Technical > Automotive > 2010 Ford Fusion Airbag Light

2010 Ford Fusion Airbag Light

I would call Ford corporate, and ask them before bringing it back to the dealer.

Also, you should get (should have received) paperwork for your two previous visits for this concern.
At the very least have the dates of these visits prior to calling Ford.
--
The talented hawk speaks French.

reply to thegeek
Sometimes the airbag light comes on with a bad battery. Have you had the battery tested?

I've read online that the battery may be causing it. I haven't checked that though. I think I'll head to NAPA after work and have them check it.

reply to thegeek
I know for Toyota, as long as your first visit for a problem was within warranty, the car is warranted for the repair outside the warranty period until it is fixed.
--
My Blog 2.2

reply to thegeek
You want to get all the documentation on what has been done that you can. Dates, times, who, what was done and more. And I would call Ford's Customer Service, number is probably in your Owner's Manual.

I would recommend going to another dealer, if you have doubts about this one.

Many things can or may be warranted beyond the warranty period. Yep, secret warranties exist. I have seen them go double, and in rare cases up to 100k, the original in time and mileage when it was 36/36. It all depends upon the policies of the Manufacturer and the reasonable steps the owner has taken. I would think this would be a safety issue. May want to look at the Lemon Laws for your state.

Check out a site like this - »www.mycarstats.com/ to see if others have reported similar problems.

As a side note, before all the Bailouts I worked a PT job for a short time for one of the big 3. Basically my job entailed cost assistance for problems beyond the warranty period or helping folks get repairs done properly during the warranty period. At that time, that manufacturer, as long as I could build a business case would pay for many repairs outside the standard warranty period. Payment could be as little as an Oil Change and Tire Rotation up to thousands for new engine or transmission. Sometimes it was on a percentage basis where customer paid part, other times it was 100%.

Many times I directed customers go to different dealers to have a second look and that "fixed" the problem. It was a call center environment, but when I took the call from a customer, I "owned" the issue till its resolution.

Unfortunately that was a while ago, and have no idea how things are handled now.

hth

reply to thegeek
Run a Vehicle Heath Report when the light is on (from within Sync). When my Taurus did this, the code was for the passenger seatbelt latch. They cleaned and lubed the connectors. About a month later same thing so they replaced the sensor. That was last year.

The important thing is getting them the correct code.

Never thought about the health report. Never tried it before. I'll have to figure out how to do that. Thanks.

Still haven't tested the battery.

IIRC you do have to set your cellphone up with it but you pretty much tell Sync "Phone" then "Vehicle health report" and it does it and sends it to Ford.

When I made my appointment the service advisor had a copy of it there and I think that's where they got the code information from. It's a pretty slick system.

reply to thegeek
I REALLY doubt that the airbag on a 2010 model is about to go out of warranty. If you call Ford or the dealer, verify what the warranty coverage for the airbag is. The SRS system is a federally mandated safety system and as such is required by law to meet certain reliability standards. I don't think that a two year product life meets those requirements.

reply to Gbcue

reply to thegeek
If they've already worked on it and the problem is recurring then they will continue to work on it free outside of warranty. If you don't think the dealer is putting enough effort into and don't want to bother with another dealer then contact Ford customer care. They will contact the dealership directly and light a fire under them to address the issue to your satisfaction. Maybe you'd also want to consider a Ford ESP extended warranty if you plan to keep the car awhile. Don't buy from the local dealer as they screw you over on these, get it through a different dealer over the net. They sell these at next to nothing over their cost just to have a high volume of ESP sales.

reply to thegeek
Submit your concerns here: »www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleCom···ex.xhtml

Your airbag light shouldn't turn on due to a bad battery, that's an engineering defect.

Your airbag light shouldn't turn on without any DTC being stored.

Your airbag module shouldn't be throwing a DTC and and the dealer says

Dealers can and will be lazy, but its not acceptable that they have no concerns for the safety features in your car. Despite the contrary claims, I would insist that they provide you with detailed records of the incidents, including detailed print outs of the diagnostics system.
--
PRescott7-2097

I use to work for Takata. They are a major OEM manufacturer of airbags and the related electronics modules for Honda, Ford and others. Their collision detection units were referred to as DERMs (Delayed Energy Release Modules) because they could deploy the airbag for seconds after the battery was completely disconnected. A protection against instantaneous electrical failure in a collision. They did this by charging several large capacitors on the circuit board to 14 VDC. The circuit that charged those capacitors remained functional down to a battery voltage of only 6 VDC. In short, the airbags were functional to a point where the battery wouldn't power the ignition.

reply to thegeek
Here's an update in case anyone cares.

The battery was in fact bad, but that wasn't the cause. I finally got around to replacing the battery once it left me high and dry one day after work. Started great in the morning. Didn't turn on any lights so no lights left on. But came out for lunch and dead battery. So I replaced it but the airbag light was still going on and off.

Took it into Ford again and they narrowed it down to a loose connection under the driver's seat. I regularly move the seat up when I have kids in the car to give them more leg room but move it all the way back when by myself. Ford said they fixed the connection.

I'm guessing they only firmly seated the connectors because the next day it came loose again. I went back to Ford pissed off and told them that just tightening the connection again isn't going to do it. I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary with the vehicle to cause it to come loose. I told them to keep the car until it was fixed. I wanted the connectors replaced. They didn't have them in stock. I refused to drive the car because it could be unsafe. I demanded a loaner. They don't normally give loaners. But after talking to the manager he said I could take anything on the lot except one of the GT500s. I took a 2012 Expedition King Ranch. Nice boat. I would have taken a small car but my wife wants to replace her 2008 Toyota Sequoia so it was a nice long test drive. Don't think I'll be buying one though. Glad to have my Fusion back.