Airbag Light, help needed!

[sammm99]

Hello, i have ford mach e 2023
After 6 months of ownership, airbag light showed on screen, it started coming on and off regularly (it only goes off when i turn off the car not while it's on), i tried to figure out the pattern of it showing up but there wasn't, sometimes it disappears for a month and sometimes it's there for a couple days, i scanned the car and the code was B1404:13-28 i searched about it and it was related to driver seat airbag, after some digging i found similar issue about the circuit being open, i checked the cables under the seat and they were all fine and i didn't see any damage, but the light still show up, i tried unplugging it and then plug it again it disappeared for a but then reapeared again, after that i scanned it with forscan, and thr airbag resistance was 4 and i unplugged it and replugged it again tightly, the resistance went back to 2 ( it should be 1.8-2.5 ) , it disappeared for a bit then after couple days it went up again, i went to a garage and they advised changing the airbag itself ( p.s there is no dealership in my country )
I have some question:
1- what caused it to show up after 6 months of ownership, i had no accidents, do they become faulty on their own?
2- can i replace the airbag itself without changing the whole seat? I don't want to mess up with the seat
3- if the airbag itself is broken then shouldn't the light be on all the time?
4- what can i check for other than under the seat? Are there other accessible locations where i can reach connection areas?

Any other recommendations?

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[Teslaeata]

Sammm99, this is not such a rare thing as you might expect.

If it’s related to anything on a seat, the airbag itself, seatbelt pre-tensioner or any other SRS components attached to seat, it’s likely cause is an issue with the electrical wiring or connections between the seat and car from your description of the symptoms.

That the light can be extinguished by turning car off and then on again is classically symptomatic of this sort of fault and its intermittence.

Each time you turn on the car it runs through its POST (power-on-self-test) when you’ll see all your warning lights illuminate on the dash panel following which they may flash in a sequence and go out or just go out if the systems to which they relate are tested normal.

If the seat wiring & connections are in a faulted state during POST or become so during drive cycles the SRS warning light will come on and stay on after POST or if they come on during drive cycle.

If in a faulted state during POST the SRS light will normally remain lit after POST.

The intermittent nature is consistent with a connection or wiring weakness as the circuit seemingly randomly becomes interrupted and reinstated.

I would have expected the light to remain on permanently if the airbag and/or pre-tensioner had become faulty.

However, this may not be helpful if the harness or its connection is defective though only intermittently if it/they form an integral part of the airbag or pre-tensioner because those components would need renewing if Ford were doing the work.

It should be possible to replace any of these components without replacing the seat and if a wiring or connection fault is often caused by ingress of moisture or repeated movement of wiring when, for instance, seats move back and forth or during cleaning or stowing things under seats.

However, that will prove relatively expensive if Ford do the work unless car is under warranty.

If out of warranty then a specialist independent auto-electrician should be capable of testing and locating of the fault and making good the wiring harness and/or connection if that’s the cause.

Hope this helps in at least some small way.

 

[sammm99]

Sammm99, this is not such a rare thing as you might expect.

If it’s related to anything on a seat, the airbag itself, seatbelt pre-tensioner or any other SRS components attached to seat, it’s likely cause is an issue with the electrical wiring or connections between the seat and car from your description of the symptoms.

That the light can be extinguished by turning car off and then on again is classically symptomatic of this sort of fault and its intermittence.

Each time you turn on the car it runs through its POST (power-on-self-test) when you’ll see all your warning lights illuminate on the dash panel following which they may flash in a sequence and go out or just go out if the systems to which they relate are tested normal.

If the seat wiring & connections are in a faulted state during POST or become so during drive cycles the SRS warning light will come on and stay on after POST or if they come on during drive cycle.

If in a faulted state during POST the SRS light will normally remain lit after POST.

The intermittent nature is consistent with a connection or wiring weakness as the circuit seemingly randomly becomes interrupted and reinstated.

I would have expected the light to remain on permanently if the airbag and/or pre-tensioner had become faulty.

However, this may not be helpful if the harness or its connection is defective though only intermittently if it/they form an integral part of the airbag or pre-tensioner because those components would need renewing if Ford were doing the work.

It should be possible to replace any of these components without replacing the seat and if a wiring or connection fault is often caused by ingress of moisture or repeated movement of wiring when, for instance, seats move back and forth or during cleaning or stowing things under seats.

However, that will prove relatively expensive if Ford do the work unless car is under warranty.

If out of warranty then a specialist independent auto-electrician should be capable of testing and locating of the fault and making good the wiring harness and/or connection if that’s the cause.

Hope this helps in at least some small way.

Sammm99, this is not such a rare thing as you might expect.

If it’s related to anything on a seat, the airbag itself, seatbelt pre-tensioner or any other SRS components attached to seat, it’s likely cause is an issue with the electrical wiring or connections between the seat and car from your description of the symptoms.

That the light can be extinguished by turning car off and then on again is classically symptomatic of this sort of fault and its intermittence.

