Airbag light and NC inspections

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stokesdale-Greensboro
2001 Suburban. Airbag light came on a several weeks ago, it would go off one or two trips later. This cycle repeated itself a little, seemed like it was off for a while, but now its been on for several days. Talking to a few people, said they've seen this when its cold out, but now its warmer, and stuck on.
Short-answer question; will this fail me for NC inspection? I have until November, I'm not worried just yet.
Discussion topic; surely I'm not the first Chevy owner to experience this, what could I be looking at. This is my first shot at it, I'll probably google it later. Any insight now would be appreciated.
 
I have no clue about NC inspection. But I can maybe help in diagnosis.

Had the same issue on an 01 Tahoe a few years back.
Almost drove me crazy trouble shooting without a code reader. The SRS system is separate but communicates with the ECM/CCM. Cheap vatozone code readers (at the time) wouldnt read SRS codes and I refused to pay the local stealership $90 to plug up and tell me what was wrong.

In the end I had 2 issues and it seemed both were common

1) under the driver seat there is a seat position sensor that actually controls the rate of deployment to keep from knocking little short ladies heads off. This connector was cracked and intermittent. Think I paid $20 for a new one from Chevrolet.

However the problem remained only got much more sporadic...

2) There is also a crash sensor (actually 2 of them one on each side) right behind the front bumper. They look just like a rubber absorber with 2 prongs hanging out. If they come unplugged or fail they will show the light. These also were very common from my research at the time. Think i paid like $75 for that part.
 
I've had airbag lights on in both my Honda and TJ since I bought them. Cumulatively that is 8 inspections with no mention of it.

I will say that I take all my vehicles to the same place for a reason though.
 
There's also a connector behind each kick panel that will have an intermittent connection, to fix you unplug and reconnect a few times. I'm not sure what years had that problem but its something else to check.

I just asked my boss since he's the only inspector here, my license expired years ago since I don't do inspections at this shop, he said the airbag light won't fail an inspection.
 
I've got an 01 TJ and the airbag light periodically comes on and goes out. Sometimes it comes on as soon as you start it, other times it comes on while your driving. Its been doing it since I bought the Jeep back in 2007. I'm sure it was on during one of my inspections over the past 9 years and I've never had an issue.
 
Airbag light, ABS light, Brake light, Traction control light, TPMS light... none of them will affect inspection. As long as the readiness monitors are all set and there are no current codes (SES/CEL) than you are good to go.
 
tlucier said:
I've got an 01 TJ and the airbag light periodically comes on and goes out. Sometimes it comes on as soon as you start it, other times it comes on while your driving. Its been doing it since I bought the Jeep back in 2007. I'm sure it was on during one of my inspections over the past 9 years and I've never had an issue.
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On a TJ that's almost guaranteed to be either the gauge cluster of the clock spring.
 
When mine blew when I was out crawling a few years back, I was worried about it. The steering wheel and dash were still split open and it was obvious they had gone off. Even went to a station that I normally never go to so I wasn't a regular customer and no questions were asked.
 
livetorun said:
When mine blew when I was out crawling a few years back, I was worried about it. The steering wheel and dash were still split open and it was obvious they had gone off. Even went to a station that I normally never go to so I wasn't a regular customer and no questions were asked.
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Yeah, but compared to the rest of your Jeep, that looked showroom... :p

air bag.jpg
 
livetorun said:
When mine blew when I was out crawling a few years back, I was worried about it. The steering wheel and dash were still split open and it was obvious they had gone off. Even went to a station that I normally never go to so I wasn't a regular customer and no questions were asked.
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Did it scare the hell out of you when it went off? What'd you do with the bags once they did go off? I've always worried about those things letting loose while wheeling.
 
air bags are not part of the NC inspection, neither is ABS or traction/stability. Your dash can be lit up like a christmas tree and as long as the check engine light is off and your readiness monitors are good then you will pass.
 
Ron said:
On a TJ that's almost guaranteed to be either the gauge cluster of the clock spring.
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eh might be the case some of the time. Bought my 01tj in 2001.Ex-co worker bought his 2001 new off the lot. A couple of years after purchases he and I both gained the light full time. Didn't worry too much about it but the light is aggravating at night. Did a little google searchin and found a discussin about the little light bulb that shines when you cut off the passenger side airbag. No pass. air bag=little light.No little light=air bag light shinning in cluster. Bought 2 light bulbs from radio shack,changed them out one sunday afternoon and no mo light in cluster. We both had small children when the little bulbs went out.We both had shut off the airbags for car seats.
 
tlucier said:
Did it scare the hell out of you when it went off? What'd you do with the bags once they did go off? I've always worried about those things letting loose while wheeling.
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Yes, it was like a shotgun going off in my face. I had my mouth open and everything! After they went off, I cut them out and kept wheeling. Don't ever let anyone tell you they wont go off in low range, or they wont go off under 20 mph, or they wont go off unless you need them to. None of those were true in my case. Modern airbags are all about g forces, enough force from any angle will set them off no matter your speed. (Sorry for hijacking the thread).

 
/dev/yj said:
Yeah, but compared to the rest of your Jeep, that looked showroom... :p

View attachment 209383
Click to expand...
lol who remembers the guy in the 2nd 4x4Cross at the stables in the Grand Cherokee (?) that had the airbags go off tight in the middle of his run?
 
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