Airbag light after replacing clock spring

Bad clock spring

 

Move your driver seat back and forth while car is off and then restart it and see if it is gone.

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Getting the trouble codes from the airbag computer will tell you why the light is on.

If you do not have a scan tool for reading the trouble codes, I am pretty sure the airbag computer in Gen 2 knows how to blink its codes out on the dash light when you use a short jumper wire at the diagnostic port.

At least, it could in Gen 1, and it still can in Gen 3, so I'd be surprised if it couldn't in Gen 2.

 

This should be interesting.

Prior to replacing the clock spring, did you disconnect the 12v battery?

I've always had better success replacing electrical type components when the car is completely dead. It kind of makes the car not even know something was disconnected and then reconnected....a battery disconnect a day keeps the codes away.

 

He would have to disconnect it or the airbag will go off in his face as he tries to replace the clock spring.

 

well ... yes, the reason for disconnecting the battery before steering wheel removal is to make sure the airbag system is completely depowered and the airbag can't accidentally deploy as you're removing it.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that forgetting to do so means that the vengeful god of overlooked precautions absolutely will smite you every time. You might often get away with it.

... which is arguably more dangerous than guaranteed smiting, because it lets people start thinking there's nothing to worry about.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is your problem. Seen reports many times when using cheap knock-off parts. Seeing as it is a crucial part of your car's safety system, get a genuine OEM (i. e. Toyota) part – not only will it work, it will last much longer. You'll get the best price from a local (or not so local) dealer using an online parts locator such as this one: Toyota Parts Center Online.

 

Well, that gives you a pretty clear agenda. Unplug the spiral cable at both ends (the airbag connection and the car connection), and use an ohmmeter to check whether those circuits are shorted within the spiral cable itself.

If so, maybe you don't have to replace it with a $320 original if you think that's crazy, but you do have to replace it with one that isn't shorted. It might be interesting to see the total cost of repeat-buying cheaper ones to find one that isn't defective.

(The car-end connection of the spiral cable may have an internal spring that shorts it on purpose when it is unplugged. If so, that needs to be disengaged before you can test the spiral cable for a short, and the airbag must be disconnected from the spiral cable first before doing any such thing. And you need to make sure nothing you do disengaging it for testing will interfere with its future correct operation.)

Or, if the meter shows the spiral cable isn't shorted (keep in mind it could be intermittent, depending on rotation of the wheel), maybe there is a short nearby that can be traced to something in your reassembly.

Make sure (two or three times) the airbag is disconnected from the spiral cable before using any ohmmeter on the spiral cable. Under no circumstances connect a meter, directly or indirectly, to the airbag.

(There are ohmmeters made for explosive/squib testing safely, but most folks won't have one. A great stocking-stuffer for the aspiring bomb technician in your life though.)

 

That's odd. So unplugging the airbag, which is the same as removing power and/or signals from it, will make it actuate? Is there a signal coming from the ecu at all times saying "don't actuate" and when it gets unplugged, that signal is lost, causing it to go off? How do they ever get these things shipped out of the factory? Is there a difference between a loss of power from unplugging the airbag and just having the 12v battery die or be disconnected?

And a wire going bad in the clockspring, which may accidentally simulate the airbag being disconnected, would make the airbag actuate? I would hate for that to happen as I was making a turn driving down the road.

idk, seems odd....

 

Well, I guess that the OEM want to instill the "fear of God" (or at least a sense of caution around devices that can cause serious harm) when working on the SRS system. Otherwise, sooner or later someone would be changing a clockspring with the key on (listening to music) while his buddy is hammering on something near a crash sensor. Bam- Darwin award.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

No, there isn't a "don't actuate" signal. : ) You've got a bit of a talent for Jim-jordan-esque questions there, but it might be worth reining it in just a smidgen.

It might have been exaggeration for Azusa to to build up a risk of unintended deployment into a will-happen, but clearly the risk is not all in Azusa's head.

It's clear that Toyota is pretty serious about the risk, as you can see not only in the rules for having the airbag ECU depowered before fiddling with any connections, but also in the trouble they take to build shorting springs into all of the squib-circuit connectors, to keep the circuit shorted out whenever it is not connected to the ECU. The only sources of energy that can be protecting against would have to be electrostatic, whether from external fields or frictionally developed in handling. I don't know all the details myself, but this is one of those cases where you can plainly see that the people who do know the details aren't messing around.

 

The value of the car is not really relevant, but I think in the current craziness, it might be worth a bit more than that.

$ 318.10 is the MSRP, but a Denver dealer has them for $239.05 if you buy online and pick it up. Right at this moment, this dealer is offering free statewide ground shipping.

Stevinson Toyota West
780 Denver West Colorado Mills Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80401

Depending on where exactly in Colorado you are, you might find a closer dealer with a better price.

But I'm guessing that this is still too rich for your liking.