ashvin

I was wiring some speakers and disconnected the passenger side airbag in my 00 maxima GLE. After I put everything back together just as they were I noticed the Airbag light is now blinking. I took it to the rip-off artists at Capitol Nissan in San Jose and these crooks quoted me $1564 to replace the "faulty passenger module" . This sounds rediculous to me! This problem happened only after I unplugged and reconnected the simple airbag wire under the glovebox so I know everything is fine and I didn't brake anything! Granted unfortunetly I didn't disconnect the battery I tried the ignition method and side door thing everybody recommends many times to reset and turn off the light. They don't work. Help me please. How do I turn the light off?

JFP in PA

You have correctly identified where you went wrong: Not disconnecting the battery, which can cause the module to short when disconnected, ending its useful life. If that is the case, you need a new one, and they ain't cheap. And the system will have to be reset. That said, I think you can do better on the price.............

Oh, and be happy you didn't trigger the airbag and get slammed by it while you were working on the car. These things are like loaded guns; you should never touch them with the battery connected, and never disconnect anything without waiting a few moments after disconnecting the battery. Even a static charge is enough to give you a really bad hair day. People have suffered broken bones, and worse, when they triggered an airbag while working on a car..........................

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

Can't remember

clayman88

iTrader: (1)

That sucks! If what JFP says is true (and it probably is), I would definitely gets some quotes elsewhere. I'm sure you could get that replaced for far cheaper.

ashvin

So after I flip out because of the price shock I pick up my car from the dealership, and guess what? THE LIGHT IS OFF! These bastards tried to charg me $1600 FOR SOMETHING THAT WAS OBVIOSLY NOT DEFECTIVE AT ALL! Why else would it just go off after they reset it? I hope they all drown in crap!

AcidJake75

iTrader: (7)

you didnt have to do anything at all? it just went away by itself? you didnt disconnect/reconnect the battery to see if it resets? Damn - 1600 - thats insane...*sigh* sux that dealerships do this cause now its just expected..

JFP in PA

Actually, they probably didn't reset it, it reset itself after a few "cycles" to make sure there wasn't a true fault. If they "cleared" it with a Consult II, they also would have seen that the fault wasn't still there and that there was nothing wrong with the car. It always pays to ask to see the printout of the Consult scan when a dealer hits you with something like this; the scan printout would show the orignal code, the fault and the status after the code was cleared.......cheap insurance that you're not getting screwed..........

Just to be on the safe side, howerver, check to make sure that the Airbag MIL bulb is still working (just turn the key to the "run" position and see if it lights up).................we have seen more than one car with the MIL code and no light due to a failed bulb.....................

ashvin

I asked to see the printout or the code and they said: NO! I was like WTF! I said wait a minute, I paid $130 for the diagnostic and you won't tell me the code or let me see it? They said it was a legal document and I could'nt look at it! They said all they could tell me was that the technician detected a "faulty airbag module". I asked what did he base his diagnosis on? I know for a fact it is not a defective airbag, the light only came on after I disconnected and reconnected the airbag. The a-hole "service manager" said it was because my car has 170,000 miles and is seven years old. F these a-holes!
The light comes on normally for 6 seconds and then stays off now!

JFP in PA

You need a new dealer. The diagnostic codes, and the printout, are not legal document unless you file suit against them, and then only after the court action has begun. Realistically, showing them to the client is the best confidence builder a dealer's service department could offer. The dealer where I bought my Nissans staples them to your service bill so you have them for your records as he can reprint them at any time.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

An SRS system will never clear itself after a fault is recorded.

The dealer saw the fault code being the passenger side airbag, cleared it and quoted the customer for a new bag.
Big plus for that Nissan dealer they did exactly what they should have done.

ashvin

nj
What are you talking about? There is nothing wrong with the airbag! The light would come back on if there was something wrong! I just disconnected and reconnected it. Why would that break it??????????? Its just one simple plug dude. explain why the light has not come back if the airbag is defective!

JFP in PA

I'm not sure you are correct on this...................... I've read about MIL's for airbags clearing after multiple run cycles, and I cannot find anything in FSM's from '97 on for Maximas indicating that once triggered, they lock. However, I have found FSM references that indicate for certain years (mostly pre '04) it is possible to clear the MIL without a Consult, providing there was no "real fault" in the first place, which would seem to contravene your position.................And my shop (which has a Consult II) has cleared airbag MIL's, which did not return................

JFP in PA

I think he is refering to the ECM "locking" the code and subsequent MIL, but I do not think he is correct on this...............

