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Red Air Bag Light

102K views 54 replies 34 participants last post by  nycnftm 
#1 ·
Red air bag light comes on intermittingly. Any suggestions on fix would be appriciated.
 
#2 ·
at first , when I release the seatbelt, the seatbelt warning light does not turn on but the airbag light turn on . I thought something wrong with the seatbelt lock ,so I spray WD 40 into the seatbelt lock of the driver side 2 times. do not spray too much . The light went off.

I mean the airbag light went off and the seatbelt warning light is fine now
 
#5 ·
I had the same problem. I took my car to Honda and they diagnosed it one afternoon. They replaced my driver's seat belt buckle and my passenger OPDS sensor. Both are covered under a warranty.
 
#6 ·
I am having the same problem with my 2004 Accord. I see yours is a 2003. Is this still a warranty item?

Thanks!!
 
#8 ·
Like Hillstones is saying, you should treat it as more of a safety issue than a warranty issue. First things first, you're going to have to take your car to Honda and get your airbag codes scanned. When the scan results come back, if they are related to a warranty, you won't be charged for the labor for the scan, otherwise be prepared to fork out no more than $100 for getting your codes checked. If the codes are related to the seatbelt buckle, the dealership might try to argue that the airbag system is electrical and not covered in the seat belt warranty. They might try to convince you that the warranty only covers mechanical failure of the buckle and belt itself. If they do that, call BS and call American Honda at (800) 999-1009 to make a claim. You should get that buckle fixed for free. As far as the passenger OPDS sensor goes, there's an extended warranty for that. It's 10 years or 150,000 miles--whichever comes first. Either way, as long as your SRS light on your dashboard is lit, you're pretty much screwed when it comes to an accident because all 6 airbags and (I think) the explosives in your seat belt retractor are disabled. I wouldn't put this issue off til next week. Get it fixed asap.

I took my car to Honda and they scanned the codes. The codes came back as seat belt buckle and passenger OPDS. I filled out some paperwork and they got the replacement parts ordered and in by the next day. I took my car back to Honda the next day and waited about 2 hours in the waiting room for the mechanics to replace the defective parts. I haven't had any SRS problems since then.
 
#12 ·
If the codes are related to the seatbelt buckle, the dealership might try to argue that the airbag system is electrical and not covered in the seat belt warranty. They might try to convince you that the warranty only covers mechanical failure of the buckle and belt itself.
If the seat belt buckle sensor fails, it triggers the airbag light because it is part of the airbag sensor system. No dealer would ever make that claim and refuse to replace the buckle, or make the customer pay. If something else is causing the airbag light to come on, then that is a different scenario. Honda covers the seat belt system regardless of the standard factory warranty.
 
#13 ·
Lol. I've heard of some dealerships making a claim that the warranty covers mechanical or physical defects of the seat belt system, not the electrical defects. You know how sleazy some dealerships can be. Luckily my dealership was nice enough to scan the codes for free and replace the buckle and OPDS sensor the next day for free. I should've tipped them, but I was broke at the time. Good thing this is a common issue because they've probably heard enough BS about it to just do this for free.
 
#16 ·
That doesn't mean the Service Manager would not say it's not covered, just to see if you will agree to pay without a fuss. Then, if you complain or say don't do the repair, suddenly he will see what he can do for you. Believe me, many owners don't know this stuff is covered past the bumper to bumper warranty, and will believe whatever the dealership tells them.
 
#17 ·
And that's why I'm a registered member of driveaccord.net! I'm here to find the tricks and trades and secrets that the dealership uses to get more money out of you when they can. Also I've learned a lot about my Accord through this site! Thanks everyone!
 
#20 ·
Paid a visit to the Honda dealership yesterday. They diagnosed a bad seat belt buckle and ordered one for me. Since my car is @ 111K, I had them take a listen to the valves. They informed me that valves are ticking slightly and the car is running a bit rich, so I'll have the valves done when the seat belt part arrives. Does $150 sound reasonable for valve adjust? Hopefully that will gain me a bit better gas mileage instead of dumping it out the tailpipe. I avgd roughly 25.5mpg on my last tank running 50/50 city and highway.
 
#21 ·
I had the air bag light come on intermittently (maybe once every 1.5 weeks). It would stay on for a while (several minutes), then go off. Just took it to the Honda dealer this morning. As several people have mentioned, it turned out to be the driver's side seat belt buckle (i.e. the part that the seat belt clips into). They replaced it free of charge (i.e. under warranty). This was on a 2004 Honda Accord LX.

I got there right when they opened and was out in an hour.
 
#22 ·
Glad I saw this thread, I have been having similar problems with my light coming on. Guess I need to see my dealer.
 
#23 ·
Hmm, interesting thread.
I got my honda, drove it fine for like 3 months, after that I got an airbag light, it used to come on all the time during hot weather, when it got colder now it might come on or not, but usually 15 minutes into driving it comes on.
I do know my accord was in an accident, was hit on the passenger door and the side airbag deployed, but the dealer replaced the whole seat from another accord and put in a new computer after that, so maybe it is just the seatbelt problem?
It does compromise safety A LOT, cause if ur airbag lights are on, that means u got no airbags deploying when you get in an accident...
 
#24 ·
Glad I saw this topic. Finally got the Accord to the dealer. Replaced the seat belt all covered under warranty...
 
#25 ·
very interesting.

i am glad i found this thread. i just picked up a 2004 ex v6 a few days ago, and i have noticed the airbag/seatbelt light come on a couple times. i think its if i don't put the belt on before i start the car (like someone else meantioned).... so i think i will be contacting both of my local honda dealers to see if they can take care of this seatbelt issue. and hopefully that solves it. .... if they don't play nice i will be calling honda.

thanks alot for all of your help guys. :)
 
#29 ·
Was just the seat belt sensor in the buckle itself so the buckle was replaced.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the opds sensor just read the position of the seat itself for the srs system. I'm not sure if that would be covered under the lifetime free replacement because it pertains to the seat not the seatbelt..
 
#31 ·
In the past when I knew it should be covered under their warranty, they would not even look at the car unless I agreed to the fee (in case it was NOT covered).
Understandably, if it was not covered and I walked away, they lose on the time and lbor they put into diagnosing the problem without me paying.
 
#32 ·
I've also been having the same issue with mine. One of these days I'll take it to the dealer and see what they say. Going to keep my fingers crossed that they dont want to charge for diagnosing

Anything I can print out to bring that maybe would help convince them?
 
#33 ·
Took my car to the dealer today and they verified that the seatbelt buckle is defective, and ordered one. However, they also told me I had a secondary code for no signal from the left side Impact Sensor. I already knew this because I had scanned the car at my work. But the service guy was convinced, because of this other code, that the airbag light will not go off after the buckle is replaced. Anyone know for sure? Are these two codes related and will the impact code go away once the buckle is replaced? I'll have to bring it back again for the buckle replacement later this week or next week.
 
#36 ·
Thanks for all the info, especially Antarctica - I have this issue in my 03 accord coupe. Took it to the dealership for the code scan - sure enough the driver seatbelt buckle was malfunctioned. No charge for anything (though they did try to talk me into getting a bunch of unrelated service done while I was there, of course), since it's warrantied. NICE!

Forgot to add, here's the service bulletin regarding the OPDS sensor & this issue:
http://www.skidmore.edu/~pdwyer/e/files/campaign_and_recall_bulletins/A06-009.pdf
 
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