Hi All,

Seeking help from the gurus out there that are smarter than me.

The other day, completely randomly, my airbag light came on. I know the light will stay on if the issue is present so resetting it with my scanner won't do any good.

I scanned it with Forscan and got the code B0001: 13-8B with a specific fault of an open circuit.

I pulled my airbag and checked the wiring in the steering wheel to the airbag and they are all good.

This means the issue is either the airbag assembly itself (but I don't see why it would suddenly fail)
OR
the clockspring is failing.

Anyone have any recommendations on how to test the clock spring and confirm if that's my issue vs something else? My local dealer is $140/hr and I know I can at least pinpoint this problem with a little help. My wife is also days away from having a baby so I can't waste time waiting for Ford to work me into their schedule then sit on it while they do exactly the same tests I could do.

FWIW the steering wheel buttons/controls DO still ALL work which would make me think it's not the clock spring, but I think every switch/button is a different wire so maybe my airbag wire is bad while the others are still good in the spring - is this possible?

I have Forscan and a multi-meter. --> If anyone can explain how to test modules and resistance in Forscan that would be appreciated, I know it can be done but not sure how.


Any input or advice on how to go about testing for this code in general and specifically my clock spring would be greatly appreciated!

 

Take it to your dealer or a shop that knows what their doing.

Air bags are not something to play with to pinpoint a problem if you really don’t know what you’re doing or looking for.

 

The SRS warning light covers the entire restraint system, not just the drivers airbag.
Please take the truck to a tech who knows what they are doing, instead of feeling around in the dark.

 

Thanks both for the replies.

FYI - The truck was in an accident last year and I've worked on/with airbags in the past and while repairing this vehicle myself.

To anyone interested in the conclusion- I pulled the airbag and checked the connections - all seemed good. Reinstalled and then the light was off.

If you don't know, when an airbag goes off, the explosion from the inflator which is technically a "pyrotechnic" device can melt the plastic wire harness fittings. This happened to me so I had to splice in new wires/connectors when installing the new airbag. My specific code was for the driver/steering wheel airbag for an open circuit which led me to suspect my wiring had come undone somehow after a year of driving and turning the wheel - I thought maybe the splice had come undone.

I pulled the airbag, checked the wiring, especially around the spline connections but everything was good. When I reinstalled and powered up the vehicle, I had no light and the code was gone.

For this specific code, I knew it can sometimes be a "phantom" code where it happens then goes away - even though my connections were all good, removing and reinstalling seems to have worked.

Worst case - this airbag wouldn't deploy in an accident if the module failed again but it will not cause any other issues.

Mystery solved. Case closed.