Toyota: "check your airbags"!

[e9999]

any new info on all this?

 

[MaddBaggins]

Airbags!!?? What's that?

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Airbags!!?? What's that?

... Mother-in-law (Now I'm in trouble )

 

[MaddBaggins]

... Mother-in-law (Now I'm in trouble )

She won't ride in my LC, to much of a bitch to climb into and for some reason I won't get step bars

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Lucky you.

 

[turbocruiser]

That's strange, our dealer has no knowledge of this "exchange" program, and from what I've been told by both local dealerships as well as MBCA members and MBNA certified techs is that Mercedes recently extended the "expiration" time to 14 years because their airbags simply were not going bad. Don't know any of the technical details of this.

Our `86 190E has a driver's airbag (first car to have one, I think) and the SRS light has never stayed lit after the startup check. Wonder if the thing still works???

Yes i had heard that the time thing was recently extended four years, and maybe it is strictly a dealer decision but I can assure you that prolly 99% of the Mercedes i have seen over ten years (classics excluded of course) old that are sold on Mercedes "pre-owned" lots (ever notice that domestic cars are "used" and foriegn high fullutin cars are "pre-owned???) have the riveted in metal marque that specifies the service of the bag. The last two Mercedes we owned were participants in this interesting program (no one else recommends replacement AFAIK). The replacement is extremely expensive so it is not an exchange thing. I am an active member of MBCA and one of my closest friends here has his own independent Mercedes/Porsche/Audi/BMW certified shop and he is extremely familiar with this replacement program. I never questioned it at all and assumed it was mandatory but after your post I am wondering if it is indeed up to the dealers to decide. Anyways, the take home message is that for a long time Mercedes put the effective lifespan of an airbag at 10 years, and now they are extending that to 14 years or so. HTH.

 

[Land Speeder]

Airbags!!?? What's that?

Yeah what Madd said! Go get a pre-95

Same principle to messing with your airbags but different crowd:
Back in my mtn bike racing days, me and a friend were chatting with the Manitou guys (Manitou makes front suspension forks among other things) at a race venue. On of them noticed my friend had filed down the tabs on his fork that hold the front wheel on. He freaked out, and later that day found my friend and made him sign some sheet stating that if he were to wreak he would not file suit against Manitou. I had filed mine down too, but I has a Marzocchi fork.
Forks used to not have those and now people call those things "lawyer tabs". Filing them down makes for extremely easy tire change, and during a race seconds are precious.

 

[Brentbba]

Airbags!!?? What's that?

Damn! Beat me to it! What's an airbag? Real trucks don't need no airbags!

 

[ptstrato]

PT Cruiser Airbag Light

Yes it does. When the key is first turned-on, the air-bag system is running a check. If the light does not go off, it means there is a problem, eg. high resistance, open circuit, short to gnd.

I'm a Chrysler mechanic, and we see alot of airbag lights. Most of the time it's in the Town & Country minivans, and they are due to an "open squib" in the clockspring which is in the steering column behind the steering wheel. The clockspring allows operation of the steering wheel mounted controls such as the cruise, or radio while turning the wheel. Chrysler actually has a recall on these. CHRYSLER HAS ALOT OF RECALLS!! If under 70K miles, it gets replaced. If over 70K, we check for DTC's. If no DTC's, it doesn't get replaced.

I've replaced a handful of passenger airbags in the PT Cruisers for open circuits, and there's also alot of Sebring Convertibles with intermittent airbag lights which is due to corrosion in the connector for the driver's seatbelt tensioner. This is the driver's side buckle which incorporates an explosive device that cinches the buckle in an impact, pulling the belt tighter against the occupant to keep them against the seat. Chrysler's fix for the corrosion is to unplug the connector, clean the terminals and apply some dielectric grease.

As for checking airbags every 10 years, that's something I've never had to do. I too have seen the warning label on my sunvisor and have wondered how it would be checked? I guess you could disconnect the battery, and unplug each airbag connector and check the resistance. but again that's what the Airbag Contol Module is for.

I have a 2001 PT that seems to fit some of this thread.
Had a problem with the lights staying on and draining the battery. DC replaced a multi function switch <turn signals lights etc> on the steering column.
Shortly after that the Airbag light came on and stayed on. Another trip to the dealership did a DRB test "passenger Air Bag Squib Circuit Open"

Could this be related to the first repair?
The car is out of Warranty with expired km's.
Was there a recall on this in Canada?
Can I do this repair? They wanted $180 CDN just to diagnose it further.

thanks for your time

Mike

 

[clownmidget]

Eric - for someone that has Moderator status and over 5 posts per day maybe you can assist by not re-starting threads that have been thoroughly addressed and try the Search function. It is amazing what "airbag" and "check" will produce in the 80's tech.
(https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=33616&highlight=airbag+check)

Mike R

 

[NorCalDoug]

Mike - I don't think Eric restarted this thread. Check out the post right before yours.

 

[e9999]

Eric - for someone that has Moderator status and over 5 posts per day maybe you can assist by not re-starting threads that have been thoroughly addressed and try the Search function. It is amazing what "airbag" and "check" will produce in the 80's tech.
(https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=33616&highlight=airbag+check)

Mike R

thanks Doug. I had seen Mike's post, but didn't know how to respond given his sig line...!

"1997 FZJ-80 40th
Answer a fool according to his own folly"