Hello ! been awhile since I've been on the air... I'm Gannan ! Happy with my '06 3.7L 6-spd 2wd Dakota truck, with one exception...

Last time I was asking about balljoints, and got that issue resolved ok,
Back to the second issue, that infernal airbag light.

I understand from last trip, it is a common problem, so I shall go looking through the forums for the proper section for possible answers from other Dakota fans

Mopar or No Car !!!

 

Welcome Back
I'll move your post to the 3rd Gen Dakota section.

 

Gannan,

Many possibilities. Can you post up the code to try and help narrow it down?

 

I don't think retrieving air bag codes is that easy??? At any rate, if your airbag light is on, the first thing I would suspect is a fuse or the clockspring. Personally, I would take it to a shop. Messing around with air bags is dangerous stuff if you don't know what your doing.

 

jkeaton : I am totally inclined to agree with your warning not to mess with airbag circuits... an accidental discharge would pizz me off to no end.

You mentioned a clockspring... Some things to these computer systems still puzzle me, tho interpretation of codes is relatively easy... what is that ?
I haven't tried for a code, so I guess that is the next step, to see if one shows... I have a 2-yo Actron ? reader... best dang $ 85 I ever spent !!

That should be a " Hard code " since it triggered the idjit light yes / no ??

 

Always thought the air bags were independent of the obd 2 system. Scan it and see what ya got though.

 

Thanx jaded for the headsup about obd II and airbags... You're likely right. I shall keep the board posted on results.

 

I'm not 100% sure if this will work, but if you're scanner doesn't work, try doing the key dance, meaning:

Turn the key to the on position, back to accessory, back to on, back to accessory, and back to on. Do this fairly quickly, it should only take a few seconds to do this, but make sure you actually get to the positions you're trying to get to. Be sure not to turn the key all the way to the starting position, just to "On".

If this works, the odometer area will kick out the codes for you in the P0xxx designation and then you can look them up. I went out and verified this on my '07, and the sequence does work. I don't have any codes so mine gave me a "---DONE---" after it went through the check. Like I said, I'm not sure if this will work for airbag codes or not, but give it a shot.

 

I think the air bag system, along with ABS is totally separate from the on board diagnostic system which only monitors the powertrain control module (PCM). May be wrong, but Ia was never able to get any other codes besides the "P" codes using my superchips or my other code scanner.

 

Yeah you might be right, that's why I wasn't sure if it'll work, but it's worth a try.