‘98 GT airbag light

[Stevo F]

getting my son’s Legacy cleaned and ready to return to him today, after getting a new set of tires, and noticed the airbag light now stays on. Never any issues with it before and no accidents or issues with the light before (definitely none in the 2+ years we’ve owned it).

 

Could a simple tire replacement have triggered it in any way? (no connection between the two that I can think of).

 

Any electrical connections I can see look tight and no work has been done in or around the dash area recently.

 

 What else can we check on our own or should we bring it to someone who can scan the code? My scanner only does ECU codes.

 

I hate to return the car to him with this issue (he is at college an hour away). Ironically he has been driving my other son’s Honda for which I have an appointment to have it’s 3rd airbag inflator recall done), so I need to get car back from him when he comes over later today.

[Nohenns]

I am also curious about this. I have had an airbag light since I did an auto to manual swap. I have always assumed that the Subaru dealership would have code readers to reset that light but I never went and checked it out because I don't want to spend the money

[wtdash]

Do the horn and cruise still work? If NOT, then likely the roll connector/Clock spring is dead.

 

There is also a diagnostic check.

 

Found this: https://codes.rennacs.com/SRS-Airbag/Japanese-Korean/Subaru-Airbags.php

[Stevo F]

Do the horn and cruise still work? If NOT, then likely the roll connector/Clock spring is dead.

 

There is also a diagnostic check.

 

Found this: https://codes.rennacs.com/SRS-Airbag/Japanese-Korean/Subaru-Airbags.php

 

Yes, the horn does work and cruise control never did. My mechanic will come by and scan the code for no charge- just waiting for him to get back in town again.

[Stevo F]

Yes, the horn does work and cruise control never did. My mechanic will come by and scan the code for no charge- just waiting for him to get back in town again.

 

My mechanic's fancy SRS scanner couldn't read it so he told me to try the diagnostic per the link above.

 

After some looking around under the dash I finally located a black plug that matched one of the pictures. I grounded pin 1, per the instructions, and I was able to extract error code # 12, The descriptions I found were:

 

"This Relates to Driver's airbag or control module circuit faults", which seems pretty vague.

 

I Googled the code number and came up with this:

"Airbag Main Wiring Harness, Module Wiring Harness Or Roll Connector Open"

 

So are these descriptions saying code # 12 means I should replace he control unit? Used ones seem fairly plentiful on Ebay for not a lot of money.