The 2004 Hyundai Elantra has 6 recalls, the most serious involving the passenger seat sensor that can misread a child safety seat as an adult and cause the front and side airbags to fire at a child in a crash.
Recalls 1 through 5 group into two distinct defects on vehicles equipped with the advanced airbag system. The child seat misclassification issue affects vehicles where someone sits in the right front seat before a child restraint is installed: the seat sensor retains a weight reading from the prior adult occupant and treats the child seat as if an adult is present, allowing the airbag to deploy with full force toward a child. A related but separate passenger airbag problem runs in the opposite direction: the same sensor can misread a seated adult as an infant and deactivate the passenger airbag entirely, leaving a full-grown occupant without airbag protection in a crash. Both of these issues only affect vehicles equipped with the advanced airbag system.
The remaining recall involves a fuel vapor tube hose clamp near the fuel tank that may be oriented the wrong way. In a crash, the clamp's protruding ear can press into and puncture the fuel tank, releasing fuel near hot engine and exhaust components where it can ignite. This defect was identified during crash testing and affects vehicles where the clamp was not installed to specification.
