1998 Caravan Air Bag Light

I Have A 1998 Caravan,the Light Came On And Stays On.help Me Please
Bob

You need to search this forum for the word "clockspring". There was a recall, the clockspring was failing, which controls the air bag.

Thanks,
I still have the recall letter about the clockspring but didnt relate it to the airbag system.
brown6910

air bag, horn and cruise all run thru the clockspring and could cause various problems

Hello Brown:
The clockspring is a ribbon wire that is coiled up inside the steering column. It delivers current to all of the systems mentioned above, airbag, cruise control and horn. When it fails (and they do a lot) the wire breaks leaving the circuit open and inoperative. This will cause the airbag light to come on and shut down the system. As long as that light is on, the airbags will NOT deploy, even in an accident.
This was a factory recall and many customers are unaware of that. Contact your local dealer and they will accomodate the replacement for you.
Check out these web pages for a more complete decscription:

http://airbagsolutions.com/Clockspring.pdf
http://airbagsolutions.com/info1.html

I have a 2001 voyager van. About a month ago, the Air bag light started going on and off randomly. It does this several times during each trip around town, and I get the anoying chime each time the light is set:banghead:. Could the clockspring recall apply to my Van? What other possible causes could it be? No DTC is recorded.

I bought the van 2.5 years ago, and within a month I installed Cruise control. I had to take the steering wheel apart to put in the switches, and I inspected the clockspring then. The spring looked fine back then.

My cruise control is not cutting out, and the horn always works. The lack of those problems has me thinking that the clockspring is not the culprit.

One thing of note: The Air bag light problem began shortly after the battery had been run way down, to the point that I could not jump using cables. It took a neighbors 200 Amp starter charger 5 minutes to revive the battery. Once I got the van going, the PCM got its internal memory scrambled, and began reporting bogus turbine input errors, and kept going into "limp mode". The problem kept coming back for a few days, but it eventualy stayed fixed (and I bought a good scan tool to monitor it).

What I am wondering is if the PCM was able to get its memory scrambled, could the BCM (which controls the air bag) have gotten scrambled too?

gromitto - Next time please open a new thread instead of hijacking somebody's.

The Airbag Control Module or ACM controls the airbag system. It's mounted at the bottom of the center console on 96-00 vans. The ACM also contains the impact sensor used to measure crash G forces which sets the sequence in motion. The ACM will store error codes used to troubleshoot the system. These codes can be read using a scanner and I believe it's not the normal DRB scanner anybody can use. Check with the dealer. True to form, you have to have the dealer reset the light. On my Toyota, I can reset the light in my driveway.

Check the NHTSA or Alldata.com websites to see if the recall applies to 01s. Probably not but, worth checking.

The replacement of the clockspring is a lifetime warranty,you do not pay a dime for replacing it.