Any light flashing on your dashboard is annoying. While they might be a nuisance, they always mean something. The best way your car’s ECU has to tell you something is wrong in the system.
Today, we will step away from the notorious check engine light and talk about a more rare light – the airbag warning light.
Most of the time, the warning light pops up when there’s a minor fault with your sensors or a major problem somewhere in the system.
While you can keep driving with the light on, you will be at risk since:
- Their airbags might fail to deploy in case of an accident
- The airbags might deploy prematurely or when you least expect it
Accidental deployments are as dangerous as failure to deploy. Airbags deploy very violently. They could injure you, especially if they do so directly to your face. If not, you won’t be happy with the bruises and the damage since there won’t be an accident to justify it.
Diagnose First Before Resetting
Never skip troubleshooting and go straight to resetting that airbag light and error code. Even if you clear it, chances are it will just pop back on after a while.
Moreover, you’ll be lowering your car’s safety rating. This is dangerous to the vehicle’s occupants. If your insurer learns your airbags were tampered with, they could fail to settle a claim after an accident.
Use an OBDII Scanner to Read Trouble Codes
A good way to pinpoint the problem is by doing a detailed OBDII scan of your vehicle. This should help you narrow down the search by pointing you straight to a problematic place in a good vehicle. Don’t clear the codes before fixing the problem, though.
Why Did My Airbag Light Come On?
A couple of things could make your airbag light come on. Some are easy to correct, while others need a professional to look into them. Here are the most common problems to look at.
The light comes on once the system detects that it can’t deploy airbags on demand. Any problem in the system, intentional or accidental, will make it light up.
The Passenger Airbag Switch is Off
A good number of cars have a switch to turn on or off the passenger airbag. The premise was you wouldn’t want the airbag to deploy with a kid on the front passenger seat.
ProTip: This control is slowly disappearing. Research has shown that children are the safest in the rear seats. Don’t carry yours in the front seat even with the airbag off.
Look for the passenger airbag switch. You’ll find it somewhere on the dashboard on the passenger side. Some cars have it in the passenger door or the glove box. If it is off, turn it back on and see if the light goes away.
Cars with this switch use the airbag light to notify you when the passenger airbag is deactivated.
A Depleted Airbag Backup Battery
Cars have a backup battery to deploy their airbags if the main battery is compromised immediately after impact.
If your car’s main battery was recently drained and hasn’t charged up yet, chances are the airbag light will pop up as soon as you jump the car.
However, it will go away after a couple of minutes since the backup battery charges up fast. There is no reason to reset this.
If the light stays on, then the problem is not the airbag backup battery.
Faulty Sensors
Your airbag system uses a wide array of sensors to detect when they should deploy. The ECU uses a myriad of sensors to determine what airbags to deploy.
If one of these sensors is faulty, the system concludes that it doesn’t have all the information it needs to deploy correctly should need to arise.
In this case, you will need a professional to troubleshoot and check for one or more faulty sensors in the system. This might take a long time and will need some skill.
Only take on the task if you are handy with cars or get a professional car electrician to take care of the problem.
A Damaged Airbag Clock Spring
The airbag in the steering wheel uses a clock spring to maintain electrical contact with the rest of the car’s electrical system. This coils in or out when the steering wheel turns.
Since it is under so much stress, it could wear out over time or just downright fail. If this happens or there is a poor connection, the airbag light will come on.
A Wet or Ruined Airbag Module
If your vehicle waded through a deep pool of water or was flooded in, the water could have got to the airbag modules located under your driver’s and passenger’s seat.
The water could immediately short circuit it or cause corrosion that will lead to gradual damage.
Have the module inspected for any obvious water damage if your car sat in deep pools of water recently? Replace it when necessary.
How to Reset the Airbag Light With a Scanner Tool
Most cars will let you clear the light fast and easily using a scanner tool. The light will go away as soon as the related error code is cleared. This shouldn’t be hard for a mechanic or an enthusiast with a scanner tool.
How to Reset an Airbag Light Without a Scanner
If you don’t have a scanner, you might want to reset the light in other ways. To start with, the error could go away on itself after fixing the problem. In this case, you won’t have to clear the code.
If it doesn’t go away, you can follow this procedure in older cars to reset your vehicle without a scanner tool.
- Remove the negative battery cable from your battery and wait for around 15 minutes to reset the ECU
- Reattach the terminals and wait for 15 minutes to recharge the airbag backup battery
- Turn the car ignition to the ON position but don’t crank the car
- The airbag light should turn on, stay illuminated for around 10 seconds and go off
- After it goes off, switch off the car immediately and wait for three seconds
- Repeat the procedure two more times
Most modern cars won’t let you clear the airbag light or any other error code without using a scanner tool. However, some codes, including the airbag error, could clear themselves if the ECU doesn’t detect the problem the next three times it runs a self-diagnostic.
This could take a while. If you are sure you fixed the problem, for instance, fixed disconnected sensor wires under the seat, you could try the reset trick of disconnecting your battery and letting the car run for a while if you have no access to a scanner tool.
Is it Safe to Drive With Airbag Light On?
While your car will still drive normally, the airbag light means your safety systems are not operating optimally.
You won’t get as much protection from impact as you would with the light off in case of an accident. Airbags save life. Keeping yours in the best working condition will keep you and anyone in the car safer.
Why Is My Airbag Light Flashing?
Some cars go further than just displaying the check engine light. They have built-in logic that helps them narrow down the problem and pulse the light a specific number of times to relay this message.
Check this too: How Do You Clear A Service Engine Soon Light?
Check your user manual to decode the flashes. Each set of flashes has its meaning. Interpreting them could help you identify and fix the problem even without using a scan tool.
Bottom Line
Please don’t ignore that airbag light as soon as it pops up. Troubleshoot some of the most common problems like sensors and connectors under the seats. After this, if the problem persists, get a professional to help you sort out the rest.
Armed airbags are dangerous. They can deploy and hurt you if you touch or press the wrong places as you try to fix the problem.