SO my 07 outback with about 51k miles on it, the airbag light has started coming on intermittently right after start up. It comes on as normal dissapears, then 3 seconds later comes back on and stays on. Sometimes though it won’t come on. Is this something I can take to autozone and have the codes pulled or do I need to suck it up and go to the dealer to get this figured out?
any recent accidents, fender benders, other incidents of note?
The auto parts scanners probably won’t pull air bag system codes - but they should know whether they can or not so call and ask.
Other than that, lots of regular, local shops will have the right scanners so you don’t have to go to the dealer. Just call around.
no recent accidents or anything, I do live in an urban area though, so someone nudging me while they park is not uncommon.
Bear in mind that the airbag light will also come on if there is a problem with any of the seat belts, such as a faulty pretensioner (I learned this after defeating the seatbelt chime in my Outback). At the very least any local shop can pull the code(s), and the code(s) will tell you if the problem is actually with the airbags or the belts…although the independents in my area typically won’t attempt to do the repair and will instead recommend taking it to the dealer.
I also noticed that the passenger airbag OFF light does not light up when no one is in the seat. It lights up to ON though whenever someone is in the seat, maybe that has something to do with it
You could try replacing that bulb. The SRS probably does check for bulbs being out.
bump
Have you been able to resolve this? I am having the exact same problem–07 Outback with 51-52k miles and for no apparent reason the passenger air bag light on the dash remains on. Car is at the subaru dealer now and they just called to say they can’t read the codes and have a call in to subarau for more information so i have to leave the car there longer. They said they checked all the wiring and it’s either a faulty light (easy, inexpensive fix) or the entire seat frame (not sure exactly what they meant by this…replace the frame?) which would be expensive. hope it’s the light. will post an update.
It turns out that the problem was a bad map light, that triggered the airbag light. $180 later and it was all fixed, sorry for the lapse in time!