Airbag Light

I recently began having charging problems with my 1997 Elantra. I just had
the alternator replaced today. The same day I started having problems, my
airbag light came on and stayed on. I thought it would go off once the
alternator was replaced, but it is still on. Can anyone tell me if these
two things are connected or if they could be completely separate? I just
spent quite a bit of money and I'm not looking forward to spending more.
Thanks.

 

Probably, they are. The air bag system will set a code and illuminate the
lamp if system voltage is too high or too low. Was the place where you
had the alternator replaced able to read the air bag code? If not, you'll
probably need to visit the dealer and pay a little bit for them to hook
up, verify the code, and turn out the lamp. On this car, I believe the
lamp will stay on for quite some time after the problem occurs.

 

I did not think about the airbag light until after I left the repair shop.
I had hoped it would go off. Can you tell me if this is just a minor
light problem or if my airbag system is malfunctioning? I can live with
the light remaining on, but I want to make sure that I am not taking any
safety chances.

 

Can't tell you that without the diagnostic code. What I can tell you is
that if the lamp is on, you should expect that your air bags are turned
off. You should have it checked. It's probably just from the low
voltage, but I'd want to know if it were something more serious.

 

our Tiburon had the very same problem and when we changed the battery , the
light came on and we needed to use a regular snap-on scanner with a k-2 key
in the generic obdII mode and we were able to re-set the light with no
hassles . most reputable private shops now have pretty decent snap-on
scanners and would probably be able to do it for him

 

Disconnect the battery, wait a minute, and reconnect. See if it resets.

 

it won't work , you will need to have the pcm re-set for it to go out

 

it won't work , you will need to have the pcm re-set for it to go out

 

No, the system does not turn off the airbags when it turns on the lamp.

 

It DOES turn off the passenger's frontal airbag, but not the others.