general problems of the 2018 Kia Motor RIO

My car is a 2018 kia Rio that has a clean history and has never been in an accident. Recently my airbag light came on and I had a diagnostic run that showed a b1448 code indicating an OCS mat defect in the passenger seat. The 2015-2018 kia sedona models also had the same problem and were issued safety recalls. Due to this previous history I believe there could be a safety recall needed for the kia Rio models as well.

Took my car in as the airbag light on the dashboard kept turning on and off— with or without a passenger in the seat. The dealership ran a diagnostic inspection and turns out that the passenger side OCS mat and ecu are faulty and need to be replaced (dtc codes b176700 and b17672f). I have not been in a crash and there are no obvious signs of damage to the seat that might have caused this. There’s no active recall for this but it does seem that one other person has reported issues with the passenger airbag system and I know other kia models have had recalls in the past. The car had about 90,000 miles on it when this issue started and it’s up to date on all maintenance but I was quoted over $3000 to fix this which is essentially the value of my car now, totaling the vehicle even though it has no other issues. This is a major safety issue, when you buy a car you expect that the airbags and corresponding electrical equipment last you for the life of the car or until there is an accident.

The first problem part is the airbag. The clockspring was fixed twice under warranty. Then the dealership said they wont keep doing it and blamed me wrongly. I had a private mechanic repair the same part twice due to the code it was giving but it turns out thats not what's wrong with it. The entire airbag and electrical components are bad, that is why the two repairs the dealership as well as the private mechanic made did not work. We also have some engine problems they wont continue to fix because my warranty is now surpassed. The car burns through 20 quarts of oil in between changes, it has no leaks. It has so much carbon buildup. They replaced a gasket and thats another part that has continually needed replaced but they did not fix the issue that has caused it to go bad. When the small mechanics hear about the issue they are confused because the type of motor I have was recalled in other cars for the same issues. My car just recently surpassed the warranty, I should not be having to still fight the dealership to have a car in working condition for the same problems they kept putting bandaid on during warranty repairs.