# Roof Airbag Deployed and Seat Belt stuck!



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Take the car straight to the nearest General Motors dealership and pay them. Airbags and seatbelt pretensioners are explosive devices. They are not trivial items to be handled by well-meaning amateurs. 

I suspect that your vehicle is no longer legal to operate on public roads. Therefore a tow will likely be in order. 

Furthermore, replacement of such collision items should be covered by your car insurance.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Note that airbag deployment frequently "totals" the car beyond economic repair. At 5 years and 84,000 miles I'm not taking bets.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

dankhan said:


> Hi. My name is Dan and i am new to the forum here. I bought a 2012 chevy cruze ls with 84,000 miles. I am in new jersey. The car has a service airbag warning light on and the roof airbags on both sides need replacement and as well the front two seat belts. Can I get any tips or advice on how to replace both the roof airbags and the both the front seat belts. Thank you!


Dan, how did you acquire this Car. Sounds like it was involved in an accident and might have other hidden damage. If it was your accident and you carry full insurance coverage I would make a claim. If you bought it from a business I'm not sure it would be legal to be sold in that condition. Perhaps the car was a roll over if the roof bags blew. You might want to have all 10 air bags inspected and the pretensioners replaced as it is unsafe to drive


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## dankhan (Jan 21, 2017)

The car was bought from Copart. The car was listed as run and drive and I wasn't informed about the signs of the service airbag or the roof airbags being blown out. All the car needs is the front right fender and the front bumper and it is a clean title car. The car was sold as-is in the auction so I can't do anything about it .


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

dankhan said:


> The car was sold as-is in the auction so I can't do anything about it .


Time to head to a legal forum. Apparently those laws very by state. 

You could call around. I'm sure there are third party companies that will do collision repair. They'd be the ones who can tell you if only a dealer can do it.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Regarding the upper air bags.......they come with the headliner as an assembly.
Replacement requires R&R of either the windshield or back glass although I have heard of success with front seat removal (and floor console) and carefully working it into the car through a rear door.
The seat belts are basically unbolt & exchange as required.

You will need to get access to a service manual to help you determine which sensors will require replacement and ultimatly a dealer will be required to program the new parts to the car.

Should be educational and possibly rather expensive.

Rob


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Robby said:


> Regarding the upper air bags.......they come with the headliner as an assembly.


GM Parts Direct shows them as separate. List price at $750/bag. If the headliner is damaged, that's about $1000. You are correct in that the headliner has to be removed as part of the process. The 2013 service manual says to pull the seats and go though the rear door.

In addition to the airbags, probably have to change a sensor ($200) and maybe the module ($400). 

OP, I think the first step is to line up local support. You're going to need someone with a pro scanner to check for codes and do any necessary reprogramming. As far as I can tell, sensors and airbags can be replaced without issues, but if a module has to be replaced, it has to be reprogrammed. But the question is what are the shops wiling to do? It could be the only way they'll touch this is if they do all the work with their parts. There's too much liability if they're involved in a DIY repair that goes wrong.

One thought on a low-cost route - contact the local community colleges. Perhaps they'll be willing to do the repair as part of auto shop training.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I think OP should consult a lawyer before proceeding with any repairs. I believe that failure to disclose FMVSS safety issues prior to sale is a violation of law in all states and would be grounds for invalidating the sale. Airbags fall under FMVSS.

OP is likely to find that there are other, serious issues with the car he purchased.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Was the car sold as parts car with known totaled/salvage title or was this one of those Progressive insurance owned cars (one of the random situations a member had years back here) that they never reported and sold off at auction?


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## dankhan (Jan 21, 2017)

Thank you for all of the feedback. The car was sold by a dealer in the copart auction.


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## dankhan (Jan 21, 2017)

The headliner is ripped. The roof airbags on both sides of the car were cut out so they were not hanging down.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

It's disappointing that the auction didn't disclose the need for airbags and tensioners. I'd go back to them, and try to get out of the sale. You're going to have more into the repair in parts, than what the auction price probably was. 

However, I've had both seats out of the car, and torn down to the frame. There is a seat belt tensioner on the outside of the seat that connects via cable to the seat belt buckle. If these have blown, they might be accessible with the seat in the car, but it could be difficult. See the pictures in my heated seats thread in my signature. Or google "Adding heated seats to LT"

If the seat belt does not retract into the A-Pillar there are explosive pretensioners in the front on each seat belt. When doing the seats I spent some time on Youtube, and there's a video of a Cruze replacing these a-Pillar devices.

Then the main Air Bag controller is behind the console in the front. That may have to be reprogrammed. I had both front seats and the center console completely out of the car to do the heated seats. 

The seats at a recycling center were $300-$500 each. this is because each seat contains an airbag, and a seat belt tensioner. While they can be removed from the seat, I'm guessing most shops are selling the entire seat, and not dealing with the disassembly.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

Insurance companies and car manufacturers only recommend repair with new OEM replacement parts. Typically you'd replace the sensor that was at the point of impact even if it looks undamaged. That being said, I've rebuilt 4 totaled 1st generation Cruzes. Of those, 3 had front airbag deployment. There are two tensioners on each seat. One is on the outside of the seat base, and the other is in the belt reel. I've bought these components both new and rebuilt. The rebuilt ones came from Five Star Airbags, and they sometimes have new OEM surplus as well as doing SDM resets. On a 2012 the Sensing and Deployment module will need to be reset or replaced after the deployed components are replaced. I was able to do one reset with a GM Tech II, and another with my $200 Launch CRP129. My '13 reset on it's own after replacing components. Airbags, I've bought new surplus or used from bigger salvage yards like LKQ. If you're unfamiliar with this type of repair, I'd look for experienced help, and get your hands on a service manual.

I've never done a Cruze that needed side airbags, but most side deployments rip the headliner at the handle. It can be made to look better, but will never be perfect. These cars are old enough that there are always some being parted on Craigslist. It shouldn't be too hard to find a good used one. Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market is a good way to search local yards.


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## dankhan (Jan 21, 2017)

Thank you for the advice. Would you recommend used parts such as seat belt tensioners from my local junkyard? I can get both the reel and buckle for $85 a set so $170 for the front pair.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

dankhan said:


> Thank you for the advice. Would you recommend used parts such as seat belt tensioners from my local junkyard? I can get both the reel and buckle for $85 a set so $170 for the front pair.


I don't know. Some JY's are pretty shady. Some are honest. It all really depends if you know and trust them. It's not the buckle you'll need. It's the tensioner, and it's on the outside edge of the seat. I believe $170 for the pair is a good price.

How much did you pay for the car? I typically can pick up a 2 year, easy fix, salvage title Cruze with 10,000-20,000 miles for about $4k ($3-$3.5K bid + fee's) Finished, I typically have $6-$7K tied up in them.


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