Air bag Light

[shermaner12]

I know there are dozens of posts on the SRS System but everything i have read does not seem to apply to my problem. I had my light on constantly so i took it in for the recall finally, When they were done the light was still on so.. I remember one time cleaning that the driver seat plug made it come on I started here. Seemed at first it would fix it if i unplugged replugged in the driver seat. Eventually it stopped working so I replaced the sensor on the side of the seat which at first was great.. until i tried driving,,, NOW every time i start the car the light tests out and shuts off,.... UNTIL i put it in to drive then its about 3 seconds of being in drive and moving that it then trips on again... Any ideas?

[jayoldschool]

You need to get it plugged into a good scan tool. The scanner will tell you exactly what circuit is the problem, enabling you to narrow down your trouble shooting.

[shermaner12]

where would i get one and about how much?

[jayoldschool]

Scan tools that do airbag functions are not inexpensive. The new Snap On that we just purchased was a few thousand. There are cheaper alternatives, google "Autel". I just got one of their tools to do TPMS, and it is nice. It will be worth it to take this to a shop for a diagnosis.

[ImUrOBGYN]

You can have Autozone, Advanced Auto, etc read your codes for free.

Or, depending on the year, you can can grab a pen and paper for writing down codes, and a paperclip or equivalent wire and do it for free jumping the OBD ports and reading the flashes on the dash.

Neither of these methods are quite as inclusive as an expensive scan tool, but I think you'll agree it is cheaper and may answer your question.

[runningslow]

If I were a gambling man, I'd bet that your clockspring has gone bad.

There have been a few instances of it over on the Facebook Group. I've also had the same thing happen with my wife's Corolla. I took the Corolla in for the airbag recall, they read the codes for me and told me that they'd need to tear it down more to completely diagnise the problem, but that they suspected the problem was the clockspring.

[rmacnamara]

You can have Autozone, Advanced Auto, etc read your codes for free.

Or, depending on the year, you can can grab a pen and paper for writing down codes, and a paperclip or equivalent wire and do it for free jumping the OBD ports and reading the flashes on the dash.

Neither of these methods are quite as inclusive as an expensive scan tool, but I think you'll agree it is cheaper and may answer your question.

SRS ( airbag) codes are not read by just any code reader ) very few if any parts stores have a scan tool capable to reading SRS.

Innova 3160b, 3160d, and 3160e are all very cost effective scanners that will work with The Pontiac Vibe to read both ABS and SRS codes as I verified this with the one 04 that I am working on.

[ImUrOBGYN]

Of course not. Not every scanner is created equally, but you can read them at home yourself without an expensive scanner. I know this for a fact as I've done it myself. Besides, unless you know for sure they cannot help him at one of those stores, why not leave it as an option for the person as opposed to giving the single option of finding and/or purchasing an expensive scan tool? The average person doesn't have the need for a thousand dollar scan tool. (Disclaimer: I do not know for sure if any of those stores can read an airbag code or not myself, but imo there is absolutely enough of a chance to at least warrant a call. ) Call around anyway, there may be a place or service center that will scan your airbag codes for free and save you the hassle in the first place. Good luck!

Also, as was already posted above, it probably is the clockspring. Mine suddenly went bad after GM performed the first temporary "repair" recall on my SRS system. Which, strangely enough, has happened to many others. That's not suspicious...