Seat belt light flashing

On our 05 Mercury Monterey the Seat belt light has started flashing. It flashes four times, pauses and flashes again for 13 times and repeats. Any idea what could be cause and where to look?
End of last summer we had an incident where we bumped into another car from behind. The damage to the bumper is not severe, as it slid under the other cars bumper, it has scratches and the bumper has pulled out slightly from the grill. The bumper has sensors and they still function (chimes) when in proximity. Do you think this could be the cause? We delayed the repair since the damage was not severe and did not notice any other issue. Will fixing (replacing?) the bumper solve this problem? Thanks!

The flashing safety belt light indicates that there’s a problem with the Occupant Classification Sensor in one of the seat cushions.

The OCS measures a person weight. From this information, the computer can then determine how much payout should occur of the safety belt webbing in the event of a collision. This is controlled thru the Energy Management Retractor.

This is done to minimize possible chest injury during a collision.

When it’s required to replace the OCS, the entire seat cushion is replaced.

tester

Hi tester, Thanks for the reply. Actually the code is 14. It pauses after 4 flashes, then 14 and repeats few more times and remains solid. Any thing we can do before taking for repairs to checkout?

No.

This is not a DIY type of repair if you the SRS to operate as designed.

Tester

That is a bumper cover and it is replaceable. The real bumper is behind it. And no, fixing it will not effect your flashing light.