Airbag Sensor Light Help 2009 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by treen333, Jan 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM.

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  1. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Hi All,
    I was wondering if anyone has any guidance on my airbag sensor light on my 2009 prius. I watched YouTube videos on how to try and turn the light off. It's for the passenger side. I haven't had any luck. I unplugged the 12v battery, checked all the cables under the passenger seat, even brought it to local mechanic who said whenever he clears it, it comes back up. So I'm wondering if anyone has had luck clearing it maybe with an OBD2 bluetooth being plugged in. I just got the dr. Prius app to check out my hybrid battery, but it doesn't help with the airbag light. Are there any apps that will help with this issue in your experience? Any thoughts or guidance is appreciated. Thanks for your time!
     
    #1 treen333, Jan 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Can you clarify what you mean here? There is an airbag system warning light, grouped with the other instrument warning lights, and there is a passenger airbag ON / OFF light.

    The airbag system warning light isn't (by itself) for the passenger or driver or any particular side. It's the warning for a lot of different things, and you don't know which things until you read the trouble code(s) going with it. (You might, then, have a trouble code that pertains to something on the passenger or driver side, but your description doesn't quite say whether anyone has read codes and looked up what they mean.

    The passenger airbag ON / OFF light isn't warning of a problem, but just showing status. If it's like gen 3, it is dark if there's not much in the passenger seat; it says OFF if there's stuff in the seat but not enough to seem like a person, and ON if it thinks there's a person there.
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Jan 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
  3. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Can't add too much more, other than having a capable scantool for all systems is a good idea.

    Here's a thread that reviews several apps and devices for smartphone. A summary is at post 37.
    (The Autel AP200 is good for general diagnostics)

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 mr_guy_mann, Jan 7, 2025 at 8:10 AM
  4. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Thanks for your replies, and sorry not to clarify. Yes, the red airbag light on the dash is illuminated. The one that is near all the other indicators. Also, the airbag on/off light is always set to off on the passenger side. I did have it read once but the mechanic said he didn't have time to do anything with it, whatever that means. It was done on some sort of Autel device or app and the code was B1650 Occupant classification system fault.
     
    #4 treen333, Jan 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    #5 ChapmanF, Jan 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM
  6. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Oops, forgot the scantool link (again).


    So B1650 is the SRS - airbag ecu saying that there's some problem with the Occupant Classification System. The OCS figures out if anyone is in the front passenger seat and how "hard" to fire the airbag - if at all.

    One of the first diagnostic steps for B1650 is to use a capable scantool to check the OCS ecu for any codes (and if it can communicate). I don't think the OCS has blink codes?

    https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3246758

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #6 mr_guy_mann, Jan 9, 2025 at 12:50 PM
  7. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Thanks for the info.
    Forgive me for my elementary knowledge. I went through your whole post and read about all the different scanners. Thanks for all the great info. In starting to learn all this stuff, I'm confused - is the airbag (B1650 code) part of the ECU that you said Autel AP200 would be able to clear? Sorry again, I'm really new to all this new vocabulary. I just don't want to spend $50 on another scanner and have it not work to correct the problem. I got a veepeak obd2 scanner to work with dr. prius app. It does fine testing the hybrid battery, but not much else. Do you have any idea if my existing scanner might be able to clear this code with a different app such as OBDFusion or something similar? Thanks again for your help!!
     
    #7 treen333, Jan 9, 2025 at 4:01 PM
  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Keep in mind that trouble codes are there to tell you about trouble with the car. While a scan tool typically has a way to 'clear' codes, you don't accomplish much by clearing the code if the trouble with the car hasn't been fixed. The cleared code will stay gone for exactly as long as the ECU needs to detect that the trouble is still there.

    Ordinarily, when the trouble gets fixed, the code will go away on its own as soon as the ECU has confirmed the trouble is fixed.

    There can sometimes be a place for code clearing as a part of your troubleshooting approach, say if you think you've fixed something that might have been the trouble and you try clearing the code right afterward to see how long it'll stay gone.

    But for the most part, the reason you want a good scan tool is for the ability to get trouble codes, subcodes, and live or freeze-frame data to help you find and fix the actual trouble, not just to have a 'clear' button.
     
    #8 ChapmanF, Jan 9, 2025 at 11:02 PM
  9. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Thanks for the response. That is what I meant by clear. I meant fix the issue and get rid of the light. I'm definitely not interested in just sweeping something under the rug.
     
    #9 treen333, Jan 10, 2025 at 11:30 AM
  10. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Oh and I used the car scanner app with my veepeak scan tool, and it even had an option to scan the SRS airbags but still not show the error code, confirming what mr guy Mann said in his post on scan tools. Car scanner can't diagnose and clear it. I wish I knew which one would and which scanner I needed to get the job done. It would be so much easier if there was just some universal system for cars. This doesn't make sense...like everything else we've done in this world.
     
    #10 treen333, Jan 10, 2025 at 11:43 AM
  11. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    #11 pasadena_commut, Jan 10, 2025 at 2:26 PM
  12. treen333

    treen333 Junior Member

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    Thanks for chiming in, I have an iPhone though so that won’t be much help. Anyone out there able to fix this issue and with what scanner and app? Thanks!!
     
    #12 treen333, Jan 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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