Each time you turn on the car it runs through its POST (power-on-self-test) when you’ll see all your warning lights illuminate on the dash panel following which they may flash in a sequence and go out or just go out if the systems to which they relate are tested normal.

If the seat wiring & connections are in a faulted state during POST or become so during drive cycles the SRS warning light will come on and stay on after POST or if they come on during drive cycle.

If in a faulted state during POST the SRS light will normally remain lit after POST.

The intermittent nature is consistent with a connection or wiring weakness as the circuit seemingly randomly becomes interrupted and reinstated.

I would have expected the light to remain on permanently if the airbag and/or pre-tensioner had become faulty.

However, this may not be helpful if the harness or its connection is defective though only intermittently if it/they form an integral part of the airbag or pre-tensioner because those components would need renewing if Ford were doing the work.

It should be possible to replace any of these components without replacing the seat and if a wiring or connection fault is often caused by ingress of moisture or repeated movement of wiring when, for instance, seats move back and forth or during cleaning or stowing things under seats.

However, that will prove relatively expensive if Ford do the work unless car is under warranty.

If out of warranty then a specialist independent auto-electrician should be capable of testing and locating of the fault and making good the wiring harness and/or connection if that’s the cause.

Hope this helps in at least some small way.

Thanks for your reply,

Is there something i can do myself like opening the seat cover to check for damaged connection or to direct the mechanic to it?

Would it be because of pressing hard on seat side or back? Or just moving the seat forward or back?

 

[Teslaeata]

I think the first place check is under the seat and examine carefully & test resistance with a multi meter the connectors, between points on along the harness whilst moving joints & wiring about.

It is more likely the fault lies in that area than in the SRS components themselves hence the open circuit (continuity failure) fault code descriptions.

Take care not to apply current to wiring or else BANG SRS deployment may occur.

Take care, any doubt let a qualified electrician do it.

 

[Del1731]

I think the first place check is under the seat and examine carefully & test resistance with a multi meter the connectors, between points on along the harness whilst moving joints & wiring about.

It is more likely the fault lies in that area than in the SRS components themselves hence the open circuit (continuity failure) fault code descriptions.

Take care not to apply current to wiring or else BANG SRS deployment may occur.

Take care, any doubt let a qualified electrician do it.

I second that on take care. These things do go with a bang. being in fire service we are taught what they can do to you if they have not gone off when we turn up. I see an airbag at our traing centre go off and it was impressive.

 

[Teslaeata]

I second that on take care. These things do go with a bang. being in fire service we are taught what they can do to you if they have not gone off when we turn up. I see an airbag at our traing centre go off and it was impressive.

Have you seen the demo deploying an airbag under the rear of a car?

Lifts it off the ground!

Are you’re at the ITAI Traffic Accident Investigator Institute’s crash day this year next month?

You ought to go and have a look.

You’d get in as an interested party for free, I think.

I’m there for the week helping set up and on the day doing the low speed collisions with Stangy at trackside.

If you’re there come along and say hi.

 

[Del1731]

Have you seen the demo deploying an airbag under the rear of a car?

Lifts it off the ground!

Are you’re at the ITAI Traffic Accident Investigator Institute’s crash day this year next month?

You ought to go and have a look.

You’d get in as an interested party for free, I think.

I’m there for the week helping set up and on the day doing the low speed collisions with Stangy at trackside.

If you’re there come along and say hi.

when is it!! only we are doing a lot of training at moment for the world extrication championship. would love to go though.

 

[Teslaeata]

when is it!! only we are doing a lot of training at moment for the world extrication championship. would love to go though.

Thursday 18th June

 

[Del1731]

Thursday 18th June

ok thanks. will have a look in the magical watch planner see whats on.

 

[Teslaeata]

ok thanks. will have a look in the magical watch planner see whats on.

One of last year’s……

 

[sammm99]

Update

I've noticed a pattern when i press on the side of the seat where the label is, and if it shows then i press there again, then turn off and on the car it disappears, so the problem lies there, i tried to trace the wiring but couldn't reach where it plugs in the seat because of the seat cover which i don't know if it is removable, any idea if i can remove it as i am suspecting a broken or loose wire up there?

 

[sammm99]

I think the first place check is under the seat and examine carefully & test resistance with a multi meter the connectors, between points on along the harness whilst moving joints & wiring about.

It is more likely the fault lies in that area than in the SRS components themselves hence the open circuit (continuity failure) fault code descriptions.

Take care not to apply current to wiring or else BANG SRS deployment may occur.

Take care, any doubt let a qualified electrician do it.

Update

I've noticed a pattern when i press on the side of the seat where the label is, and if it shows then i press there again, then turn off and on the car it disappears, so the problem lies there, i tried to trace the wiring but couldn't reach where it plugs in the seat because of the seat cover which i don't know if it is removable, any idea if i can remove it as i am suspecting a broken or loose wire up there?

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