I was also told that I needed to replace the front airbag sensor. The shop told me that it will cost me $250 (labor included). This sounds very expensive for one sensor replacement. Is this a fair price? My car is a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville SE with approximately 39,000 miles.

You might check and see if your car has been recalled and repaired as below.

Recall date: 08-09-2002 Units potentially affected: 133,221 NHTSA campaign number: 02V222000 Defective part or component: INTERIOR SYSTEMS:PASSENGER RESTRAINTS:AIR BAG:FRONTAL
Description: Certain passenger, mini vans, and sport utility vehicles have an air bag inflator on the driver'* side that could fracture at a weld during a deployment. Pieces of the inflator could strike and injure vehicle occupants and the air bag cushion would not inflate fully, reducing the capability of the bag to protect the driver. Dealers will inspect, and replace, if necessary, the air bag module assembly on the driver'* side. Owner notification began August 15, 2002. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact Buick at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet at 1-800-222-1020, GMC at 1-800-462-8782, Oldsmobile at 1-800-442-6537, or Pontiac at 1-800-762-2737.

Thanks for the reply. This notice was from 2002 (seven years ago). I wonder if dealerships would honor it. In any case, I could be reading it wrong, but it sounds like the actual airbag and deployment of it, not the sensor.
I will definitely check on it, though.

I'd still like to know if $250 is a lot to have that front sensor replaced. Heck, I don't even drive the car that much (evidenced by the 39,000 miles). Yet, the "airbag" light is on!!

I just checked with a dealership to see how much they would charge to replace the front airbag sensor on my car. They said $294 ($150 for part and $144 for labor) plus tax. Wow! That'* outrageous! So, I guess $250 doesn't sound so bad after all...

Hey, looking at these old posts I have a 2003 SLE that the air bag light comes on for a bit when you first start the car for the day but once it is warmed up it goes away... Any suggestions? Bone stock car with 114k on her.
thanks

I know this is kind of old and not sure if those that I am responding to are still around (heck, I took a 3+ year hiatus), but here goes...
$250 seems steep to me. I can't remember the exact price of the sensor seeing as how that was over 3 years ago, but I do know that it was under $100 for the sensor. I seem to remember the whole thing costing me $150. I was kicking myself because my scan tool could not read the airbag system. I remedied that by purchasing a different scan tool

You really are going to have to get the codes scanned to see what the car is telling you. Go from there.