Airbag light on after being rear ended

So once again my 2010 is a accident magnet. This is the 3rd time in its life it's been hit. I was sitting at a stop light and just as I took my foot off the brake BAM. A 17 year old girl in her mom's GMC Acadia hit me from behind. She claimed the brakes didn't work so she either hit the gas instead of brakes or she was playing with her phone (she was getting stuff to go to the prom tonight). She was probably only doing 10-15 MPH and the only thing I could see damage was my bumper - until I got home. Now I notice that the airbag light stays on. I got hit hard enough that the emergency flashers came on by themselves but no airbag deployed. I have taken the driver and passenger seat airbag plug apart, cleaned them, and made sure they snapped back in place. The father of the girl wants to pay out of pocket for repairs which I'm fine but I got his insurance and a police case number anyway. I'll get an estimate on damage then email him. I guess I'll just notify the repair shop of the airbag light when getting an estimate.

What would make the SRS system give a malfunction when no airbag was deployed? Could a sensor be damaged? Never had any trouble before. My cheapo Zurich ZR8 scan tool shows no DTC codes at all.

 

In my 2006 Tacoma, since bought brand new, I've been...

Rear ended at low speed like that 3 times sitting at a stop light. With extension installed on draw-tie every single time it crushed the grill of the car. No damage worth worrying about.

1x Rear ended that actually hit my bumper, but it was in a spot already bent, so didn't care. Let it go.

1x in grocery store parking lot, F150 backed into me pulling out of a parking spot, caught the tip of of my bumper on his fender flare, ripped his fender flare off and dragged it down the side of his truck. It put a crack in my tail light. Left him to cry.

1x traveling at 50MPH a lady decided to pull out directly in front of me, her car bounced off my bull bar, spun around, slammed into my side bar and spun out behind me. Crunched up left fender, headlight housing, bumper cover, brackets, etc.

1x Drunk driver swurved into on coming traffic and myself and a F250 hit each other getting out of the way. Pretty hard hit, front fenders, hood, head light housings, brackets, etc...

1x lady in a RAV4 decided to try to drive under me. Dealing with that Now! No body damage to my truck since my truck is higher than the front of her car, but hit hard enough to bend RR leaf spring, RR axle, axle housing, etc...



Point is, I never had Hazard lights all the sudden start flashing. Hazards don't just come on automatically?

Unless it is a condition that once air bags are triggered the hazards come on. If that is the case then you are lucky to own a Tacoma with a faulty spiral cable. (run your VIN for recall) I say lucky, because, if in fact an air bag was supposed the be deployed, but was not, that faulty cable saved your truck! Once the air bag is deployed, your truck is a total loss.

You have an issue somewhere bro.

Can you post pics of impact area and damage?

 

OP I wouldn’t mess around with this. Get it to the dealer for evaluation and let the young lady’s insurance deal with it. Airbag issues/gremlins after accidents can be serious.

 

-Your "cheapo" scanner most likely doesnt read srs codes. most likely has set a collision code and might be able to be just "reset".
-Also airbags are not always deployed and depends on the collision.
-Recommend have toyota dealer inspect.

 

I agree with @Blockhead let the dealer diagnose the srs system. You're gonna want those airbags to work in the future. The girls dad is trying to be helpful but repairing the srs system may be more expensive than you think. I wouldnt mess around, take it to the dealer and keep everyone in the loop

 

Yeah. I ain’t messing with it. I’m taking it in for estimates. I think I’ll call his insurance and if he wants to pay he can work it out with them. I need the repair shop to be able to easily submit an addendum to the work if they find more damage than originally thought. Hard to do that after the fact with the insurance owner.

 

I was hit in the back while on vacation in Colorado several years ago... no real damage to my truck ('06 DCSB), but the airbag light came on and stayed on...

Shortly afterward, I took it to my local dealer to have a recall done, and when I picked it up, the light was off. They apparently fixed the issue at no charge to me. I didn't ask, and they didn't tell, so I'm not sure what the problem was.

-Bear

 

Dad isn't doing you any favors, he's trying to keep his insurance costs down because that probably wasn't his daughters first at fault accident.

He WILL balk at the repair costs if repaired right. Contact his insurance company and do it right, this isn't 1970 when a fender bender cost $250 to fix and another $100 to paint the whole vehicle.

 

Disconnect battery wait a min or two then reconnect. Had the same thing happen in mine. Did the battery thing and when i went to get my truck serviced a few weeks after I just asked them to check the airbags. Everything was fine.