The Never Ending Airbag Connector Problem

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regiment1

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Guys

Does anyone have a diagram of how the driver side airbag is connected? Does the harness connector go right into the airbag, or is there a piece that sits in between: i.e. the connector connects to something, which in turn the airbag is connected to.

For reference: I have had the 3-6 airbag code flashing to some extent for the last three years. So far, I've done the following, and each step has reduced the recurrence of the problem.

1 - Dealership replaced underseat connector. Problem went away for about 4 months
2 - Dealership retraced all wiring in the seat airbag harness. Problem went away for about 6 months
3 - Dealership replaced driver side airbag. Problem went away for about 5 months
4 - Replaced driver's underseat connector myself by hardwiring. Problem went away for about 4 months. Once this was done, I could get the light to go off by whacking the seat with my elbow and re-starting the car.
5 - Replaced the seat airbag connector. Problem went away for about 2 months. The light has started flashing right after I lean back in the seat. I can get it to go away by whacking the seat with my left elbow right at the level of the airbag. It stays off up to 5 or 6 weeks.

The problem is in the connection to the airbag. I'm just trying to find out how that connection works and why mine is a little loose.
 
LS4me said:
My money is on the clockspring.




Or coils....... ;)
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Except that whacking the seat shouldn't alter either of those. It could be the connector on the seat airbag, or the seat airbag itself.
 
joegr said:
Except that whacking the seat shouldn't alter either of those. It could be the connector on the seat airbag, or the seat airbag itself.
Click to expand...

Dang. I read too fast and missed that part.....
 
joegr said:
Except that whacking the seat shouldn't alter either of those. It could be the connector on the seat airbag, or the seat airbag itself.
Click to expand...


So, the airbag was replaced, and the airbag connector was replaced. That's why I'm wondering if there is something the airbag connects to on one side, that the seat harness connects to on the other: A "middle-man" connector if you will.
 
Elemino said:
The seats have airbags?
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There's an airbag at the bottom of each front seat, for side impacts. This is a standard feature (all have them). Optionally, you could also get side curtain airbags that deploy from the headliner. In that case, the seats still have airbags, but they have smaller ones than those without the curtain airbags.

This, and many more things, is indicated in the owner's manual.
 
joegr said:
There's an airbag at the bottom of each front seat, for side impacts. This is a standard feature (all have them). Optionally, you could also get side curtain airbags that deploy from the headliner. In that case, the seats still have airbags, but they have smaller ones than those without the curtain airbags.

This, and many more things, is indicated in the owner's manual.
Click to expand...
I knew my car has the side curtains, I didn't know about the seats. This isn't exactly the kind of info I go looking for. As long as they aren't blown, I'm fine. lol
 
regiment1 said:
I know this manual is for an '06, but I wonder if this particular area is common back to my old '00.

http://deneau.info/ls/s6x~us~en~file=s6x1kb16.htm~gen~ref.htm

Item 11 - Side Airbag Connector - Can anyone tell if this is just the connector from the wiring harness, or is it a separate piece? This picture makes it look like a separate piece.
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It's not a separate piece (on gen II anyway). I would think that under #2 of your original post this would have been replaced.
One possibility (but probably not the only one) is that since they didn't replace everything at the same time, the defective part may have damaged one of the connectors they replaced. They later replaced the defective part (airbag or connector) but the previous newly replaced part was already damaged. Just a thought...
 
joegr said:
It's not a separate piece (on gen II anyway). I would think that under #2 of your original post this would have been replaced.
One possibility (but probably not the only one) is that since they didn't replace everything at the same time, the defective part may have damaged one of the connectors they replaced. They later replaced the defective part (airbag or connector) but the previous newly replaced part was already damaged. Just a thought...
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You make a good point.

If the original connector damaged the airbag, and they didn't replace the connector when they did the re-tracing, the connector may well have damaged the replacement airbag. So, even though I've since replaced the connector, the new airbag itself is damaged.

I was really hoping to not have to remove and potentially replace the airbag, but I'm about there.
 
Hey man, I may be helpful again. ;)
I pulled a complete seat from the junkyard for some other projects, and because I keep breaking the lumbar system.

One clarification: the seat airbag is in the seat back in about the middle, on the outside edge. It's not in the seat bottom. At least on Gen I.

The harness in the seat connects directly to the airbag. Inside the seat, there are a couple of harnesses with disconnects. The seat back has a pretty notable harness that connects the lumbar, airbag, and recline, and has a disconnect where it goes to the seat bottom. IIRC, it's all one harness. Might be separate for the airbag. Of course the wiring in the seat bottom has a ton of stuff going on for all the motors and seat control.

Might be time to pull the seat and rewire the sucker. As long as the motors work, pulling the seat is really easy, and it comes apart really quick once you get the magic handshake for the back cover.

I can poke at my spare seat a bit and maybe pull some wires for you as well.
 
oddball said:
Hey man, I may be helpful again. ;)
Might be time to pull the seat and rewire the sucker. As long as the motors work, pulling the seat is really easy, and it comes apart really quick once you get the magic handshake for the back cover.
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I hear ya oddball. And thanks again for pulling that connector for me.

oddball said:
connects the lumbar, airbag, and recline, and has a disconnect where it goes to the seat bottom. IIRC, it's all one harness.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that harness connects into another harness, or that it goes all the way to the underseat connector? If it connects into another harness at the bottom of the seat, replacing that may be something I can do without major brain damage.

I think I have to pull the airbag and inspect it to see if it has a bad connection point, or maybe replace it with a used ebay part ($64 shipped). I'd hate to rewire that darned seat if the airbag is where the problem is. But I also hate anything to do with touching the airbag...
 
regiment1 said:
Are you saying that harness connects into another harness, or that it goes all the way to the underseat connector? If it connects into another harness at the bottom of the seat, replacing that may be something I can do without major brain damage.
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There's an intermediate harness. I'll re-verify tonight.

regiment1 said:
I think I have to pull the airbag and inspect it to see if it has a bad connection point, or maybe replace it with a used ebay part ($64 shipped). I'd hate to rewire that darned seat if the airbag is where the problem is. But I also hate anything to do with touching the airbag...
Click to expand...

I've got the one in my parts seat. If you want all the wiring, I can make it a package deal! :D
 
Take a look:

20120801_201246.png


The airbag wiring is two wires that has its own connectors under the seat, between the seat back and seat bottom, and to the airbag itself. The wires are taped into the larger harness.
 
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