Air Bag Light

[Expensedition]

I have a 2014 4WD Limited with low miles and zero accidents. The air bag light is on and there is no indication of a fault on OBDII software. The airbag light came on after I had the front end aligned. Is there a simple check at the forward sensor with a DMM? My best guess is a wire was pinched.

I also just changed the battery and perhaps the old battery was at the lower limit causing the fault (I was told low voltage would cause it).

When finished trouble shooting is there a way to reset the light since it does not reset with my OBDII?

Thank you,

 

[Expensedition]

This was my first post, and it got no replies.

I still don't have a fix for this but my best guess is some sort of current issue in the loop where the BCM senses current out of normal range.

I will never know since I have traded this truck in for new.

V/r

SM

 

[Gary Waugh]

I suspect no one knew how to answer.. not many people play with the airbag circuits.. hope the new truck gives many years of trouble free service.

 

[Expensedition]

Hi Gary,

I kind of suspected the same but I have found there are some pretty smart people in this forum. The new vehicles are going to be more about the electrical system and the operating system that manages everything that moves including steering. As much as I miss the simplicity of mechanical points in a distributor and needing only a dwell meter and strobe light to tune my engine, you can't stop advancing technology, and the best thing to do is constantly educate yourself and stay current.

So... I bought this 26 Tremor with two big displays, no gauges, very few dials or buttons. Like a rabbit running into the fire.

V/r

SM

 

[Gary Waugh]

I work in the micro electronic design industry and what worries me is that when we design automotive components, we only guarantee a 10 year lifetime, so whilst a new car with all the gadgets is great in 10 years time, all the micro electronics will start falling and ford or any other manufacturer will not be offering spare parts, so the cars will be in brilliant mechanical condition and completely unusable due to the dead electronics components. not all the electronic components are powered on all the time, but those that are will be the early failing parts and I hope some aftermarket option (to source old components) will become available so we don’t scrap mechanically good vehicles.

 

[Expensedition]

Hi Gary,

Nice to meet you by the way. A lot of my work is with military stuff and they seem to build almost everything with obsolete electronics since procurement to build times are long. My thoughts here are the key to longevity is using networks that remain forward compatible so we don't have to rely on legacy network controllers. As long as the data can be scooped off the system and we can insert new controllers at the connectors with a little help we should be good to go. The field devices would always be an expected repair item and should also be something that is forward compatible.

At some point we will be digging into the electrical drawings on these vehicles so tracing out the circuit will not be such a mystery. As it looks right now the center display seems to be an Android type operating system. I have no doubt that I will be inventing new swear words as the software gets bad updates.

Have a great day!

V/r
SM

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

I work in the micro electronic design industry and what worries me is that when we design automotive components, we only guarantee a 10 year lifetime, so whilst a new car with all the gadgets is great in 10 years time, all the micro electronics will start falling and ford or any other manufacturer will not be offering spare parts, so the cars will be in brilliant mechanical condition and completely unusable due to the dead electronics components. not all the electronic components are powered on all the time, but those that are will be the early failing parts and I hope some aftermarket option (to source old components) will become available so we don’t scrap mechanically good vehicles.

One other wild card on the subject of motor vehicles containing massive amounts of electronics potentially failing is that Ford and GM and Chrysler repeatedly build and sell new vehicles with defective software.

They are aware of the problems and issues, but continue to sell the vehicles, often issued dealer TSB’s identifying the problem and stating that engineering is working on a fix.

Sometimes software defects are corrected with dealer installed updates or over-the-air updates, but sometimes the updates are full of defects and create new problems.

I wish auto manufacturers would be held accountable for selling new vehicles with known software defects.

 

[Expensedition]

Hi 99,

I agree with you but I (we) can't fix that. Do your research, look at the actual vehicle, make your choice and then figure out how you can make it better.

Personally, I am not happy with anything unless it was made by a craftsman or I made it myself. My last Expedition, a 2014 limited, needed a lot of after sale care to make it last so long, worry free.

I am determined to get more detail on the software and how to make it more reliable.

We make the choice, since this is Still the USA, and I know that I made mine.

V/r

SM