, PA, USA

The airbag light on my Kia Spectra stays on and the Kia dealership quoted me $1600 for the B1448 code which is passenger seat mat occupancy sensor or something like that, and my car is under 80000 miles. I think that amount is really high for a senor to fix and Kia should fix and recall the airbag issue since it is a high risk for the safeties of american lives. NHTSA should make Kia recall the airbag issue. Thank you

- Fort Polk, LA, USA