I took my 2002 Dakota to my mechanic because the AC would not switch from lower vents to upper. After they were done the airbag light came on. They looked at it, juggled the passenger air bag switch with the key and it went off. A few hours later it came back on and now won't go off. They tested it with the code reader and it says the switch is bad. Seems an incredible coincidence, however I noticed that this key switch is only 4 wires going to it. Would anyone know how to jump the connector to simulate the switch to see if the light goes out before I order a switch? Seems it would be pretty simple if I knew what the pinout of the switch does and the function, then just put in jumpers to simulate what the passive switch does. Thanks in advance.

 

I had something like this happen to me when i change the radio in my truck, the light bulb broke on the air bag switch, I took the switch apart to look inside and found out the bulb was no good, i guess from unplugging it moving it around broke the element in the bulb, got a replacement and the light went off.

 

I dont' know about the inside of the dash - but I had the dealer fix this same thing for me & they messed up the air bag just the same.

What happened with me is when the dash & column were dropped the wire harness for the airbag is too short & the airbag wire pulles out of the plug & up inside the conduit (so I was told). It took my dealer all day to figure out what they screwed up.

 

Hmmm...I don't remember if there was a light on the switch before but there isn't one now. So maybe that is what it is. The mechanic's code said the problem was with the switch and not the airbag so I will look for a light bulb, especially since wiggling the key in the switch made it go off once, but then came on again later...bulb could be loose. Thanks guys. Still if anyone knows how to jump those 4 pins to simulate the switch would help alot diagnosing for sure.

 

Thanks Lamchop, that was it. I took it apart and there was a little soldered in bulb that read as open. I got a 12V bulb from Radio Shack 25mA with leads and soldered it in and Voila, the light stayed off! $1.99 fix instead of $50 module or hunting through junk yards. Thank you.

 

Radio Shack Part # 272-1141 for the bulb. Just wanted to add this because this 3 year old post is the only helpful thing that came up through searching. Soldered it in place and my airbag light went off. Just bought the truck a few months ago and this definitely saved me some money. Hopefully this will help somebody again in the future.