Three problems related to air bag light on have been reported for the 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Vehicle was stopped and the air bags deployed on both passenger and driver sides. The air bag light came on and off the day before. An engineer from gm came and stated air bags deployed because of moisture in the car. The windows were down the night before and rain got in the car. There were two people in the vehicle when air bags deployed, the air bags smashed the windshield. Two passengers sustained injuries, bruises. Owner believed was a police report. Gm was notified and determined that air bags deployed because of moisture. No pictures were available.
The air bag light came on when vehicle was started after being unused for 1-2 weeks. I took the car in for service and was told of a recall for inadvertant air bag deployment , so I authorized the dealer to do the recall. The dealer then called and said there was a code in the computer telling the air bags to deploy and the computer needed to be replaced before the car should be driven to prevent a possible deployment of the airbags. I was told that even though this fit the recall for inadvertant airbag deployment it was a different problem and would cost around $400 to repair. I then asked the service manager to try and get this fixed by Chevrolet and was told that they would not fix it, but I was given a phone number for Chevrolet to talk to them myself. I called and spoke to steve lefcourt who agreed that my complaint seemed to be what was recalled, but was told the next day that my problem was different than the recall because in the recall they reprogramed the computer,but since my cars computer would not accept the reprograming it needed replacement and they would not pay for it.
While driving vehicle about 60 mph, was dark, noticed deer in road, hit brakes (abs), hit deer on driver's side, front end damaged, heard hissing in dash, air bag light came on, no air bag (driver/passenger) deployment.