Airbag Light On

[Sean Clausen]

2007 Ranger 2WD, 4 cyl, 28K,

Dashboard airbag light came on. Restarted truck, no "blink codes", light goes out as usual, then turns on again accompanied by a tone. Passenger airbag light is functional. All this is repeatable.

Drove, and backed, through a couple snowbanks yesterday at slow speed. (Wooo-hooo, New England) Light came on *sometime* after that, but did not notice it on OR off (just didn't look) immediately after those incidents.

Disconnected battery for 20 mins or so, hoping for a miracle. Miracle did not appear.

Pulled fuse. Looks OK. Re-inserted, started truck and light behaved as normal, but truck had also been sitting in sun for an hour or so. Thinking it fixed, I drove and eventually parked in a shady spot. Malfunction returned when restarted 45 mins later. Re-inserting fuse did nothing this time, leading me to wonder if the initial "success" was misplaced.

Lots of ice and road gunk under truck. Quick look under the grill area for a loose wire or other obvious problem showed nothing. Actually, I couldn't locate anything that might be the crash sensors.

Still under 60 month/60K warranty, but hate tying up truck and paying dealership for something I might be able to fix myself.

Ideas or suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[ssmith]

darn lights

This sounds really stupid. if your seats are all the way back move them forward one notch and see if it cures the problem. I have had this problem on my 02 ranger and after spending $800 this is what works. It may be relieving stress from the wires.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

There is a TSB for this actually. Ford's fix is to take apart the wiring connector under the drivers and passenger seat that is for the pretensioners in the seat belts. Unplug them, spray them out with electrical contact cleaner, plug them back in, fold the connector back onto the wire and tie strap it there. Fixes the problem.

 

[Sean Clausen]

I tried moving the seats back and forth a number of times to no avail.

One connector, which appears that it should be mounted on the bottom of the driver's seat, had fallen loose. I'm afraid I don't have the right advanced degree, or special tool, to get the connector apart. (Why so difficult?) Anyhow, the connection seemed solid, but that means nothing.

I tried searching for the TSB but found nothing that addressed a "light on but no code" condition. Would you have the TSB number?

Thanks for the help.

 

[exbass94]

Still under 60 month/60K warranty, but hate tying up truck and paying dealership for something I might be able to fix myself.

Having the truck tied up at the dealer? Yeah, you'd have to deal with that. Paying the dealer? NOOOO!!! If it's under warranty, you don't have to pay a single DIME to them, and don't let them tell you otherwise. I would probably just take it there and let them fix it.

I'm kinda pissed that 2006 was the last year of the crappy warranty (3 yr, 36k mile) and 2007 got a nice 6 yr, 60k warranty. My truck is pretty much brand new and my warranty just expired last week.

 

[Sean Clausen]

Fixed

...just to close out on this. It turned out to be the clock spring. There were no blink codes (my mistake expecting them), but the scan codes pointed right to it. The warrantee repair took about an hour.