JFP in PA

Additonal data: starting with the '04 model year, Nissan (as well as other OEM's) started using more CAN bus technology in their cars. At the same time, they also began wider use of "protected code" technologies, which basically are areas of the ECM that cannot be accessed by non-Consult scanners. The OEM's limited this to "critical saftey systems" such as ABS, airbags and stability management, and claim that this was done to limit liability claims by preventing "third party tampering" with these systems. Independant shops (the above "third parties") filed a class action suit with the FTC charging constraint of trade because they could not purchase scanners that allowed access (Consult II & III units, made in the US by Vertronix, cannot be purchased now without Nissan approval, which only goes to dealers). But, in any case, there is no evidence that any MIL "locks", but only is limited in how you can access and clear it.

So I still feel that (1) It is still possible for the code to clear itself if there is no real fault, and (2) In the thread case, the dealer is screwing him...................

ashvin

Thanks for the great info JFP. I just drove my car for another hour and no Airbag light! I left Chris Anderson the A-Hole service monkey at Capitol Nissan in San Jose a nice piece of my mind on his phone. What if I had said go ahead with the repair? These biatches would have screwed me as I'm sure they screw people every single day! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

z32drifter

Did you tell them up front that you disconnected the airbag????? If you did they were wrong to try and sell you an airbag. If you did not tell them, they were right to advise you that you could need an airbag/module. If the tech inspected the car and found a "open circuit" in the system with out a reason he is going to think that there is an issue in the circuit. The air bag system is not something that people (customers) mess with most of the time, so he would not have had a reason to think you unplugged it.
If you came into my shop and told me that you unplugged the airbag and cycled the key and now the light is on, I would have charged you .5 hr and cleared the fault. If you came in and said my airbag light is on. I would have charged you 1.0hr for diag inspected and cleared the fault, and given you a est for the most likely cause. I also would have informed you that the fault did not return after we cleared it and my est was an educated guess based on common failure not a repeatable test procedure.

ashvin

I made it very clear from the begining. Explained exactly everything I did. I have no idea if that message got to the tech, but that's not my fault.

beakersloco

My 2 cents I took a 95 altima to a local shop and had the oil changed in 2001 ... wife got halfway back home and airbag light came on . I asked my dad about it he said that the shop had more then likely dropped the car lift hard and to take it to the dealer ship and have them run a diagnostic and that more then likey the code would go away after they read it. I took car dealership read code and said that airbag sensor module needed to be replaced $400 for the part and I forget how much labor was. I said no thank you paid for diagnostic got in car and airbag light was off. I never looked back.

My dad said that the shop had more then likely dropped car off lift hard enough to jar the sensor and unless it comes back on not to worry about is. Well the light did not come back on and we kept the car another 2 years before we traded it.

If airbag light is not on then more then likely they cleared it then or once they read the code it was removed. You have to watch the dealership as they will try to get you.

I also used to have a 1988 stanza that had 78,000 miles on it when I got it and somehow I did not see the service light on the dash before I bought it . When I inquired about it at the same local dealership I was told it was for a 30,000 mile major tunup and it was recommended to disconnect it at 60,000 miles and that it would be a half day job to disconnect it as they have to take the part of the dash out at a cost of $90. About a year later I was installing a stereo in a 1987 with more miles and found the wire that would have taken them 5 mins to disconnect. So use your own judgement when decideing if you get it replaced or not but like many other here I believe that more then likely you created a fault and now that it has been read out of you system it should be fine.


Also keep in mind that they might not even change out the part as I had a dealership that I had just bought my car at 6 or so months prior offer to pay for half my warped rotors work (front and rear needed to be done) and now I realize that the it was a warrenty issue so I should not have paid a thing when I was thinking the dealership was doing me a favor .

wyche89

This thread is very helpful to me, because i have a 2001 maxima with 92,000 miles and my airbag light has been blinking for a couple of months now. I didn't tamper with anything in the car in any way. I just started it up one day and it randomly started blinking and never went away since. I should be taking it to the dealer to have it checked out on tuesday, and I'm scared of getting screwed because I read another thread like this one a little bit ago when a dealer tried to screw someone for a new airbag that they didn't need. Being that I didn't tamper with the steering wheel or airbag system in any way, is it even possible that I could need a new airbag? Also if I take it to them and have them scan it, could I just ask them to clear the fault, and pray that the light doesnt return after the system is scanned? I defintely will ask for a consult II printout now too