DenverPed Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I have a 2010 Fusion Hybrid. Airbag warning light has come on intermittently since I bought it. Dealer replaced computer and has attempted fix of wire harness under passenger seat. Usually light is off by the time I get to dealer and they spend a day finding "nothing wrong". I suspect it is that harness when I have a right rear seat passenger but they cannot find it. Ford was no help. Advised me to take it to a dealer. Very frustrating and a clear safety issue but no one else seems concerned except me. Latest advice is to drive it directly to the dealer and not shut it off when I get there. Not much help when it is a weekend or when I am on a road trip. Anyone else had this? I always run a Vehicle Health Report at the time but the dealer says it is not helpful since it does not record specific codes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey14SE Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Well, if Ford's guidelines are followed, they aren't supposed to "fix" faulted airbag wiring unless there is an available connector pigtail that will address the issue. Supposed to replace the affected harness. One one hand, they are correct that to ensure the true root problem is found and addressed, the light has to be on and the problem has to be present during their testing. On the other hand, that does create a serious pain in the @ss for you, among other things. You're correct that more times than not, there's a circuit problem somewhere, particularly when the problem comes and goes like you say. Dealership need to get a tech that's competent in electrical diagnostics to take a serious look at the car and stop blowing you off. They'll find it if they take the time to test circuitry and pin fit, things like that. the SRS circuitry is EXTREMELY sensitive to changes in resistance, that basically how the whole system operates. On certain circuits if resistance goes above or below a certain threshold for a certain time period (typically 6 seconds) the light will come on. If the resistance goes back into the allowable range, the light will go back off. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 On the non hybrids a weak battery can cause the light to come on - usually when you crank it cold in the morning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenverPed Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Thanks so much Mikey14SE. You are absolutely right, I have been blown off by the dealer repeatedly over the 5 years I have had the car. I contacted Ford and they said "take it to the dealer!". Your knowledge of the system sounds very detailed and I appreciate it. You must be an engineer. I was involved in a big wreck where I was the passenger and I am convinced I owe my life to an airbag so I really get whipped up when this airbag system intermittently fails. Pretty hard to get it in when you are 1000 miles away traveling at Interstate speeds with no airbags. I have often wondered about the techs. Hybrids seem to be a real problem at this dealer-have waited two days for someone to look at my car. akirby, I replaced the battery in September. Learned then that there is only one battery that fits the car-Motorcraft due to the unique mounting system so I paid the price. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozz Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Obd2 bluetooth reader, smart phone with Torque app. When it happens, record some video, pull the code. Then they can't say it didn't happen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 (edited) What else could Ford say? Only dealers have service facilities. In fact Ford is prevented by state law from selling cars or performing warranty work in most states. Edited February 1, 2015 by akirby 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey14SE Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 ^^^ huh??? No I'll say I'm not an engineer. But thanks, it is my job to know the ins and outs of how they work. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 DenverPed sounded upset that Ford told him to take it to the dealer - as if there was some other choice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenverPed Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Akirby, I know I was being cynical but I cannot tell you how many times I have been to the dealer for this problem and I do feel like I have been blown off. They replaced the computer that controls the SRS and within 6 months the light came back on. The problem I have is that by the time I get it in to the dealer the light is off (except the time they did the computer). The current advice is "drive it right to us and don't shut it off when you get here". Well, that works unless it is at night, a weekend or while I am on the road somewhere. I do document the warning signal each time by running a vehicle health report on synch, but that just is a gross indicator and it does not record the code they need to find the problem. The car spent the day there last week and they "found nothing". I understand electrical gremlins occur but in this case I am driving without airbag protection when that light is on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I understand your frustration. How often does it occur? They can give you a recording device. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozz Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 What else could Ford say? Only dealers have service facilities. In fact Ford is prevented by state law from selling cars or performing warranty work in most states. Decode this and repost so we can understand. B) Dealers love to say "we can't duplicate the problem". That leaves them off the hook when the lemon laws come around. The intermittent airbag light is a common Ford problem ,has been since 2007, maybe earlier. The wiring harness repair was a old fix, it's often the bladder, sensor, or module. Price the repair out of warranty, close to $600 or more. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 It's really simple. If you have a problem and need warranty service you have to take it to a dealer. Ford doesn't sell or service their vehicles. They are prohibited from doing so by state laws. Dealers are independent businesses and ford has very little control over how they operate. So if you have a problem and call Ford the only POSSIBLE answer is to take it to a dealer. Why would a dealer care about lemon law claims against Ford? No skin off their backs. And in most cases when they say they can't reproduce the problem it's true. If they don't see the problem occurring it's impossible to accurately diagnose it. Do I think some failures are so common they should take our word for it when the solution is known? Yes. But I also understand it's difficult to manage something like that when you sell 2 million vehicles per year. If you have a bad dealer go find a better one. You can use any dealer. But you don't have the option of not going to a dealer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secstate8283 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 (edited) I have a 2010 Fusion Hybrid as well with intermitent airbag light. It started happening after I owned the car about a year or so and was very intermitent at first (only coming on for one or two drive cycles). Light came on and stayed on in early 2013 and I took to dealership. They found a "bad wire" on the passenger seat which was repaired. The light stayed off for about six months after that. It then started coming on intermitently again (didn't bother to take to dealer since the light wouldn't stay on reliably only one or two drive cycles). About three weeks ago the light came on continuously again (light stayed on for three weeks). Due to travel I couldn't get it in until this week. LIght was still on when I dropped off at dealer (it hadn't shut off once in three weeks). They called me the next day wanting to charge me for diganossis (I pointed out the air bags were still under the 6/60k warranty which they argued--saying it was 50k but finally agreed with me). The following day they called me and said the light is out we cannot do anything. The next time the light comes on pull to the side of the road and call us we will come get the car (great plan). I pressed them and they said there were three codes stored in memory implicating the passenger side airbag system but since the air bag light was not on Ford would not let them do any work on the system under warranty. I called the Ford number to escalate to regional service manager who is supposed to call me back tomorrow. Edited March 26, 2015 by secstate8283 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenverPed Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 I am back. Glad to see that I am not the only one with the problem with the passenger side Air Bag warning light that is intermittent. Since my last post I had an adult rear seat passenger and the light finally came on and stayed on. I took it in this week and they removed the passenger seat but could not find the problem with that harness. Ended up finding a bad connector on a pigtail under the right rear seat that runs along the door sill. They replaced the part ($200) plus labor and the light is now off. The dealer refused to charge this off to the warranty because I now have 65000 miles on it. I have the paper work to show that this problem with airbag warning lights goes back to the first year I had the car. For the past two years I have been telling them that it occurs only when I have an adult rear seat passenger. It has been occurring long before the current mileage. I have had it in multiple times where I ran a VHR but they could not read a code. Unfortunately, I do not have records of all those visits. I complained again to Ford Customer Care and again they kicked the can down the road to the Service Manager at my dealership. Talk about the Fox Guarding the HenHouse. I expect I will eat the $240 but I am still angry about their inability to find the problem and correct it. I have driven this vehicle too many miles with the light on and no airbags. We are a retired couple so we rarely have a rear seat passenger and then it is on a weekend when the dealer is closed. BTW-One might wonder how that connector got damaged. The only time the rear seat was out was when they were trying to find a rattle in the right rear of my car. It tuned out to be a loose tie down bracket for the HV battery right behind the seat. (That was another 2 day repair job, only resolved when they called Ford for technical advice). Often wonder if anyone from Ford reads this stuff or really cares. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenverPed Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Mikey14SE, Are you still active? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 He hasn't logged in for the last 2 months. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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