seems every time i turn the wheel that damn air bag lights turns on. and i wanted to know what controls that and if that air bag is gonna come and hit me in the face while im driving, that would really **** up my day lol!

 

Besides the obligatory "Be extremely careful while playing around the airbag system" I can offer my experience although on different makes of vehicles and that identicel light.

The airbag system is extremely sensitive to voltages. On several of the cars that I own it was because my battery voltage was low, from itting around to long or the alternater wasn't putting out enough amps. The car will seem fine until a load is put on the engine like moving the steering wheel and then recentering it allows the light to disappear.

It's a simple check at your local autostore and it's FREE! Know the actual number because some vehicle are supposed to have a slightly higher voltage than others. (i.e 13.8 and some are 14.2 while charging.)

Does it come on at night with lights and A/C on at the same time? Do the lights start slowly diming, although sometimes thats hard to notice.

Hope this helps.

V/R

 

make sure the connector is plugged in.

 

ya i think whenever i run with it just keeps lighting up. who knows.. maybe its because the battery is low. because it was dead maybe a month ago and i charged it up maybe its finished ill think of changing it when the truck doesnt start up. thanks mate

 

if the light comes on when you "turn the wheel" your clock spring could be starting to go to crap. do you have cruise control on the wheel? make sure that works all the time as well.

 

well when i start the cruise control theres a short so no it doesnt work.

 

the cruise and airbag and horn and such all run through the clock spring. i would start with that. try this as well, push your horn and turn the wheel and see if the horn cuts out.

 

It's almost always the clock spring. A standard code reader (OBD) like that found on a tuner won't read air bag codes, but the Star Scan at the dealership or other DRB3 type can tell you for sure.

The clockspring delivers current to the airbag, cruise control and horn. When it fails (and they do a lot) the wire breaks leaving one or all of the circuits open and inoperative. This will cause the airbag light to come on and shut down the airbag system. As long as that light is on, the airbags will NOT deploy, even in an accident. Even though I've seen stealerships try to scare people into paying them to fix it by telling them they could get smacked in the face while driving. Sometimes it’s intermittent as the wire begins to break. Once it breaks completely, the ‘airbag’ light will stay illuminated.

Clock springs are about $50 online and take about an hour to replace with standard hand tools.

If you choose to replace it yourself, this is straight from the tech manual:

1. make sure the wheels are pointing perfectly straight.
2.remove airbag module from wheel.
3.discount the steering wheel connector from the upper clockspring connector recepacle, which is located between the 2 upper spokes of the armature within the hub cavity of the steering wheel.
4.remove the nut that secures the steering wheel armature to the steering column upper shaft, which is located within the hub cavity of the wheel.
5.pull the steering wheel off of the steering column upper shaft spline using a 2 jawed puller ( special tool c-3894-a) . when installing the puller onto the steering wheel, be certain that each jaw of the puller is seated in the pocket that is cast into the underside of the steering wheel armature on each side of the hub, also if the clockspring is to be reused, be certain not to damage or deform the clockspring case when positioning the jaws of the puller below the steering wheel armature hub.
6.remove the screw that secures the lower tilting shroud to the steering column multifunction switch mounting housing.
7. unsnap the 2 halves of the tilting steering column shroud from each other and remove both halves from the column.
8. disconnect the 2 instrument panel wire harness connectors from the lower clockspring connector receptacles.
9.remove the 2 screws that secure the clockspring case to the multifunction switch mounting haousing.
10.remove the clockspring from the column by sliding the clockspring hub up and off the column upper shaft. the clockspring cannot be repaired. it must be replaced if faulty or damaged or if the driver side airbag has been deployed.

I need to do this myself, as my air bag light in my Grand Cherokee will come on every once in a while. It usually only happens once every couple of weeks and only stays lit for a minute or two, but I know it will only get worse over time...