Need some advice

[4-Paws]

Hello,

  First off, I'll say that my cruise works fine and has made smartie so much more fun to drive. About 2,000 after installation, my airbag light came on and has been on ever since. My question is this, does your cruise hook into this circuit and possibly be related somehow? What I'm trying to do is to be armed with the facts, one way or another, before I take it to the dealer to be looked at. My dealer is a pain in the a-- and I can just imagine them telling me how that "hang on cruise control" could cause my problem, along with the sub-prime banking mess and global warming. I just need a little coaching before I go see them.

Thanks in advance for your reply and for offering this fine accessory,

"4-Paws", a.k.a. Bruce
from Hanlontown, IA

[admin]

Hi Bruce.

Connected properly and assuming there's no "ghost" factors such as corrosion/moisture, then it is next to impossible for the cruise install to be causing any problem with the airbag. They simply operate on distinct circuits.  The only commonality is the ground, which is common in one way or another with all circuits.  An improper ground can be a real pain to diagnose.

So it is VERY unlikely your cruise is causing any problems.

HOWEVER!!!  It is my strong advice that you remove the cruise control completely from your car prior to booking any warranty work related to ANY electrical system.  This eliminates any reason they may have to falsely blame the problem on the 3rd party product, and it also proves you you (and them) that it wasn't the cause.  Forget the possiblity of them being crooks... if they genuinely need to eliminate the cruise control variable from the equation to properly diagnose the problem then they can and probably will charge you for that extra labor.  It is always a good idea to return your car to stock before bringing it in for warranty work when there is the possibilty of it adding confusion to the situation.

I hope that helps.

[fredvon4]

I know that this note will be 10 days after the fact and most likely too late for Bruce

There is one way that installing the CC can cause the Air Bag light: If you removed the Passenger seat, as some of us did, there are two common failure modes that can trigger the air bag warning and set a code

Failure #1 is removing the seat WITHOUT disconnecting the battery first (when you remove the seat you must interrupt(disconnect) three circuits in the air bag safety subsystem; 1, seat weight sensor..2, seat belt connect sensor..3, side air bag trigger circuit)

Failure #2 is likely if you are sure you disconnected the battery first before removing the seat. Those electrical connectors are a royal pain to disconnect and reconnect and if one or more got partially reconnected it is likely to fall loose from vibration, setting a code and turning on the air bag light

I got lucky when my air bag light came on. I traced it to a loose connector under the drivers seat (I removed the seat for sub woofer, not CC install reasons). On a dare I disconnected the battery over night, reconnected next morning, and did a slow boot* before starting the car. The Air-Bag light cleared itself (I am sure a code is set)

*slow Boot = turning key to run and waiting for all systems to self test before starting

Always remove battery power (ground (-) lead before doing any electrical work on these modern computer controlled cars!

Always be sure to firmly connect every connector, listen for a snap or click, and then test by gently trying to pull the connector back appart

Always be sure to reattach the battery ground lead solidly and double check every electrical connection you even came close to disturbing

[admin]

Good call Fred!