Hi guys,

I recently noticed that I had a sound on the passenger side of my car and it was driving me crazy. It seemed to come from everywhere on the right side and I had a hard time pinning it down. One day I put my hand on the passenger side airbag cover and voila, the sound was gone.

I finally had a chance to bring it into my dealer yesterday and here's what they found. The tape that holds the cover in place had basically deteriorated completely. They took it off and reapplied new tape on two separate occasions, only to have it come off both times. Finally they took some rubbing alcohol and cleaned it completely. Now it's holding properly. Thought this might help out some of you having a similar issue.

My service guy asked me if I had ever used "oil based" cleaners on this car. When I inquired whether that includes Armor-All, he told me yes. He went on to say that it looked like the Armor-All had seeped into the seem and had basically "oiled" the tape, making it no longer adhere properly.

Normally this is something they can screw you over for with denying warranty, since GM states only to use soap and warm water, but they were good to me. At the same time they also replaced a bushing on the front end (was making a weird rubbing sound over bumps), tightened up the sunroof and, tightened the strike on the passenger side door and fixed a squeaky brake. The only issue they couldn't replicate was a minor skipping issue with my CD player.

All in all a great experience with my local dealership!

 

Good service departments are few and far between.

Mine is good as well.

 

I took off my cover and there is no tape that holds it in place.

 

I had the same problem with the airbag cover rattling, replaced under warranty. I never used Armor All or any other cleaners on the interior though.

 

no tape on my 06 either, I pulled the entire airbag as part of the dash removal and my cover went around the airbag and at the bottom attachment point it was widely perforated. I assume when the bag blows it just tears the perforations.

 

This is another example why to never use oil based cleaners in your car. We use a product at work that we dilute with water. Smells quite sweet, we call it renew but it's called something else. It's water based and leaves the dash looking really nice, and I've used it in my cobalt since April, no signs of any change in color, any hardening. Still the same as when I bought it. Beware ArmorAll anything!