Airbags are such critical elements in any vehicle that manufacturers normally install sensors to alert drivers when the airbag system is faulty. A faulty airbag can be detected in two ways. The airbag warning light normally comes on when the engine is started. It stays on for a few seconds as it performs a quick self-check. If everything is working fine, the airbag light should go off after those few seconds. The problem comes when the warning light stays on or doesn’t come on in the first place.
In this article, we look at the steps that you should take if your Subaru airbag warning light stays on.
One of the things that you should be aware of is that there are many reasons why your Subaru warning light may light up. Some of these reasons are easy to fix, while others may need to be fixed by certified Subaru experts. Being able to eliminate all the easy fixes will save you time and money. Here is what you should do should the airbag warning light stay on.
Given that much of the functionality in your Subaru is controlled by computer software, sometimes there are software glitches that may cause your airbag warning light to stay on. In such circumstances, restarting your engine may fix the problem. Start your engine and keep it on for a few seconds. Switch it off completely and after a few seconds restart it again. For simple software glitches, this may fix the problem.
This may sometimes fix the problem, especially if your Subaru has not been driven in a while. If turning the engine on and off does not fix the problem, the next step may be to drive your Subaru for a short distance. This may sometimes clear the problem. If the warning light stays on after your short drive, move on to the next fix on this list.
Subaru and other vehicle manufacturers often place a switch on the passenger-side seat that can deactivate the passenger-side airbag. If this switch is turned off, then the airbag warning light is likely to remain on. This is the other place that you should check. Even if you hadn’t turned it off yourself, the switch may have been disconnected during routine car-care tasks such as interior detailing and so on. Depending on the Subaru model in question, this switch may be under the passenger seat or maybe in the glove compartment.
In most Subaru models, the SRS system that controls the airbags is also linked to the seat belt system. If the seatbelts do not work as they are supposed to, they may trigger an airbag warning light to go up. For this reason, the next place to check is the seat belt system. There are a number of reasons for the seat belt system not to work. It ranges from a faulty fastening system to simple problems such as blockages. Sometimes coins and other physical objects get into the fastening system and prevent this safety belt from working properly. If there is a problem with the seat belts, fixing it should take care of the airbag warning light problem.
Most of what we have covered are quick fixes. If your Subaru airbag light is still on, there might be a problem with the sensors or even with the airbag system itself. AT this point, the best thing to do is to find a Subaru dealership with advanced Subaru diagnostic equipment to find the problem. if the sensors are faulty, they may need to be replaced and the entire system reset.
