Front Air Bag Sensor Control problems of the 2012 Chevrolet Malibu

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the passenger's air bag occupant sensor had become defective and would not recognize any occupant under 130 pounds seated in the passenger's seat. The contact took the vehicle to wally edgar Chevrolet service (3805 s lapeer rd, lake orion, mi 48360) where a diagnostic test was performed and the contact was provided an estimate to replace the occupant sensor. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

In my 2012 Chevrolet Malibu's when my wife sits in the passenger seat the airbag system does recognize she is there. You can watch as the system goes through it's start up process with the airbag on/off light cycling from off to on and back to off. We were told that it is how my wife sits in the seat but I have video of her sitting with her feet on the dash (which is not an "approved" seating position) and the airbag system shows the seat is occupied and the passenger airbag is armed. This problem has not occurred in any other vehicle we have driven. My wife weighs 145 so it is not that she is too light for the sensor. The other day I was at a gm dealer and found a used 2012 Malibu with the same trim package as mine and we tested it to see if that car would do the same thing as mine. It did on the first time we turned the key, I have video of that failure. We have been unable to reproduce this problem except in both 2012 Malibu's. On my car the passenger presence sensor has been replaced 3 times and a seat from another Malibu was installed and the airbag system still fails to operate correctly. The dealership told me the gm engineer said he did not know how to solve this problem. I have seen other videos online with the same issue. I have over 20 videos showing the system work and the system failing. The VIN I listed is for the car on the dealer lot.

Airbag sensor goes off and on intermittently. Has been that way since I purchased it from the dealership. It appears I was sold a vehicle with faulty wiring. This poses a health and safety issue as the dealership would not take responsibility for the airbag claiming it to be something that was my fault and that I should absorb the cost to repair it. Luckily, I have not had any accidents however, in the event that one should occur; the chances of the airbag functioning properly are slim to nil.