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Do these wires go to the seatbelt pretensioner assembly in the seat, or do they go into the hole in the carpet?
Ans: Hole in the carpet.
You also show a yellow shell with a green wire and a black wire. Three questions about this one:
Do these wires (green and black) go into the hole in the carpet or to some other component of the seat assembly?
Ans: Look at the pic that BEZ06 posted. The one with the seatbelt latch. That is the connector on my picutre.
Does the connector shell have two open stations in it? (i.e. is it a two-pin or a four-pin connector)
Ans: 2 pin connector
Okay few more, and for these pictures will help.
You tried conecting the tan/white and orange/black wires to another pair of wires. What color were those wires? Can you take a picture of what you connected to?
Ans: Per your recommendation I connected the ONG/BK to BLACK on the yellow connector.
You say the wires are "shorted by a metal clip". This cannot be functional, so I would like to see a picture of this clip shorting the wires.
Ans: The yellow connector housing (shown on BEZ06's picture) has a metal clip on top of it, which is then going around and into the connector itself shorting the two connector prongs. I will try to take some close-up pics of it later.
Last series of questions. Have you owned this car since it was new, or did you purchase it used? In either case, do you know if the car was ever in an accident where the airbags deployed?
Ans: The car was purchased used but never had any problems with it. It also has a clean Autocheck and Carfax (for whatever that's worth).
What happened was, I let my really tall friend drive this car and he moved the seat all the way down and back, smashing the connector at the same time.
OK, I think I may have it. Is the metal clip shorting the two wires two pieces that are sprung together? Does it look like the clip would break contact when joined to the the (now-shattered) mating connector? I believe the function of this clip is to the short the two wires together when the connectors are seperated, rendering the pretensioner safe from accidental discharge. This would mean that for proper function, the wires would have to be connected and the clip contacts seperated such that the short is opened.
I believe the polarity of the interconnect is as we originally guessed: ORG/BLK to BLACK and TAN/WHT to GREEN. (In fact, I am fairly confident the polarity does not matter since the pretensioner trigger is a simple heating coil.) I think the reason it did not work was because the clip was still shorting the two wires.
Here is what I would try, but you should be very careful as I am not familiar with how sensitive the firing mechanism is. I would have to believe it takes significant energy to fire it off, but the presence of the shorting bar safety makes me believe that the intention is to protect from static discharge from firing the pretensioner.
First make sure the battery is disconnected and give the system a few minutes to discharge since the SIR module has an energy store used to fire off the SIR in the event that battery power is lost during a crash event. Next, connect the two wires, then once the connection is secure, wedge something non-conductive in the clip to open the shorting bar. With this all secure, connect the battery back up and see if the airbag light is now off.
If this works I think you have two options. You could fix it right and get the new connector shell so everything works as it was designed. If you want to forego the new connector, it is very important that your connections are secure, the shorting bar is securely opened, and that all will remain so in the event of a crash, since that is when you will really need everything to really work.
I think that's what I might have to do. Do you know where I can get this part besides the dealership? They told me $45 for the connector. (!) That's a little high for a piece of plastic, don't you think?
Thanks.
For that price you will not only get the connector, but also included in the package will be a wiring harness with the terminals installed (it is a complete splice kit) designed for repairing the wiring, which is exactly what you are attempting to do.
LeoDelC man.... I'm impressed. I think you're on to something here. I just ordered a new connector/harness. Should be in on Friday. I will keep you posted. Thanks a lot!
So... I got the connector today. It didn't come to my surprise when I realized they sent me a wrong connector. It was a male connector but would not fit to the housing would not fit over the other one. So here's what I did...
I removed the shorting clip from the other part of the connector, connected ONG/BK to BK and TAN/WHT to GREEN, connected the battery back up, turn on the ingnition and... no more light!
Now I just have to think of a way to securely connect it with the shorting clip in place.
Thanks a lot to everyone who participated in this discussion especially to LeoDelC and Bob. I feel privileged to be a part of this forum. Cheers!
Hey, didn't mean to bring an old thread back to life but i just found out that on my C6 corvette the wiring harness underneath the passenger seat is all melted up and is tripping the airbag light. Could anyone help how i go about to solve this problem? Do i just need to buy the new connectors or the entire wiring harness? is it possible to just connect each wire on its own and bypass the connectors?
Last edited by E39M5Speed; 05-08-2016 at 09:26 PM.
03-22-2011, 08:31 AM
