The passenger airbag light remains off, but when someone sits in the seat, the dash airbag warning light comes on. The dealer charged me $80.00 to determine that the Passenger Airbag Position Module had to be replaced, at the wonderful price of almost $800.00. I just gave the $750.00 for the 60,000 mile service, and am having a tough time stomaching another $800.00 for this. I am a mailman, but am fairly handy, can I do this myself? Where should I look to find the best deal on this module? Thanks for any advice you can give me.
No. This is not something you can do yourself.
I would forget the dealer and find a good mechanic. A second opinion is needed before paying that kind of money for an airbag module.
The “module” is probably built into the seat. It thinks there is a child in the seat and disables the system to avoid injuring the child. The system wants no weight or adult weight in the seat…A couple of pressure switches…The $800 bucks is for a new seat, module included. If you can find a wiring diagram for the seat, you could spoof the computer with a couple of switches, controlling the passenger airbag trigger manually. Or look for a replacement seat in a salvage yard…
Just for the fun of it, try putting a couple of heavy sand-bags in the seat, 150 pounds or so. See how the nag light responds to that…