Prius airbag warning light

Can you describe this with more detail? Or better yet, take a picture of the warning light and post it. I checked the Owner's Manual and the only reference to the airbags are indicators showing the passenger airbag is either on or off.

 

Occasionally mine does the same thing, but it goes away when I restart the car. It happens so infrequently that it will be difficult to recreate the error for the Toyota service Dept. I don't know if it sets a code that can be read, although my Scangauge II shows no codes.

 

Mine is the red icon on the far right of the instrument cluster. It looks like a seat with a figure and an illustration of an airbag tha looks like a ball. It always shows for a few seconds after you first start the car and then, usually, goes off.

 

View attachment 29545
Screenshot is from p. 497 of my owner's manual.

Looks like a problem with the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS.) Have a dealer check it out.

 

If the SRS dash light comes on, there's a problem with the system. Get it to the dealer for repair, even if it's intermittent. The system is fairly failproof, so I'm thinking it's a short in the dash light relay switch, but not the airbag deployment system. Definitely needs your dealer's touch. I'm assuming only the SRS comes on and not other dash lights.

 

My BMW had the airbag light coming on intermittently then on all the time. Turned out to be something called a "clock spring", pretty expensive fix. It showed up in the codes when the dealer scanned it.

You'll need to have the dealer scan it. You should still be under warranty.

 

By wiggling the yellow wire on the bottom back of the front passenger seat, I can create the intermittent seatbelt error and make it go away. I believe it is either a damaged wire, connector, or weight sensor in the passenger front seat. This problem has been a challenge to demonstrate to the folks in the Toyota service Dept, but that should be easy now.

 

The airbag indicator light sudden came on and won't go off after starting the vehicle. I took it to the dealer this morning. They called back to say they need to rip off the seat cover (didn't specify which seat) to test the sensor. It will be at least a day or more before I can get my car back. It's going to be a warranty repair but just inconvenience without the car.
Anyone had experience with this one on the 2010 model year before?

 

mine came on and stayed on. I wiggled the connections under the drivers seat and it has been off.

 

The SRS warning light came on and I headed to the dealer for service. They first told me that the light wasn't on when I brought the car in, so they were unable to check it. Then they said they needed to replace the some wiring (not sure exact name) and it would be an 8 hour job. Then they said no, they were going to have to replace the passenger airbag and it would be about 1½ hours.

Fast forward... I left the car for the airbag replacement and noticed that nothing looked different afterwards - no dirty fingerprints on the dashboard, no resetting of the clock or radio or trip info, in fact, I'm not convinced they replaced the airbag at all! Because this job was covered under the extended warranty I wasn't charged anything. They did tell me that all of this may have been caused by a small umbrella under the drivers seat! At the time, it was in the "storage" area just under the seat levers to the left of the drivers seat.

Here is my question - first, is it possible for the umbrella (moved to several different locations over the course of several months) to trigger the SRS warning light? Second, is it possible to replace the passenger airbag without disconnecting the battery? last, if the umbrella may have been the problem why would they not have suggested a trial period with no umbrella instead of the alleged airbag replacement?

Your opinions please!

 

The SRS warning light came on and I headed to the dealer for service. They first told me that the light wasn't on when I brought the car in, so they were unable to check it. Then they said they needed to replace the some wiring (not sure exact name) and it would be an 8 hour job. Then they said no, they were going to have to replace the passenger airbag and it would be about 1½ hours.

Fast forward... I left the car for the airbag replacement and noticed that nothing looked different afterwards - no dirty fingerprints on the dashboard, no resetting of the clock or radio or trip info, in fact, I'm not convinced they replaced the airbag at all! Because this job was covered under the extended warranty I wasn't charged anything. They did tell me that all of this may have been caused by a small umbrella under the drivers seat! At the time, it was in the "storage" area just under the seat levers to the left of the drivers seat.

Here is my question - first, is it possible for the umbrella (moved to several different locations over the course of several months) to trigger the SRS warning light? Second, is it possible to replace the passenger airbag without disconnecting the battery? last, if the umbrella may have been the problem why would they not have suggested a trial period with no umbrella instead of the alleged replacement?

 

Yes, my 2010 Prius started displaying the airbag warning indicator (SRS) last week. The first time it came on, it was there for three days, then it went away for a day or two, came back, and again has gone away. I had an appointment with the dealer today, but of course it wasn't showing. He said it would be more tricky to figure out what the problem is at this point, and there would be a $140 charge to run a scan. Also said that since I have 61K miles on it, it is not under warranty, even though I've had it for less than 5 years. He said some parts are warrantied for 3 years, some for 5 years, and if it is being caused by the latter, they *might* fix it at no charge. At this point, his recommendation was to wait until the light is on more consistently.

I am just about to file a safety complaint with the NHTSA, which could prove helpful to pick up any patterns.

 

Yes NEVER put anything under either seat, it can damage the little wires and connectors under both seats, migh cost you thousands and thousands. Look under you seat you will see how weak the wires are.

 

This airbag light is a VERY common problem as evidenced by the occurances on this forum alone. My suggestion: Contact corporate and ask that they refer it to a Product Specialist. I did this already, but according to the support rep I talked to, registering complaints with the product owner is how they decide if there is an "epidemic" that they need to address or not. So, they have to get a lot before they admit there is a problem.
HERE'S THE NUMBER TO CORPORATE CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-331-4331

My story:
I've had mine in the shop at Toyota of Plano (in Texas) eight times. Everytime they say they found the problem, but the light would come back on. When we started this, my car was under warranty. Now it's not. So of course, they don't want to cover 100% of the cost. Today, they have decided that they need to replace the wiring harness. So now I'm talking to Corporate.

This issue started over a year ago and they haven't been able to figure out what it is, but I did a 2 second Google search and found report after report of the wiring harness causing the problem. So why didn't the dealer check that when my car was under warranty??? I'm no Toyota technician and I found it on the internet in 2 seconds.

 

I have had nothing but unsatisfying experiences with the service department at Toyota of Plano. When I lived closer to Toyota of Dallas, and Toyota of Richardson, I used their service and it was far superior to Toyota of Plano. If you can I would suggest you use the Dallas or Richardson location for service in the future. I believe the Plano dealership is owned by a San Antonio company which might explain why their service is so bad - the owners and top bosses aren't around to answer to.

 

And as Faehmel says - AVOID TOYOTA OF PLANO. WORST. DEALER. EVER.

 

I am going to do the same thing. They have the authority to lean on Toyota to issue a recall.

 

This prius forum has some odd rules. I want to post the link to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration where you can register complaints about this airbag light, but you have to have 4 posts before you can put a link....so here go some worthless posts....