Ford-Escape -
airbag light
linda snyder (75.82.178.98) - Mon Jun 9 16:07:33 2008
What can it mean when the airbag light came on in my 2004 Ford Escape?I'm worried sick as I have only 10 miles left on my original 75, 000 mile warranty. And if the light decides to come on after the diagonistic work is done when I'm going home after being told nothing is wrong!!!! Pressured by being out of work and the dealership service department is not necessarily truthful with me.
Reply #1 Thiago (141.117.173.129) - Mon Jul 14 12:52:32 2008
I have a 2004 Escape XLS. Last weekend I went for a trip to Montreal, and wala, I joined the airbag light club! lol! Many people if not every Escape owner have the same problem. It was flashing the error 47 (not sure what that means!). I did have my girlfriend in the passenger side adjusting the seat. After I read everything in many forums, that got me thinking... I looked under the passenger seat and saw the airbag switch. I moved the switch and wires around. I started the car, and the light hasn't come on again!!!! Before I tried this, I called a FORD dealer and they wanted to charge me CAD$106 just to check the fault light, not even to fix it. If you get error 46 or 47, don't go to get it check in the dealer before you try moving the wires under the seats. FORD dealers are ripoffs sometimes, they just want your money for nothing. The wires under the seat are for the airbag sensor, so the car knows when someone is seated there. The problem is that those wires are too short, so if you move the seat too much to the front or back, they may may get disconnect.
Reply #2 John Morris (24.117.107.38) - Mon Jul 14 18:30:21 2008
All modern ford vehicles have a similar with their air bag, horn and speed control wires when they go thru the steering column to a steering wheel connection.There are connection wires that work thru a clock spring arrangement, the wires are a ribbon cable and wound up like a wind up clock. This cable winds and un-winds with your steering and over time will break internally or act odd at times with a connection that is no longer positive. My experience has been to change the clock spring mechanism, old to new, to solve the problem. Don't do like I did and buy a ford car/truck with a disconnected air bag and have an accident. My bag didn't work and I broke my left arm in 2 places, both bones, and was in a cast for 3 months. I still wear a Cervical Halo to keep my neck from moving around. Have your air bag fixed as soon as it goes out. It will probably be just the wiring on the clock spring.
Reply #3 steve (76.213.157.98) - Sat Apr 25 10:23:48 2009
I have the same problem with light staying on. I to have move the wires under the seat and it stayed off for a few months. Then came on again.
Reply #4 pumpkinescobar (72.207.32.231) - Thu Apr 30 23:55:28 2009
I had the 2002 Escape XLS and I had the exact same problem with the airbag light going on. And it is true, all you need to do is fiddle with the plug underneath the driver seat. Unplug it, and clean out the metal prongs and reconnect. The light should go off. My light did come back on after about 6 months or so, but all I did was disconnect the plug again and clean it once again. This time I actual bent the prongs just a tad bit for better contact. The light never came back on after that.
Reply #5 scott (198.103.184.76) - Fri May 29 09:31:48 2009
I have a 05 explorer sportrac with this problem.the first flashing airbag code indicator was 34. Then I disconnected the cable under the drivers seat as described in previous post above and the light went out for a brief while. then it returned with a new code sequence of # 42. I'm not sure what this code # means ..can anyone tell me? where can I find out this information. I'm trying to determine if it's a sensor that's accessible and that I can replace myself.
Reply #6 DaLee Esposito (65.8.31.71) - Mon Jul 6 12:41:13 2009
My airbag light is on as well, i just got back from my car repair shop and they are telling me $533.00 plus tax to fix. I think I will try to clean it myself Thanxs for the tips.. I hate people who try to rip us off, esp. now days........Hukuna Matah...means no worries...
Reply #7 Bob Wallace (170.35.208.20) - Wed Jul 15 15:24:14 2009
I joined the club about a week ago. I'm getting a series of four flashes seven times in a row, then the light stays on. I can sometimes get though a drive cycle without it coming on, usually not. Does anybody know how to interpret the flashes without going to the dealer?
