SRS Warning Light - On Solid

A few hours ago, I was involved in an accident whereas I was rear ended. Ever since then, my SRS warning light remains on solid. I didn't substain too much rear end damage because I had my hitch and my hitch ball installed and that absorbed most of the force.

My question is does that solid SRS warning light mean that my airbags might come on at any minute or does it mean the opposite, that they won't operate at all now? I don't want to be driving down the road and have the airbags deploy unexpectedly.

With the rear impact due to the hit, what could have occurred to make my light stay on?

 

SRS Light on means that the system has detected a failure somewhere and the system is disabled. No it will not go off unexpected or even in a wreck with the light on.

 

The way the system is designed, if the light is on, the system is down. The should deploy. Although stranger things have happened. As far as what caused the light to come could be a number of different things. Have it checked.

 

Thanks. I'll have to get it into the dealer. It just doesn't make sense to me why this would occur during a rear-end hit.

 

Did the Seat Belt Pre-Tensioners go off? It is possible for them engage even with the air bags not deploying. If they did, that will cause the SRS Fault Light until they are replaced and the system reset.

 

How would I know if that happened?

 

You won't be able to use the belt, it'll be locked. Check the passenger belts.

 

Both fronts belts are usable. We used them on the way home from the accident and several times since. I extended each of the rear belts. They extend and retract like they should.

 

Check the plugs to the seats and seat belts. Connectors are always a weak link. The nice thing about airbags is once you find the short, the light goes out on its own.

You dont have something heavy sitting on the passenger seat do you.

 

Nope, nothing different than usual. Me in the driver's seat and my wife in the passenger's seat. No issues until getting ass-ended and since then, the SRS warning light will not go off. It stays lit on solid. No airbags deployed, nor would I expect them to from a rear-end collision.

 

could be the spiral cable on the steering wheel and coincidentally it happened right around the same time.
I couldn't figure it out and I knew there 's a recall on it..maybe the dealer will check it for free.

 

Thanks. I'm going to get it checked at the dealer in the next several days. I'll report back as to what they find.

 

It should be covered as part of the accident repairs under the insurance claim. You were rear ended correct? It should be repaired under their insurance.

 

Absolutely. I'm not worried about it getting paid. I'm more interested on what actually broke to cause the condition. Its going in on Thursday for this and the recall.

 

the insurance company may talk you into saying the air bag light was already on which disabled the air bags…and some how they may twist it into you causing the accident so they can get out of paying you/fixing your truck.

 

I got ass-ended, at a stop sign, by a guy who admitted he was distracted. I have no concerns, as his insurance company already accepted total responsibility.

 

I had my SRS light come on and stay on, this was before the clock-spring recall was done. When I went in for the recall, they found my airbag sensor on the front bumper went dead. Might be something like that.

 

As soon as they boot up the Techstrem program, they will be able to tell you what sensor is not giving feedback. Hopefully it s not the ECU for the SRS system. Most likely the dealer won't let you take the truck home and hopefully they give you a loaner until the new ECU shows up.

I can't wait to find out which sensor was bad.

 

The truck arrived at the dealer @ 07:00 this morning. It's now 08:45, so I don't expect to hear anything for several hours. I'll keep everyone posted. At 1st, he didn't want to start the work until the insurance adjuster came. I told him that would waste most of the day. Do the work, I'll pay if I have to and then charge it back to the insurance company. They're going to diagnose/fix the SRS Warning Light Issue, then do the loose pre-tensioner recall.

 

Got my Tacoma back and the SRS Warning Light is now functioning as it should. I also got the seatbelt pre-tensioner recall done while it was there. Now, I don't claim to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but to me it doesn't appear they did anything other than to reset the system.

Here's the description from the work-order:

"Customer states SRS light is on since accident. Was hit in the rear.

Pulled codes found OCCUP DET SYSTEM malfunction. Started from removing dust and debris from driver's side air bag harness to make sure it was not the problem. Performed 0 point calibration and performed sensitivity check. Codes are cleared, not road tested and nothing pending."

Any thoughts on this? Oh and by the way, this was $220 before tax.