I own a 2005 Prius, and I am perplexed with my on and off airbag light. Initially, went the light came on and stayed on, I took it to the dealer. They discovered there was a dead mouse in my cabin filter. They cleaned it out and everything was fine...the airbag light stayed off. A few months later, the light stayed on again. This time, my son took out the glove box and found another dead mouse and removed it...clearing up the problem. the light then came on and stayed on for about a week. Today when I started the car, everything was fine...no airbag light. The dealer wants me to bring car in so that they can remove my entire dashboard and check the wiring. They say this will take 5-6 hours and cost several hundred dollars. While I want to do the safe thing...I am upset about the cost. Any other ideas from anyone out there? By the way, I will try to mouse proof my car as some other owners have done!
It's hard for the service writer to know how much damage the rodents have done. Intermittent problems are especially hard to troubleshoot since the problem usually is not apparent when the tech is looking at the car. Hence the high cost estimate. If you have other Toyota dealers in the vicinity then you can call around and see if another dealer's service dept will quote a markedly different price for the inpsection.
What about the "AIRBAG" sign on passenger side staying lit all the time? When there is a passenger, the light turns to "AIRBAG ON". Is the airbag functioning alright? I am bothered by the light staying on all the time. If the AIRBAG sign staying lit up is normal, why doesn't Toyota make its color more tolerable, like green etc.? Does anybody else has this problem?
I have the problem of being annoyed by the airbag light, yes. But this isn't really Toyota's choice. Dash indicators are highly regulated in the FMVSS. An airbag indicator is required, and the required color is amber ("yellow"). Prius appears to conform to S19.2 of FMVSS 208 (49 CFR 571.208).
