What is this warning light?

Just google an image search for your dash lights...

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Before walking into the dealer with no idea, you might get that airbag light to blink out its trouble code, like this:

Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat

Post that here and we'll know more about what's up.

 

Check page 497 in the same manual



It could mean you have something on the passenger seat without the seat belt fastened.

 

The latter. It's to do anything that conducts electricity between them. The terminals in the car-side connector aren't 'pins' anyway; they're the things the 'pins' in an OBD-II reader fit into. People say 'pins' just the same.

And people mostly say "paper clip", which does work if need be, and people often have them handy, but they're not really ideal. The ends of a paper clip are often square-cut and sharp-edged and a harder metal than the gold-plated copper terminals you are poking into, and round cross-section when the real terminals are flat. If you have some bare copper wire of about the right gauge, that's even better. You don't risk leaving those terminals so they later won't fit snugly the real 'pins' in an OBD reader.

You can even get a very high-tech "special service tool" from Toyota for this:



It's a wire, having just the right pin terminals crimped onto it, so you know they are the proper fit for the terminals in the car. (It's got three ends because in some car models they had some dances that involved shorting more than two pins.)

 

edit: duplicate post

 

That's about the size of it.

 

For what it's worth, that's how you HAD to read codes in Toyotas made before 1996. It helped that there were only a couple dozen trouble codes that the ECU actually could throw, though.

 

Also I've fixed the air bag light before in a Gen2 simply by looking under the passenger seat and finding broken wires because the owner of the car has two little dogs who wait in the car when she goes to work. They're well cared for with a dog walker who comes to visit every shift along with their person being near them, but at one point one of them started chewing on things under the seat. Easy repair!

 

What came after the pause? Blink codes are uniformly two digits: (first number of blinks) pause (second number of blinks) longer pause (next code, or back to first code again).

If you only saw five blinks each time (that is, if it was just repeating (5 blinks) pause (5 blinks) longer pause (5 blinks) pause (5 blinks) longer pause etc.), then that would be code 55, referring to the driver side airbag squib (the one in the steering pad, where the circuit goes through the spiral cable). But double-check your video to be sure that's the code you're seeing.

A scan tool can get you more detail, because the airbag system can use the same blink code for more than one DTC. Blink code 55 is shared by the DTCs B1820, B1821, B1822, and B1823. They are all about the driver's side airbag squib, but if you read the DTCs you'll even know if the detected problem is a short, an open, a short to ground, or a short to B+, respectively.

 

1. Yes
2. Yes.
3. Depends on what's causing the problem.

As the 55 blink code is shared by four different DTCs, it might be nice to get access to a scan tool and learn the specific DTC, which will reveal whether the circuit appears to be shorted, or open, or shorted to power or ground.

The driver's side squib circuit runs, in part, through the "spiral cable" (or "clockspring") behind the steering wheel, which is what allows those circuits (and also the steering wheel buttons) to work even though the wheel turns. Those cables can eventually wear out from the turning of the wheel. You never quite know which traces will wear first: will you get an airbag code, or problems with the horn, or with the steering wheel buttons? Anyway, the spiral cable would be a likely suspect for a case like this, though not the only possible suspect.

There are important notes on safety in the repair manual for anybody working on the airbag system, especially doing any kind of electrical testing of the squib circuits:

Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat

You'll learn how to be sure the system is fully de-energized before starting any work, and the right way to unclip the wiring connectors, which have their own shorting contacts internally to keep things safe when unplugged. You can use a simple meter to test wiring, when disconnected from the squib. You never use any normal meter to test a squib, or any wiring still attached to a squib.

There might be wiring damage one place or another. A worn-out spiral cable wouldn't surprise me at all, but a bit of testing should confirm it's that or something else. Troubleshooting steps are in the manual.

I once bought a Prius with a collision repair history, and it gave me a 55 code shortly after purchase. It turned out its spiral cable had taken damage when the air bag deployed, and it had been "repaired" like this:



More on that sorry episode here. Don't do that.

 

Yes, other shops can. If the spiral cable ("clockspring") turns out to be it, the price might be around what's shown here for a Toyota one:

84307-47020 Genuine Toyota Part (be sure to check with the VIN, in case I didn't get the exact right part number)

Bit pricey, as there's also a steering angle sensor included.

There are much cheaper off-brand versions you can find, not so much recommended here; some of the same considerations (older parent behind airbag on $20 no-name spiral cable) apply.

 

If an appointment before Christmas is needed you need a very accommodating independent shop tomorrow to at least diagnose positively and possibly repair. If it is a real concern I would rent a car.