Need Airbag systems help..
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5th Gear
Joined: Jun 2025
Posts: 5
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Need Airbag systems help..
Hey all, hoping some of you ford techs can help point me in the right direction.
2000 E150 Econoline 5.4
The van originally was a high roof road cruiser with aftermarket seats with stock belt pretensioners.. However passanger seat was never connected.
In December we got in quite a bad accident where the van took a heavy front end impact and both airbags deployed.
The van has been fully rebuilt, 2010 upgrade to the front end with all new parts, we replaced the impact sensor with a junk yard find.
Both airbags replaced, ECS replaced (all junk yard but from un-crashed trucks)
New seats from a Toyota Sienna, with new belts, and we have connected the pretensioners (stock ford from another econoline)
I am now getting 4 major codes and we need to clear these to get the salvage tilte.
Dash light is 32
Forscan DTC is B1932, B1933, B1230, B1232
Both Air bags open circuit and both pretensioners as well as bracket is >100ohms
I have wracked my brain on this one and I am at a bit of a loss..
I have not replaced the clock spring yet but all buttons on the wheel work..
Feels like the whole system is not working, yet all are new, and what we believe to be operational items..
Any help on a debug proceedure would be much appreciated.
thanks
Eric
2000 E150 Econoline 5.4
The van originally was a high roof road cruiser with aftermarket seats with stock belt pretensioners.. However passanger seat was never connected.
In December we got in quite a bad accident where the van took a heavy front end impact and both airbags deployed.
The van has been fully rebuilt, 2010 upgrade to the front end with all new parts, we replaced the impact sensor with a junk yard find.
Both airbags replaced, ECS replaced (all junk yard but from un-crashed trucks)
New seats from a Toyota Sienna, with new belts, and we have connected the pretensioners (stock ford from another econoline)
I am now getting 4 major codes and we need to clear these to get the salvage tilte.
Dash light is 32
Forscan DTC is B1932, B1933, B1230, B1232
Both Air bags open circuit and both pretensioners as well as bracket is >100ohms
I have wracked my brain on this one and I am at a bit of a loss..
I have not replaced the clock spring yet but all buttons on the wheel work..
Feels like the whole system is not working, yet all are new, and what we believe to be operational items..
Any help on a debug proceedure would be much appreciated.
thanks
Eric
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5th Gear
Joined: Jun 2025
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
@etpina amazing thank you! This is super helpful.
I am looking this over and it seems that they want you to use the airbag simulator installed for all tests rather then an armed airbag.. Am I reading this correctly? or only for C5 (driver air bag test)
I was always under the impression to never use a voltmeter to test resistance on any circuit that leads to the bag if connected? However if I read this the other way its saying you should test C200 (module connector) with the airbag still installed..
Any ideas?
I am looking this over and it seems that they want you to use the airbag simulator installed for all tests rather then an armed airbag.. Am I reading this correctly? or only for C5 (driver air bag test)
I was always under the impression to never use a voltmeter to test resistance on any circuit that leads to the bag if connected? However if I read this the other way its saying you should test C200 (module connector) with the airbag still installed..
Any ideas?
Thread Starter
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5th Gear
Joined: Jun 2025
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
So question for you all.
So this van is heavily modified (lift, full self contained build, etc, etc...) So after this accident we have changed the seats to Toyota Sienna units as the previous road cruiser leather seats were damaged. This means the buckle is not compatible with the stock belts so ideal is to change the whole system.
Problem is compatibility..
So my hope was to just hard wire the belt and pretensioner with static resistors so I can pass inspection, then find a longer term solve that integrates the new belts into the old system from a electrical standpoint (modify the toyota units to send the correct resistance to the Ford ECS)
- option 1 - get a new seat belt buckle and install it hidden and tucked up under the seat with a buckle installed so it properly triggers the system as driver belt on..
