My dad and I are looking at buying a 2012 Impreza with a Salvage title. Little front end damage, cosmetic damage was fixed, airbags replaced, but the light is still on. Owner says the dealer can reset this for $1k, but someone with the right equipment can do it for a lot less.... This is WAAAAYYYYYY newer than what I'm used to working on. Anyone know what's involved? Is it something that could be done with a Tactrix cable?
I'm always at a loss to understand cars with "little" damage but they are still sporting a salvage title. I would not trust anyone who said they replaced the airbags without pulling them for inspection and requiring a proper a receipt from a legitimate source. I doubt there is more to it than a simple resetting of the light if a dealer indeed wants $1000 to "fix" it. Unless the dealer is doing something they aren't supposed to be doing to a car with a salvage title, hence the high dollar amount.
Exactly. I read the OP post and immediately cringed. Id find everything out about the shop that fixed the airbag system. Hopefully it isnt Bubba who "dun fixed it". You are taking quite a gamble
Alright, thanks guys, I do appreciate the words of caution, but we have had a lot of experience with salvage cars. We know what to look for, and are not afraid of having to do a little extra upkeep as a result. Seriously though, anyone have any actual experience with this? Assuming (we are prepared to take the risk that this isn't the case) all the components are functioning, what is involved in resetting the system?
So. In case anyone is interested, here's what we've found out so far. We made a phone call to Morries MTKA Subaru service department, and were told that crash data will not keep the light on, nor will stored codes. So, it probably needs impact sensors in the front. Any mediocre OBD II reader should be able to read the codes that would tell us for sure. IMO, this is good news, as those sensors are not terribly expensive. We haven't pulled the trigger on the car, yet....
No OBD II reader? I recently purchased one along with the Dash Command app for my iPhone. Worked slick on our Ford. Highly recommend it. If the sensors are not real expensive, I still curious as to where the $1000 price tag comes from. I intended no offense regarding your general car knowledge. My reply was aimed more for the lesser informed readers.
I was mulling this idea around in my head on my drive into work today and was going to suggest looking into the crash sensors. Shouldn't be terrible to replace them either. they typically are mounted by one bolt to the "frame rails" in the engine bay. The connectors may have some extra fidgeting to get them disconnected and they may have a security torx bolt mounting them to the frame.
Hello I just purchased a repairable 2012 forester where the curtain bags went off. AFAIK after an accident there are hard codes which cannot be fixed with a code reader. I'm not sure about the Forester vs Impreza but in the forester the codes were still there. The bags were replaced but the light was still on so I ended up sending mine to http://www.myairbags.com/ It cost $50 bucks for them to do their thing. They also replaced my seat belt pretensioners as well. Good luck
We use an Autel or tech2 at work for most cars, which can pull all the airbag data, stored and live. I might suggest finding a friendly local shop that will scan thecsystem so you know if you are dealing with a faulty connection or sensor. I think all Subarus 09+ are rid of the test light connectors for checking codes and light reset...bummer. Worth a double check tho. As for resetting let me see if the autel will clear out the codes or not. Will report back on that one. I eewired a 2012 forester and the airbag impact connectors were behind the bumper, but otherwise easy to access after front bumper and facia removal.
I figured I'd follow-up on this, since we just fixed it. Only put 40k miles on it with no airbags Airbag data can not be cleared, the airbag control unit had to be replaced. Expensive part, but not much of a project to install.
Forty thousand miles with no air bags is probably safer than the hand grenade Takata bags so many cars are sporting.
