Hi everyone, I have a 2005 G35x with 85,000 miles. The airbag light went off back in January and I reset it but it came back so I brought it to the dealership. I paid $115 for them to clear the code as they were hoping it might have been a glitch, but as soon as I got to work the light started flashing again.

I was quoted $1,800 to replace the RH side airbag and sensor, of which $1,100 are parts alone. Am I out of luck here and need to suck it up and pay, or are there any other alternatives? I'm thinking I'm out of luck.

This is so depressing.

Edit: This is from the invoice

My invoice says the following:

AIRBAG LIGHT FLASHING. B1129 RH SIDE AIRBAG OPEN. PAST CODE. PER FAULT TRACED CHECKED HARNESS FOR PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG. NO VISUAL DAMAGE. NEEDS RH SIDE AIRBAG AND DIAG SENSOR. APPROX $1800.00 FOR DIAG SENSOR AND SIDE MODULE IF LIGHT COMES BACK ON.

 

Do this:

Call the dealership.
Get the exact part number you need from the service advisor.
Go to car-part.com
Search for this RH sensor by putting the particulars of your car in the search field.
Call around or use the chat option to talk to the used auto parts ppl.
(I use the gmail phone option to make free calls in US and Canada)
Get the person to ship out the parts after it matches the part number you have from the dealer (its always good to deal with a person who has a good refund policy i.e. is selling crap as is and will take the part back should it not function properly or be DOA) .
Since you will be able to get an idea of what the part costs after you call a few places you'll be able to price match each of the used parts places.

This way you save a lot of money rather than buying brand new parts.
Dunno about the $700 labor cost, maybe someone else can chime in about that.

 

pass airbag is under the dash. The dash is designed to tear away. Basically the $700 labor is to yank the dash

 

Have you done the airbag recall yet? If not, ask the dealership to do that first. However many of us here got the light flashing after the recall; some were good after reset, but some were told by dealership to replace the airbags, and the light still came back on after replacing the airbags. I believe the airbags don't go bad easily unless the car's been in an accident, and in my experience it's more like the wiring harness causing the problem. Don't jump into replacing the airbags just yet, do a diagnosis first. The first part of the link below shows how you can do the diagnosis on your SRS system by the flash pattern, do that first to find out which airbag (or connection) is faulty.

DIY: Cancel Airbag Light (Proper Way) and 07 Weight Sensor Bypass

 

Thanks Ray for the link, I'm going to try this tonight. Thanks to the others for their information as well.

If I have to spend $1,800 to correct this issue I will be at odds as to what to do...I better have plans to keep my vehicle for a good amount of time if I'm going to spend money like that.

 

I actually had my drivers airbag replaced under warranty. Happened at 30k miles. The light popped on.

They replaced the airbag, a harness in the column and a sensor. I kinda questioned to myself why they replaced so much, but since it was a warranty issue and I didn't pay anything, I didnt care.

 

That's the beauty of warranty, just get it fixed and no questions asked. I bet they had no idea which component is the exact cause, so they replace everything in the loop. For those who are already out of warranty, it's just not right for the customer to pay all those parts just because they couldn't figure out the faulty one. When I had the light came on the dealership told me it was the crash zone sensor and it's gonna cost me $460 to get it replaced, it turns out it had nothing to do with the crash zone sensor; had I paid them to get it replaced, I'd be getting the light coming back on and be told to replace other parts on my dime. There's no way I'm letting them do that to me, nor should anyone. Just my .02.

 

Agreed. Rather than do diagnostic work to find the exact reason, you get the feeling they sometimes guess and parts-swap and you are stuck with the bill if it's wrong.

 

My invoice says the following:

AIRBAG LIGHT FLASHING. B1129 RH SIDE AIRBAG OPEN. PAST CODE. PER FAULT TRACED CHECKED HARNESS FOR PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG. NO VISUAL DAMAGE. NEEDS RH SIDE AIRBAG AND DIAG SENSOR. APPROX $1800.00 FOR DIAG SENSOR AND SIDE MODULE IF LIGHT COMES BACK ON.

And yes, the light did come back on. I'm sick thinking about this cost.

 

The airbag light came on after the recall? What a shock... I am starting to think that this is all connected. How do airbags go bad?

 

Actually I brought my car in for the airbag recall last year...I mentioned the recall to the service advisor today and he said they had fixed the recall issue but this was different. The light didn't start flashing until maybe six months after I had the recall issue repaired.

I can understand pretty much anything in the car going (radiator fan, alternator, whatever) but the airbag is something that doesn't endure any daily movement/stress. Why would this happen about six years after I purchased the car? I feel like I'm throwing money down a pit (I know though, if god forbid I was in an accident it's be terrible if the airbag doesn't go off because it is bad).

 

Who's this imposter?

 

Damn...I thought this was you the entire time.


Another M******* it seems

 

Ha! Sorry no this isn't "G35 Mass" and I didn't know someone else on here had a name like this. Yes I live in Massachusetts, my apologies for that...

 

How did your diagnostics test turn out?