The above post is exactly why I posted what I did concerning safety in this string. IMO, if you are having to jiggle wires and or have a airbag warning light on, the vehicle is unsafe to drive. It should be checked out by a Toyota trained technician.
How great to find this information source! The airbag light in our 2005 Prius came on a couple days ago. The Prius manual says to go to the dealer immediately, which we did. El Cajon Toyota said the computer diagnosis would cost about $120, but (when pressed) that the $120 could be deducted from the repair cost. The diagnosis determined a break somewhere in the wiring, and that "the entire wiring harness needed replacement", at a cost of $2250. I had the sense to decline immediate service, with the idea of shopping around for a better price. I found that there is no non-dealer in the San Diego area willing to do such work on the Prius. I think they are concerned about liability when the air bag system is involved, as well as the danger of damage to other electrical components. In any event, I stumbled across this site and noted that several people with a similar problem had solved it by "jiggling the yellow wires" under the front seats. I tried it, and it worked! Thank you thank you thank you (One must wonder why the "experts" at the dealership don't know this...) Hal Valderhaug, La Mesa, Ca
Unbelievable! My story is similar to Hal's. my wife was driving our 2005 Prius and at 40 mph the car shut off. All electrical turned off. She pulled over, got it started again and drove to the dealership. The codes said the battery was only giving out 6.5 volts AND the SRS warning light was now on and indicating a problem with the drivers front airbag. The installed a new battery to fix the voltage issue ( how the system could just shut everything down at 40 mph is a major issue to me. Luckily it was in the day) I told them to hold off on the $2800 dollars to install a new airbag and wiring harness. I then started reading every thing I could and came across this posting. After a little shaking of that yellow wire, the light is now off. And I am off to another dealership to trade the car in. It was a great car for the first 80,000 miles. Why don't the experts know this! Unbelievable. Dan in Los gatos
All the more reason to have the car checked out by Toyota, again if you are having to jiggle wires to turn off a SRS Warning Light it is obvious that there is a problem with the system. IMO, if you are content with jiggling a wire rather than having the system repaired properly you are putting yourself and your loved one's at risk. Ron
Ron, while I do agree with you on principle, there now seems to be mounting evidence that some/many 2005 Priuses have the exact same problem, and the same fix. In my one of my posts above I'd mentioned that the previous owner of my Prius did have the airbag system checked out by Toyota, and it was totally fine. (He's the one who suggested I jiggle that yellow wire in the first place. And it's possible the dealer may even have shown him how to do this.) Not that my case is 100% applicable to everyone who has this problem! But it seems that some dealers will quote you a "wiring harness and airbag replacement" in the neighborhood of $3k. For all we know, dealers do know about this problem, and would charge you 3k just to jiggle the yellow wire themselves!
If there is a flaw in the 2005 wiring system, the only way Toyota will solve the problem is if they are made aware of it, hence having the car checked out. Furthermore, I would think NHTSA should be advised of the problem. If user's of this board go about simply jiggling the wires until the system works normally and not worry about it after that, then in the end none of the "powers to be" will ever focus on the problem and find a solution. Since the SRS system can be considered a life saving device in certain circumstances, I think it would be best in the long run to at least have a qualified technician check out, and document the problem. The end user can always decline the work if they so choose. As with all electronics, any connection made could eventually become a source of resistance. By jiggling the wires, in reality all that you are doing is lowering the resistance enough to allow the current to flow. However, in the long run eventually the connection will be broken hence needing to be repaired or replaced. Is a new harness or air bag system the fix? Or is it something as simple as a end terminal on a wire? One will never know if all the end user's do is "jiggle the wires" as suggested here on Prius Chat. I am surprised a moderator has not posted on this thread yet, and one did recently concerning non usage of catalytic converters. I believe there are laws concering the airbags also. If push came to shove and someone was injured in a crash and later testified that they were jiggling wires because someone on Prius Chat recommended it, I think heads would roll. I do agree that there appears to be a problem with the SRS system, however I disagree that "jiggling the wires" is the solution and furthermore should not shared with the individuals here on Prius Chat. It revolves around safety for all of us. Ron
I have the same issue on our 2005, but after jiggling the wires 3 days later the light came back on... I wonder if they have a recall on this? We are well over our warranty and just went over 100k on the mileage.
