The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is beginning an investigation looking into malfunctioning airbag warning lights on 2006-2011 Suzuki Grand Vitara and 2007-2011 Suzuki SX4 vehicles.
NHTSA has received 128 complaints regarding different aspects of the airbag system. About half of the complaints allege that the airbag warning light comes and and stays on, while other complaints say that the system is wrongly detecting a child in the front seat, and lighting up the airbag off light because of it. The issue potentially affects 205,000 vehicles in the United States.
Suzuki has already issued two technical service bulletins (TSB) for two separate airbag issues. The first has to do with an open-circuit condition in the sensor-mat located in the front passenger seat bottom. Suzuki has already provided an extended warranty for the part, 10 years or 120,000 miles, and has already been fixing affected vehicles. The second TSB is for the airbag warning lights, and says that the problem is caused by a programming error and can be fixed with a re-flash of the occupant control module.
If the issues are found to be widespread, this investigation may lead to a recall.
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