Hello all! I have a 2003 Vibe with the 1.8L engine and about 112,000 miles, which serves as my wife's daily driver and as our joint trip vehicle. Some time ago, the airbag system readiness light came on in the dash, indicating a fault within the system. My wife and I had just received the GM recall mailers relating to the airbag system, so we figured it likely that the light would be resolved once we had the recall work completed. We had the below two recalls completed at our local GM dealer last week:
Recall # 13030 - Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) Electronic Control Module (ECM)
Recall # 13112 - Takata Airbag / Front Passenger Airbag Inflator
However, the airbag system readiness light is still on. I thought perhaps the recall work had remedied the problem but the system had not been reset, and thus attempted a hard reset by disconnecting the negative battery cable for about 60 minutes. This didn't reset the light. My next thought was to check for a bad fuse, but after examining the fuse key and finding that the fuse that controls the airbag system is the same as that for the ignition, I realized that couldn't be the issue.
After doing some reading on similar problems here on the forums, I've experimented with attempting to start the car with the steering wheel in various positions in order to ascertain whether the fault is a clockspring issue as detailed in this thread - viewtopic.php?f=17&t=40783. However, steering wheel position appears to make no difference, the light remains on constantly upon starting the car and while driving. The horn also works without any issue. These two facts lead me to believe it's not a clockspring issue.
I called the local dealer who performed the recall work, explained the situation, and asked if they had scanned the system and recorded the fault codes. The shop manager said that they had scanned the system after performing the warranty work and had identified a code which pointed to an issue with the signal coming from the SDM module. With this in mind, I have a few questions:
1.) Is there any way to perform a reset of the airbag system so I can determine whether the fault has already been cleared? Ideally one that doesn't involve paying the dealer $90 to do so? I have read a few posts about people using a jumper wire to read specific fault codes.
2.) Where is the SDM module located and how difficult is it to replace?
3.) Is there any way to test the SDM module to determine whether it is truly bad?
4.) Is it necessary to have a new SDM module "programmed" to your VIN by a GM dealer?
Any and all ideas on what could be causing the issue are welcome. I'm a weekend wrencher with quite a bit of experience under the hood but very limited experience working with electrical systems.