Air Bag Light, Diagnosis and Repair - write up (1 Viewer)

[Cosmo Kramer]

So my 2k 100 series air bag light came on recently, and was always flashing, I researched here and on the web and found bits and pieces here and there, but nothing complied together. So decided to help hopefully many here to fix this problem, that most of the time is a simple fix, when pointed in the right direction.

I worked on this over several weeks, documenting what was relevant. Got it broken down in (3) sections, lots of pics as well.

1. Factory service manual instructions
2. Diagnosis
3. Repair

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

2. Diagnosis

Jumper wire to get code to flash on dash

Below pic is under the cap on the dtc port, helps to identify which one to jumper

count flashes, in my case I had a 14, and 74


Following the service manual, connected (2) wires to the diagnostic connector to clear code, and to see if they would even clear, ran both wires to inside, and then had another wire attached to a good ground. The manual shows to ground each wire back and fourth, then you will get a "fast flash" of the air bag icon on the dash, indicating codes were cleared.

Code 14 cleared, but 74 did not. This indicates left side seat belt pretensioner

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

2. Diagnosis - continued

DISCONNECT the battery, I waited about 15 minutes before remove the part.

Remove driver seat belt pretensioner.

The part at the bottom is the pretensioner, push the "white" clip upward, and unplug the yellow connector

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

2. Diagnosis - continued

Below is video showing how to test the pretensioner, I based what I did on this.



Just to make sure that this part was bad, before replacing or repair, I tested per the video above. I cut the end off a q-tip, then flatten it out with some pliers, then used a small pick to move the small tab and get the q-tip installed

Checked with the meter, and got an open circuit.

Just to make certain my logic was correct, I checked the passenger side. I didn't take out the pretensioner, just took the panel covering it. Got a reading of 2.2 ohms, which is within specs.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

3. Repair

After researching, found a company that will repair these pretensioners. There site is : Seat Belt Repair Service & Airbag Reset | Safety Restore - Safety - https://www.safetyrestore.com/

They also sell on ebay, which is where I bought the service. Not sure why, but the ebay price was around $50 and on their site around $65.

Just box up your pretensioner, and send it off. From the time mine hit the post office, to return was about a week, of course you guys out west
might take longer.

Pic below shows after I received back from safety restore.

Lastly, reinstalled part, of course make sure to DISCONNECT the battery. Did not have to jumper or anything else to check for codes, started up and the air bag light was cleared.

 

[Petertn45]

Thanks so much for this write up! My airbag light had been flashing on and off, and lately has been continuous. Will see how this goes

 

[Dmenk87]

When you checked the passenger side did you use the Qtip method to get that reading?

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

Yes

 

[Luke M]

Great write up! I had an SRS light on and sending the belt assembly to Safety Restore resolved my issues.

 

[Les Summer]

My SRS light went off after I replaced my driver's side front seatbelt on my 2000 LC100. I did a video that shows a little bit of the disassembly of the seatbelt, which might be helpful to someone, so it's below if you want to watch. Thanks.

 

[DCTLC1]

Great write up! The igniter in the passenger SRS seat belt pretensioner is going bad in my ‘01. Throws a 64 code and the airbag light is blinking on. Per above, the resistance needs to be 2-3 ohms but the circuit is open now. I didn’t have a 2 ohm resistor so I straightened out the wire leads on a brake light bulb and plugged it into the wiring harness. Air bag light turned off instantly. Sending the seat belt assembly to be serviced. 24hr turn around for $65. The light bulb trick isn’t a bad way to double check the problem.

 

[BullElk]

 

[JPG0818]

Very useful information!

Hi everyone, i am new to the forum, i am from Lima, Peru and i got a Land Cruiser 100 with 1HDT engine.

Recently, my dog chew the front passenger’s seatbelt and i have been trying to replace the whole belt. Since there is no good repair places here in Peru. The only solution i found was placing one new assembly from a 105 series which is the same but it does not have the airbag system. So now i got the airbag light on and i was wondering if i can do something about it, maybe grounding one of the cables?

Any suggestions??

Thanks!!

 

[FamilyCamper]

@Cosmo Kramer thanks so much for this. Did the different tests and found the pretensioner to be bad on the passenger side which lined up with the code im getting. Sent the assembly to SafetyRestore as you suggested and they've already shipped it back to me 2 days later!

 

[FamilyCamper]

Torque specs for seat belt components
14mm bolts 32ft lbs
10mm bolt for top of pretensioner 3.5ft lbs