I have a 2006 Explorer with the 4.6 liter V8.

The airbag light on the dash comes on randomly after start up. It lights up solid and does not flash a code. I hooked up my code reader to it and it shows no code as well.

As part of my observations I have noticed that the passenger air bag off light comes on and goes off even when the seat is empty. This has me stumped.

Any ideas?

Shane

 

It's frustrating! I had the same problem in a 2004 Explorer with the v6. The problem was probably ~6 years ago, so I'm struggling to remember what I did. I'll post back if I remember. Sorry I'm not more help.

 

If you can remember that would be helpful. Until then I will take some comfort in the fact that I am not the only one who has had to deal with it and that there is hopefully a solution.

 

You might want to check the owner's manual for the correct operation of the passenger airbag light. On some models the "Passenger air bag off" light comes on for a short amount of time after the car is started, but then goes out until the next time the car is started so as to not distract the driver.

A standard scan tool is unable to access air bag diagnostic codes, so it shouldn't be a surprise that you are not getting any codes unless you have successfully read air bag codes from this truck with that scan tool in the past.

If the owner's manual or past experience tells you the light for the passenger air bad is not behaving properly, I'd suspect an issue with the passenger occupancy sensor. I had an issue with that sensor in my wife's 2010 Lincoln MKT. I located the sensors and sprayed them with Caig DeOxit and interestingly the problem went away for a couple of years at least. The sensors were still working properly at least up to the point where some lady decided she didn't need to stop for a stop sign and t-boned the MKT and totaled it out. FWIW, all the side curtain airbags deployed and no one was hurt.

I would guess that the occupancy sensors used in the 2006 Explorer are pretty similar to the 2010 Lincoln.

Another thing to consider is if you have the Easy Exit feature and it's enabled, that puts a lot of wear and tear on the driver's seat wiring. There have been several reports of people finding broken wires under the driver's seat for the seat belts and sometimes side airbags. You might check that as well, along with the condition of the wiring under the passenger seat.

-Rod

 

You could be right about the light going off so I will have to look at the manual. I have never paid much attention to it until the light on the dash started coming on. I have never read airbag codes with my code reader so I will have to look at its documentation to see if it is supposed to be capable. My understanding was if there was a code, the light would flash the code instead of coming on solid with no blinking whatsoever.

I have looked at the wiring and it appears to be intact. Do you know of any pictures of the occupancy sensor? I could try using the spray like you did if I can locate the sensors and what they look like and where they are under the seat. Thanks.

 

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the sensors when I was working on the MKT. I'll try to get some time this evening to look through the service manual to see if there's anything shown there. Generally they consider that a non-serviceable item so I'm guessing there won't be any images though....

-Rod

 

If you come across anything I would appreciate you sharing Rod. Thanks for the input so far. I intend to narrow this thing down.

 

Ooops, I had forgotten to look. I just went through my saved photos though and don't have any. Unfortunately I currently do not have any Ford's in my garage so I cannot go check one and snap some pics.

-Rod

 

Rod,

Thanks for looking. Maybe someone else will read this post and be able to share some images.

Shane