# Air Bag System Repair Disscussion



## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

I'm on the home stretch with rebuilding my 2013 cruze. i have over 500 miles on the car and everything has check out but the air bag system which i have regretfully put off until now. I have got both front seat belts rebuilt, the Air bag control module reset and have the driver wheel and knee bag on hand. the front sensors look good and the clock spring is the original (wires were not melted) and looks good as well. I disconnected the battery and touched the positive and neg cables together and then installed the driver wheel bag with the air bag module still removed. I decided to step back and check my self before going forward any further. This is the only system on a car i know little about.Although i plan on having the system checked out when finished im stubborn and would like to do the work myself regardless of how much or cheap it may be. 

What should my next steps be as far as installation of seat belts, knee bag and Control module?

and here are some pictures!


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

There are two tensioners on each seat. One is the reel which I assume is the one you had rebuilt. There's also a tensioner on the side of the seat. Did you change that one also? The kneebag plug kind of sucks, since it's kinda tight in the airbag. On the two I've done, I just disconnected the battery and hooked everything up. After that, I hooked up the battery and cleared the deploy code. Both have been fine since.


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## iggy (Feb 14, 2013)

Wow, so in whatever happened to that car to cause the problems, neither of the front fenders were damaged? If the shots taken of the car on the trailer are as you obtained it, that seems like a very clean looking salvage car.

Either way, you've done quite a nice job on getting it back in shape. I don't blame you one bit for being super cautious about the air bags... that alone would probably keep me from ever attempting to put something like this back together.


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## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

Gus_Mahn said:


> There are two tensioners on each seat. One is the reel which I assume is the one you had rebuilt. There's also a tensioner on the side of the seat. Did you change that one also?


 i took pictures and sent it to the guy rebuilding the tensioners. He said they looked good so i left them on the seat. When you say you cleared the deploy code...how did u do this?


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## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

iggy said:


> Wow, so in whatever happened to that car to cause the problems, neither of the front fenders were damaged? If the shots taken of the car on the trailer are as you obtained it, that seems like a very clean looking salvage car.


The car had a high impact on top of the hood around the radiator support. I had to replace the hood, bumper and cover,grille, radiator support and assembly, 1 engine mount and 1 transmission mount (8 min. each mount). also the driver fender was slightly dented so i replaced the whole thing, a/c line, and the worst of it all was a cracked transmission pan cover( its plastic is exposed to the underside of the car) 

i bought the car for 6k with 3k miles on it. i have around 1k in parts. 1k to the painter. and about 750 in 2 airbags, AIR bag module reset and 2 seat belts rebuilt. bringing my total to about 9k give or take a little. as long as i get these air bags fixed without any hiccups then my wife will have a nice car to drive and then ill finally get it in about 85k miles. It took alot of time price shopping and locating the parts but i love rebuilding cars so the time i have in it, I look at as having a hobby that saves me alot of money.

also the picture of it on the trailor was on its way to frame shop after i pulled all the bad parts out and sealed up the turbo tubes and what not. Also i forgot the frame shop charged 300 and i got an alignment last week for 100 so 9,400.00 is fairly close if not on the high side.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

dmiller369 said:


> i took pictures and sent it to the guy rebuilding the tensioners. He said they looked good so i left them on the seat. When you say you cleared the deploy code...how did u do this?


 He's probably wrong! This part needs to be changed also. 
Typically you can tell its deployed because the cable is pulled down some. The heat shrink tubing will be wrinkled. Compare it to the undeployed passenger side. These can also be checked with an ohm meter at the plug. There are youtube videos on this subject.

If you sent the SDM out, then the deploy command has probably been cleared. But I'd think the airbag light will be on because the seat tensioner will show open to the SDM. I'm not sure how the SDM works with regards to the light and codes, but I believe is the light will reset itself once the faults are fixed short of the deploy command. 

The car looks really nice BTW


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

I cleared my deploy code using a GM Tech II set to T-body. Did you have the passenger side rebuilt also? I don't think it should have been blown if there was only a driver in the car. Blown tensioners won't reel up if they are blown. There's also a white powder around the tensioner from the explosive charge going off.


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## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

ok so here are some pictures. the driver side is crunched more than than the passenger side. i believe the accident happened only with the driver seat occupied. with that being said the passenger side belt was fully locked and the driver side was not. i sent both reels out to get rebuilt. the passenger side (picture) is measuring at about 3 inches and the driver side is measuring at around 2.5 inches.

can someone go measure both their belts real quick for me.


