I have a friend with a 99 Maxima (he is not yet a .orger). He was mentioning yesterday that he has a blinking air bag light. The air bags have never been deployed. He said that stealer told him he needs a new air bag.

Has anyone had this problem before? How did you resolve it? It doesn't seem reasonable that he needs a new air bag.

 

if I remember right there is an onboard diagnostic tool for the airbag.

And yes, they can go bad even if they have never been deployed. I'm not sure if 99 airbags are the same as 95, but if they are I have a black set, with controller, for sale for $400

 

bump .....to the top

 

There have been several posts about a possible loose connection/harness under the driver's side seat. Did you friend adjust the drivers side eat recently (prior to the SRS light blinking) ? There is a SRS light reset procedure in the stickies - he could try that and see if the SRS error is detected again (and light blinks)... if the light stays of then he's good to

 

Thanks, njmodi. I didn't see that in the stickies. I typed it up and e-mailed it. The notion that he needs a new air bag seems absurd to me.

 

well sometimes the clock spring int he steering can go bad... i think thats whats wrong with mine

 

Update - I e-mailed my friend the SRS sticky for resetting his air bag light which has been blinking for almost a year. Apparently it was triggered by going over a rough railway crossing.

The procedure outlined in the sticky worked for him and the dastardly light has now gone out - no more blinking.

He took his 99 Maxima to a stealership some time back and they were going to charge him Cdn$900 for a new airbag which they assured him was what he needed. Needless to say he didn't rise to the bait and is now one happy camper.

Thanks njmodi, you da man! I will toast you when my friend buys me a few wobbly pops, lol!

 

Wobbly pops eh?

 

That's what we do when there is no hockey on TV! Wait, its also what we do when there is hockey on TV, lol!

 

mine has been blinking for 1.5 years already..lol...it wouldnt go away..doing that reset thing with the door thing doesnt work anymore...and yea..dealer wants 900bux for the airbag...what i did is that i used electrical tape and taped the damn blinkin bulb...lol..now i can pass inspection this month!

 

I assume you understand that you don't have working airbags right now... i.e. none of the bags will deploy in case of an accident.

 

i believe just the driver side....the others still work..not the steering wheel part =/

 

If I understand correctly, the blinking SRS light completely disables the SRS system, i.e. none of the airbags will work... someone please correct me if I'm providing bad information.

 

test dummy anyone?

 

There are a couple of important things to understand. First, the reset procedure is temporary--the flashing will come back. I say that with five 9's certainty.

Secondly, it is the side air bags that go bad. They are covered 60k unlimited months, but most people are beyond 60k when the harness goes bad. My right side was replaced under warranty, and now my left is bad. I've been doing the reset thing for nearly two years now, and it's hardly worth more than $500 on a car whose wholesale is less than 5k. The computer has two modes, warning and diag. And you're correct, the system is disabled when the flashing is steady. In the other mode, the lamp is indicating the fault code.