We have had no accidents, but the mat sensor in the passenger sensor has gone bad causing the air bag light on the dash to stay on. The dealer was able to determine this by getting a b1448 code when diagnosing the issue. Many others have complained of this same issue with this and other kia vehicles. The part is prohibitively expensive at approximately $1600 for parts and labor.
Kia SPECTRA5 airbag light comes on
15 of the 44 owner complaints about the Kia SPECTRA5 describe airbag warning light, most of them for the 2006 model year.
- owner complaints
- 15
- worst model year
- 2006
- typical repair cost reported
- $1,700
- typical mileage
- 93,500
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Trouble codes mentioned
B1448 4
What owners say
Airbag light on due to faulty passenger side seat sensor. Exorbitant cost to replace. Can't afford.
Air bag light illuminated and was told by mechanic the sensor was faulty and it's around 2000$ to fix. Will not pass inspection without repair. Started around 60,000 miles. This is ridiculous, other kia models have been recalled. What can anyone do?
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 kia spectra 5. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the driver side air bag indicator illuminated on and off. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired and the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 160,989.
The airbag light is staying on and flickers back and forth when someone light sits in the front seat. The airbag is not going to deploy in the event of an accident and im afraid my loved ones will be seriously injured due to this malfunctioning safety feature. Kia is responsible for refunding me the $2100 in expenses for this airbag sensor and labor to replace it. I will never buy a kia vehicle again. It is corporate-social responsibility that kia lacks. They chose not to recall this defective part that is so important in protecting their customers. They obviously have no care for their customers' well-being.
Passenger air bag light would turn on and off when there was a passenger in the seat. After a couple of months, the light began turning on and off even if the passenger seat was empty. Now the air bag sensor light does not come on, but the air bag warning light is on and has been for about 1 week. This is a 1 owner vehicle and has never been in any type of collision.
The passenger air bag light would go on and off with nobody in it. After 3 months of that the light quit doing that. Then I noticed that the red warning light was on. I went to sell the vehicle but the dealership told the new buyer that it is the ocs pad in the passenger seat. Code b1448. Could you inform me what bags will not go off with this light on. I see there is a bypass switch you can buy to avoid this so there must be a few of these out there. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Just as others with my same vehicle have stated, the airbag light on the dashboard comes on and off and is a real safety concern.
Air bag indicator light on dash board will not go off most times, even when a 125 pound passenger is in seat. Occasionally driver side seat belt alarm will not chime. Had mechanic check wiring, he replaced alternator,battery still the same. Kenwood stereo will not tune in from time to time, even when in my same parking space also as we are driving with shifter locked into drive, the engine seems to change gears on flat road surface as if it is in 3rd gear then goes into drive. There is nothing else I can do. Already had mechanic look at these problems. No codes are showing up, but obviously there is an electrical problem that may not allow passenger air bag to deploy or driver seat belt to activate or what ever else is controlled by the electrical. Also have a 2006 kia with some electrical problem that car stereo shop could not get a new stereo installed to work properly. Other wise car if very affordable,not sure how safe it is.
Airbag light came on, had a diagnostic ran on it came up as code b1448 oc passenger sensor mat defect, looks like its srscm 70. Was told that there is a tsb recall on this problem, but when I called kia, they said that it was not for this model. However after looking up this problem on the internet, a lot of people with this car have had this problem. Not only is it bad enough that lots of people are complaining about this, but kia says that they can't replace the sensor by itself, I would need to buy a new seat which would be $1600 dollars!!!! That's ridiculous. A problem such as this one should not be so expensive to fix. Did kia put this sensor there so that we would have to pay almost 2 grand to fix a crappy electrical job? By the way this is not the only kia around this year with this exact problem. Recall the spectra5 too!!!!
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Kia SPECTRA5 airbag light
Why does the airbag light come on in the Kia SPECTRA5?
Owners who report it most often also describe check engine light and airbags did not deploy in a crash, and the codes they mention most are B1448.
Which Kia SPECTRA5 years have airbag warning light problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2006 (9 complaints) and 2008 (6 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix airbag warning light on the Kia SPECTRA5?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $1,700 (median of 6 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
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