- option 2 - install static resistors on the line (similar to the test resistors) to fake the system into thinking the belt is on and the pretensioner is primed
- option 3 - modify the Toyota units to work
I read between 2-3 ohms online for pretensioner, but nothing on the buckle switch..
So am I safe to assume
- 2 ohm static resistor across the pretensioner pins
- short (close circuit) across the buckle swtich pins
I of course do not want to accidentally trigger the air bag with this..
thanks
Mountain Pass
Joined: Mar 2023
Posts: 222
Likes: 54
I don't know about the 2000 model year but, on later years, the belt buckles were not actually part of the seat proper but were attached to the pedestal. Is it possible to attach the Ford buckle section (likely with the pretensioner) to either the new pedestal or a fabricated bracket?
This would allow you to use the entire original system and eliminate having to "fool" the SRS module. Also, (and again this is for later years) the pretensioner is in the buckle portion. Likely the Toyota pretensioner is in the B pillar. Using the full original system would mean you'd have functional pretensioners.
This would allow you to use the entire original system and eliminate having to "fool" the SRS module. Also, (and again this is for later years) the pretensioner is in the buckle portion. Likely the Toyota pretensioner is in the B pillar. Using the full original system would mean you'd have functional pretensioners.
Thread Starter
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5th Gear
Joined: Jun 2025
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
I don't know about the 2000 model year but, on later years, the belt buckles were not actually part of the seat proper but were attached to the pedestal. Is it possible to attach the Ford buckle section (likely with the pretensioner) to either the new pedestal or a fabricated bracket?
This would allow you to use the entire original system and eliminate having to "fool" the SRS module. Also, (and again this is for later years) the pretensioner is in the buckle portion. Likely the Toyota pretensioner is in the B pillar. Using the full original system would mean you'd have functional pretensioners.
This would allow you to use the entire original system and eliminate having to "fool" the SRS module. Also, (and again this is for later years) the pretensioner is in the buckle portion. Likely the Toyota pretensioner is in the B pillar. Using the full original system would mean you'd have functional pretensioners.
I guess ideal is to find the correct resistance for each and just build a dummy plug, which is what I suspect the testing plug from the factory is, so maybe also go that route..
Thanks again for the download that was very helpful!
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5th Gear
Joined: Jun 2025
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OK problem solved
for future readers if you are looking to do a seat change
for the drivers side short the two wires together coming from the seat belt buckle (2 wires on the bottom of the connector coming up from the floor)
then add a 2ohm resistor between the two wires that lead to the pretensioner (2 top wires)
on the passenger side do the same with just the resistor (no buckle switch on that side) this should cause the ECS to think the pretensioners are active and the belt is in the driver
you can also connect the two wires to the belt switch to whatever new buckle you are using as long as it’s an open circuit when not On and closed circuit when on.
For the rest of my system we had installed the ECS computer incorrectly which cause our errors
so on the ECS there is a red colored cap over the pins on the C200 connector, this can come off easily. Make sure it’s installed correctly. You’ll notice larger square holes on either end that ships go over the shorting bars on each end of the connector. If installed wrong this will not disengage the shorting bar’s and cause the errors
Thanks again for everyone that helped
for future readers if you are looking to do a seat change
for the drivers side short the two wires together coming from the seat belt buckle (2 wires on the bottom of the connector coming up from the floor)
then add a 2ohm resistor between the two wires that lead to the pretensioner (2 top wires)
on the passenger side do the same with just the resistor (no buckle switch on that side) this should cause the ECS to think the pretensioners are active and the belt is in the driver
you can also connect the two wires to the belt switch to whatever new buckle you are using as long as it’s an open circuit when not On and closed circuit when on.
For the rest of my system we had installed the ECS computer incorrectly which cause our errors
so on the ECS there is a red colored cap over the pins on the C200 connector, this can come off easily. Make sure it’s installed correctly. You’ll notice larger square holes on either end that ships go over the shorting bars on each end of the connector. If installed wrong this will not disengage the shorting bar’s and cause the errors
Thanks again for everyone that helped
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