Given the above, if you are in an accident and the air bag deploys for the driver but not for the seat belted passenger, this defect could be the cause. Please report your situation by going to NHTSA's vehicie defect reporting website.
Air Bag Sensor Failure Defect
The Occupant Classification Sensor (OCS) located on the passenger side of certain vehicles, including 2008 Hyundai Accents, has been found to be defective and may result in serious injury or death in the event of an accident. These sensors which are designed to turn off the air bag if a child is in the seat have been found to incorrectly identify individuals as heavy as 165 lbs as children. When this occurs, the OCS not only turns off the air bag but it also shuts off the pretensioner on the seat belt which allows the seat belt to spool out farther possibly allowing the passenger to smash into the instrument panel. This is an extremely serious defect. In the Hyundai Accent, the OCS is a product of IEE and is a sensor mat. It is found in hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) of vehicles of all different makes and models. As of yet, no one has been able to correct the problem. The Office of Defect Investigation within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received hundreds of complaints about this defect in a number of different vehicles and manufacturers.
