Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Why does my Airbag light flash sometimes??????

My Airbag light has been flashing randomly for about 6 months, and the computer won't pull any codes that anything is wrong! What is going on? Does the contour flash lights on the dash if they are about to burn out?

I don't believe the airbags codes are stored in your computer. It flashes in code kinda like a OBD-1 CEL. It seems two of the most common problems with Contours is 1. your crash sensor may be acting up or become disconnected, or a weak battery.

Here's a list of airbag codes I found in a search....

12=Low Battery Voltage
13=Air Bag Circuit Shorted to Ground
14=Primary Crash Sensor Circuit Shorted to Ground
21=Safing Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
22=Safing Sensor Output Shorted to Battery Voltage
23=Safing Sensor Circuit Input Feed/Return Circuit Open
24=Safing Sensor Output Feed/Return Circuit Open
32=Driver Side Air Bag Circuit High Resistance or Open
33=Passenger Side Air Bag Circuit High Resistance or Open
34=Driver Side Air Bag Circuit Low Resistance or Shorted
35=Passenger Side Air Bag Circuit Low Resistance or Shorted
41=RH Primary Crash Sensor Feed/Return Circuit Open
42=LH Primary Crash Sensor Feed/Return Circuit Open
44=RH Primary Crash Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
45=LH Primary Crash Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
51=Air Bag Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal FuseFuse Blown Due to Intermittent Short to Ground
52=Backup Power SupplyVoltage Boost Fault
53=Primary Crash Sensor Circuits Resistance to Ground or Air Bag Diagnostic Fault

Well I know the battery is good, and I am not finding any loose wires. So the computer would bring up one of those codes? Cause nothing is coming up. It is kinda annoying on days when it is on, but then other days it doesn't do it.
Wierd stuff

As they said, the most common two are the "crash sensor not mounted correctly" and the weak battery..


if you are sure it isn't your battery, then do this..

Next time it is flashing, watch it..

it will flash a series of times..(At about half second intervals)..
PAUSE
flash another series of times (again, at half second intervals...)

now.. if it flashed 1 time, then pauses briefly, then flashes 4 times... then pauses for about 5 seconds.. (then starts over) that would be a 1-4 code. Either way, it will flash the first number of times, then pause briefly, then the second number of times, then pause for 5 seconds or so, then start over.

Ray

It does this:
it will flash a series of times..(At about half second intervals)..
PAUSE
flash another series of times (again, at half second intervals...)

Does that mean the crash sensor is not mounted correctly? Could it have shift in hard cornering? Because it didn't do this for the last 48,000 miles.
thanks guys

How many times does it flash before the pause, then how many times does it flash after the pause.

If your series is 4 pause 5, or 4 pause 4, then yes.. this is something to do with the crash sensor..

Could be a loose wire, bad sensor, or (as it infers) a poorly mounted sensor..


To be honest, mine does this, too.. but, seemingly, only in the colder times of the year... no clue why.. had mine inspected, nothing apparently wrong with it..



Ray

I never gave it a thought that the light was actually trying to tell me something...what happened was this:

Two Mondays in a row I went out to start the car to go to work. In each case we'd used the Cherokee all weekend and the Mystique had just sat in the driveway. As I turned the key to turn the engine over, the speedometer needle rose to about 40 mph, went back to 0, and the air bag light started flashing. I didn't think to count the flashes. Since then the car has been used daily, and the problem has not been repeated.

Ooh, you think perhaps the battery is beginning to get a little weak? It IS the original battery (98,500 miles on a '96!)

Yeah, that's a battery problem. Did your windshield wipers go on too?

Definately time for a new battery, especially with the colder weather around the corner. I actually found a good battery for cheap at Walmart, if you're looking.