Reply #8 Oleg M (Lego) (68.224.32.178) - Tue Sep 15 00:00:36 2009
I got same problem on my 2002 Ford Escape XLS- four flashes + seven = after stays on.....it started when I just got it 2 years ago....I noticed it start usually in hot summer (who knows)....and some time goes off when I give my wife to drive....
Reply #9 Greg (75.52.171.168) - Sun Sep 20 21:04:56 2009
I found this list of airbag warning light codes.A flashing airbag light can mean one of two things. The first possibility is that your battery is in death throes. Have it tested at your local auto parts store. The second possibility is that there is an actual problem with the airbag system. Below is a list of airbag codes, which will flash on the warning light. For example, the light will flash once, pause and then flash twice == 12. 12=Low Battery Voltage 13=Air Bag Circuit Shorted to Ground 14=Primary Crash Sensor Circuit Shorted to Ground 21=Safing Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly 22=Safing Sensor Output Shorted to Battery Voltage 23=Safing Sensor Circuit Input Feed/Return Circuit Open 24=Safing Sensor Output Feed/Return Circuit Open 32=Driver Side Air Bag Circuit High Resistance or Open 33=Passenger Side Air Bag Circuit High Resistance or Open 34=Driver Side Air Bag Circuit Low Resistance or Shorted 35=Passenger Side Air Bag Circuit Low Resistance or Shorted 41=RH Primary Crash Sensor Feed/Return Circuit Open 42=LH Primary Crash Sensor Feed/Return Circuit Open 44=RH Primary Crash Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly 45=LH Primary Crash Sensor Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly 51=Air Bag Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal FuseFuse Blown Due to Intermittent Short to Ground 52=Backup Power SupplyVoltage Boost Fault 53=Primary Crash Sensor Circuits Resistance to Ground or Air Bag Diagnostic Fault
Reply #10 Peter Falvo (139.142.92.146) - Thu Sep 24 11:50:45 2009
It seems that the Ford sickness has spilled over to the Volvo since they are part owners. We bought a new Volvo four years ago I’ve been treating it with kid gloves no problems up to now until the warranty ran out, just last week we had a messesag saying that the driver side air bag system was faulty and needed to be serviced, so we brought it to the dealer they did a system check and discovered that the airbag sensor was faulty. Since our warranty ran out, to replace the sensor would cost close to a thousand dollars to fix, how can a company like Volvo that prides itself on safety not inspect the higher quality of these parts? The problem that we have with the car industry is that there is no quality control anymore they buy cheap parts from manufactures which fail miserably so that they can make a higher profit and no one is accountable for anything except for the consumer who now has to fork out thousands of dollars to pay for the fixes. If the airplane industry had the same quality control they would be falling out of the sky every ten minutes.
Reply #11 Jason (138.162.128.52) - Tue Sep 29 08:27:45 2009
I noticed that the code list does not have code 46 on there. i dont want to take it to the dealership to check because that would cost a pretty penny just to check it. does anyone know any home remedies?
Reply #12 MarkinPA (72.94.0.182) - Wed Oct 7 17:23:39 2009
I have a 2004 Ford Escape. I was getting the code 3-6. My dealer said it would cost $550 to install a harness (the warranty has expired). I read about the disconnect/reconnect on here; so this is what I did, and the light has not come back on. Should I still have the harness installed? Is my car safe??
Reply #13 Ron (71.82.124.52) - Sun Oct 11 16:28:47 2009
Check for Ford TSB's. There was one for a updated connector under the seat from the switch to harness.
Reply #14 Carolyn (75.75.66.121) - Sun Oct 18 08:56:13 2009
I, also have the problem with the air bag light on my '05 Taurus. I will try the tip to readjust the air bag switch under the seat. My question is what's with these code numbers? Do they show up on the dash or what? Thanks.
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