Airbag light on? Here's what I found

[kornjulio]

My airbag light came on a few months ago. Finally got some time to dig into it this weekend. I don't have a code reader for the SRS, so I had to rely on tearing a few things apart & hoping to find something obvious.

First I checked the connections under the seats. No issues there. Next I pulled the front seats out & peeled up the carpet enough to get a good look at the wiring harness. Nothing unusual.

On a hunch I threw the driver seat on the bench to check the seat air bag. When I peeled the seat cover off, I found the harness going to the inflator had completely broken from the connector at the inflator!

I had to rigg the repair, as the break was clean at the connector leaving me no length of wire to solder and the terminals inside are molded in! So I spliced some new terminals from a scrap harness, wrapped the terminals in tape, and slide them on the spade terminals on the inflator. Hopefully it'll last.

Put everyhting back together & no more light!

[Tech II]

Well, kudos to you for finding the break in the wiring.....normally the harness does not break there.......maybe the harness was positioned wrong, so that it was tight and everytime you sat it in the seat, it put tension in the harness, until it eventually broke off....

Now for the bad news......that module should be replaced......the wiring is compromised......is you have a side impact, and the module does not deploy, and the insurance company or GM just happens to check that out, there could be a problem.....you see, the SDM, the one that controls the air bag sytem, is a little black box, and it stores info, that can be accessed after an accident.......stuff like, how fast you were going, were your seat belts buckled, if there were codes in the car, etc.

[kornjulio]

I disagree. The light came on because the wires broke. I repaired the harness to the satisfaction of GM, as evidenced by the light going out.

If my work is shoddy, it will fail and the light will come on again. If there's a need for deployment now while the light is out, the fucking bag ought to go BOOM!

[Tech II]

Well,

I repaired the harness to the satisfaction of GM, as evidenced by the light going out.

No, you haven't because GM does not allow repair of the harness at the module(you can repair the harness connector, but not where the harness is hardwired to the module), it states it must be replaced.

What you have done is completed a circuit.....but will the bag deploy? Everytime someone sits in that seat, and flexes that connection, can you be sure it will remain intact?

You can't know for sure....as a tech, I would not perform this repair on another person's car....if you want to take a chance on your own vehicle, that's up to you, and hopefully it deploys if it is needed.....just remember, there are insurance ramafications, if it does not deploy in an accident...

[kornjulio]

Thanks, but I'll concede to none of your points. Have a good one.

[Tech II]

Does this mean I don't get a thank you? Just kidding.....

Listen, I commend you for finding the break, without knowing the code to lead you in the right direction.....

If this works for you, fine......

[pjw73nh]

Just as a little added info here for others that may have the airbag light issue (and there's no way I'm getting between YOU TWO on this argument)

My airbag light had started coming on about 6 years ago. It would only come on as the summer temps cooled down into the fall. Each time this happened, I would get under both the seats, disconnect and reconnect all the connections for the ABS system (whatever was easily accessible). It ALWAYS solved the issue for that season.

By the time this happened every year for a few years, I was able to isolate it to the connector under the drivers seat. From that point on, in the subsequent years as fall approached and the light came on, I would simply go right to the connector under the drivers seat. Disconnect/reconnect. Done.

P.../NH

[gmtech1]

Originally Posted by pjw73nh

Just as a little added info here for others that may have the airbag light issue (and there's no way I'm getting between YOU TWO on this argument)

My airbag light had started coming on about 6 years ago. It would only come on as the summer temps cooled down into the fall. Each time this happened, I would get under both the seats, disconnect and reconnect all the connections for the ABS system (whatever was easily accessible). It ALWAYS solved the issue for that season.

By the time this happened every year for a few years, I was able to isolate it to the connector under the drivers seat. From that point on, in the subsequent years as fall approached and the light came on, I would simply go right to the connector under the drivers seat. Disconnect/reconnect. Done.

P.../NH

Apply some dielectric grease to the terminals and will likley take care of your issues.