Passenger side airbag sensor on ‘07 base Tacoma

Hi. New on here. I have a 2007 base Tacoma in very good condition. I chose to take it to a reputable mechanic for a new valve cover gasketreplacement as the dealership sort of burned me last time. I had a tire pressure sensor that was on because it had a bad sensor in a front tire. When I picked the truck up the tire sensor light was off but the airbag sensor light was on. Mechanic said he was unaware of light. Had him rundiagnostic and he said problem was somewhere in passenger side seat but was unsure of exact problem. As he seemingly wasn’t that knowledgeable I took it to dealership for diagnostic and was told sensor in passenger seat cushion was bad and they’d have to replace entire half ofbench seat on passenger side(?). Said parts alone would be $1435.00 - not including labor! This just seems an outrageous cost and I know nothing about it. I have checked fuses, tried some resetting techniques, checked connections. etc. but don’t see anything simple that could fix it. It simplycannot be a coincidence that tire pressure light changed to airbag problems while it was in shop for valve cover replacement. Anyone have a clue oranswer?

 

Do you know what code(s) it's setting? Without knowing that it's anyones guess on what the problem could be.
It's unlikely changing valve cover gaskets or a tire sensor had anything to do with it though.

 

B1797 - calibration abnormal, seat cushion weight sensor. That’s what they gave me anyway. Checked with another dealership 20 miles away and was given $1560.00 labor and parts. Of course they want to diagnose it also. Local dealership notorious for milking owners.

 

The code is pretty cut and dry, basically they want you to do a zero point calibration of the seat weight sensors, if it passes your good, if it fails with no other codes present replace them.
They are part of the seat cushion assembly, I'd look for a used seat if it comes to that.

 

Unplug the sensor, Take the fkin seat apart, find the part number on the sensor and find one on the internet to buy.

Option two, get a used seat somewhere and replace the whole thing

Option three, pay the stealership all of your money, because you can't do it yourself and can't find a smaller shop that wants to mess with airbag components.

Option four, unplug your battery cables for at least a few hours, this will reset any codes. See if the code comes back.

Is that sensor even plugged in? Maybe the mechanic bumped the wires?

 

Greatly appreciate your answer. Just spoke with original (valve cover) mechanic, he pretty much said the same thing, confirmed there is sensor in the seat, and that he once had to replace the entire bench seat and it was costly. Still, I’m a little puzzled why he didn’t mention that experience after the diagnostic. Used seat is looking like a great idea. Thanks.

 

Is this for the seat cushion or the seat frame?

 

Those are some other good option FishaRnekEd. Thanks.

Honda, they’re telling me the sensor is in the cushion itself.