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## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

as for the reel tensioner... i was told that if the reel rattles (like broken parts inside) when its blown.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

dmiller369 said:


> as for the reel tensioner... i was told that if the reel rattles (like broken parts inside) when its blown.


Rattling, won't reel, evidence of powder are all signs the reel tensioner is deployed. Sounds like both yours were blown. The picture with the tape looks blown to me. The heat shrink is crumpled. I don't have a Cruze here to measure, but you can check to see if yours are deployed with an ohm meter.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

Another video of the seat tensioner operation.


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## dmiller369 (Jul 24, 2014)

two new tensioners will be here tomorrow. Thanks for your help! ill keep you posted.


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## adejonda (Jan 7, 2016)

I have a similar vehicle repair (2011) Only steering wheel and driver knee bag went off. Seat belts seem fine (no powder and retract smoothly and latch if pulled out fast) but I will give them the rattle test and check with an ohm meter. I will send out the module for reset. It is under the center console correct? My other question is about the front crash impact sensors. Where are they? are they a one time use requiring replacement or are they resetable?


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

adejonda said:


> I have a similar vehicle repair (2011) Only steering wheel and driver knee bag went off. Seat belts seem fine (no powder and retract smoothly and latch if pulled out fast) but I will give them the rattle test and check with an ohm meter. I will send out the module for reset. It is under the center console correct? My other question is about the front crash impact sensors. Where are they? are they a one time use requiring replacement or are they resetable?


Though it seems unlikely that your tensioners aren't blown, it's possible they are good. OHM them out using one of the youtube videos.

The SDM is under the console at the front, but some scan tools reset this without having to remove the SDM. I have a $200 Launch CRP 129 that resets airbag lights, reads airbag codes, and displays component resistances. But if you don't have one, remove it and send it in. If you're near Chicago, I'll let you use my scan tool.

The front impact sensors are on the back side of the upper tie bar above the radiator. Both insurance companies and manufactures require replacement of the sensors relevant to the type of SRS deployment. I believe this is for liability reasons. My car has reused sensors in it, and a rebuilder buddy reuses sensors. He feels they will set a code if they are bad. You'll have to decide what to do.

Chances are that your wheel bag plugs are melted. You can buy plugs and solder them on, or change the clockspring. On both the '12's I did, the replacement clockspring was clocked wrong at the factory, which set service steering light and codes. On one I had the steering wheel angle sensor calibrated, and on the other I uncoupled the steering wheel and rotated the wheel one turn to the right.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Gus_Mahn said:


> Both insurance companies and manufactures require replacement of the sensors relevant to the type of SRS deployment. I believe this is for liability reasons. My car has reused sensors in it, and a rebuilder buddy reuses sensors. He feels they will set a code if they are bad. You'll have to decide what to do.


I find that assumption questionable. While there's something to detect if the connection is open (and set a code), I'm not sure as there's any way to be sure the sensors work. Since they were in the collision, they might have suffered internal stress above what they're expected to survive. The manufacturer recommendation may not just be for liability. They might very well have been engineered to be "single use".

Unlike other types of sensors where you can simulate the condition they're designed for, these can't be tested and yet they have to work.


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## adejonda (Jan 7, 2016)

Thanks Gus! I just took the interior apart tonight. yes the retractor and teh buckle pretensioner were blown on the left side. Got the module out, no problem. Have not looked for the impact sensors yet. I'm guessing they're behind a plastic shroud or something. Anyway to test the impact sensors? They w't blow my new bags when I hook the battery will they?


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

adejonda said:


> Have not looked for the impact sensors yet. I'm guessing they're behind a plastic shroud or something. Anyway to test the impact sensors? They w't blow my new bags when I hook the battery will they?


They're right above the fan and are easy to see. They're held in by male Torx screws. I know of no way to test the sensor other than the self diagnostics built into the SRS system. Even if the sensor is bad it shouldn't have any chance of deploying the airbag.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

ChevyGuy said:


> I find that assumption questionable. While there's something to detect if the connection is open (and set a code), I'm not sure as there's any way to be sure the sensors work. Since they were in the collision, they might have suffered internal stress above what they're expected to survive. The manufacturer recommendation may not just be for liability. They might very well have been engineered to be "single use".
> 
> Unlike other types of sensors where you can simulate the condition they're designed for, these can't be tested and yet they have to work.


 That's why I said that "You'll have to decide what to do". I can tell you the reusing sensors is common in the rebuilder world, but I understand that doesn't make it right.


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