2005 Taurus SRS code 18

[chbow]

Help please. I just replaced my 05 Taurus' cd player with a pulled Ford cassette player I bought on ebay, everything works great except my airbag light is now blinking 18. Did I screw it up? Thanks in advance.

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum! Since this post was not relevant to the thread you had replied to, I moved it to a new thread with a new title.

Please verify the Lamp Fault Code. I don't see a code 18 as an option. The factory service manual for the 2002 model year goes from code 15 to code 19. I don't have a manual for a 2005, so maybe that code is not active for 2002 model year.

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

When you pulled your old radio and put in a new one, did you have your battery disconnected? You may have interupted, disconnected or grounded a wire or connection, especially if you did a lot of hard pushing and pulling. You can thank God for not having deployed air bags! I'd disconnect the battery and start searching where you were working for wiring that doesn't like right: chaffed, bare, disconneced, etc. I would try to locate the wiring that goes to the two air bags and try to trace them through the area you were working. Even if a connector looks ok, I'd make sure it is pushed in all the way. At the very least you might get lucky and the air bag light will turn off. I don't know, maybe Rod does, if you do enough drive cycles (use your car enough times) the light might turn off if the SRS no londer detects a problem. I've had some luck with one of the dealers near me to tell what my code meant and how to clear it, since it seemed to not go away at least immediately after I fixed the problem. This was on a 95 Windstar and I don't think I even have the procedure anymore.

[chbow]

Thank you Rod for fixing the thread and for your help. I double checked it is code 18 that's blinking. Tripletdaddy thank's, I'm pretty sure I got all the connections right without messing anything up but I'll double check. I did in fact do this without disconnecting the battery. Any other ideas? Again thanks to all!

[shorod]

You might need to swing by a shop that has a professional scan tool with the 2005 or newer Airbag/SRS software installed. I checked the Ford service manual for 2004 and there was no mention of a LFC of 18. There was a 16 and a 19, but no 17 or 18. The B and C codes that a professional scan tool can read out are more detailed though and if a code 18 really does exist, there will be a corresponding B or C code for it.

-Rod

[chbow]

Thanks Rod, this is what I found on fordforums in response to a similar question "Your code is for the passenger side air bag warning light circuit. Usually it is a blown bulb. Good luck." I'm thinking my problem might be that the original player had a passenger airbag light on it and the one I installed doesn't. Now I'm wondering if my airbags are disabled or is this just telling me that I don't have the passenger warning light and I can just ignore it? Thanks so much.

[tripletdaddy]

That's crazy to have it on the radio? Could Ford really be so inept?! Do you have your owner's manual? Look in there for the correct location for the pass air bag light. I would think it would be in the instrument cluster and come on with the key on light and equipment checks. There should be a page listing with all of the lights that should come on and where they are located. If not, then call Ford or put out the question as another thread hoping someone has the same car.

Why not try putting the old radio back in and see if the code light goes out? And then look for the passenger air bag light on the radio. I assume you just plugged in the new radio with the same connector that was on the old radio. See if you can figure out if there really is a wire connection for the air bag light. If not then you have to go to above said.

If not the radio idea, then I still think you may have disturbed something and just need to figure out where it is. A break in a wire, connection or bulb all result in the same thing, no continuity.

I would imagine your airbags are still working, since the only purpose of the light circuit that is not working, is to indicate the SRS passes the engine on check and to indicate any problems.