HALP!! Car Question-Safety Restraint System Light On

[demelza]

So I have a 2010 Subaru Legacy and a 2006 Ford Fusion that both have the safety restraint system lights illuminated on the dash of each car.  The Ford's light just popped on today.

 My H took the Subaru to the dealer this afternoon and they said it would be $200-600 to look into each part of the system just to figure out what is wrong.  OMG!!! I thought these codes would be more detailed and tell them what part is failing or throwing the code out there without having to go through every part.  This sucks especially to have it happen to both cars at once!  

Has this ever happened to anybody else on here?

[demelza]

Which Julia is good with cars?juliahenry is it you? 

edited: wrong julia nm!

[Deleted]

Codes just give you an idea of where the problem could be. If a car throws a code for an ECM (electronic control module) being out, it could be the actual ECM or it could be the electrical system leading up to that item.

Since this is an electrical issue, it could be as simple as the wires being bad and it throwing a code, the ECM, one of the fuses, it could even just be a phantom code. Do you happen to know the code it was?

I had a Ford Focus that the airbag light would occasionally come on. H and the dealership determined it to be "terminal fretting"; which means the contacts of the wires were frayed so they had to be fixed. It could be that simple.

And its JuliaGulia who is a body shop writer/works at a shop

ETA: That does sound about right. It will take the tech anywhere from 1-5 hours to figure out what the problem is and to fix it (this is just general), most shops charge between 75-$150 an hour for diagnostic and for technicians time so that's pretty standard. H usually has the service writer give him at least 4 hours of diagnostic time (as does every other ASE tech in the shop)  if its an electrical/wiring problem since it could take hours to chase down the problem to one piece. 

[demelza]

thanks skipping !

[juliahenry]

Yikes! I'm not good with cars, but I did just save $400 when my check engine light came on.

I went to autozone and had them read the code off the machine (free), then googled the code. In my case, it was the code for the catalytic converter, $1100 to fix/$400 for "proper diagnostics", free to read and google.

I googled the code plus my car info (make/model/year) and it told me that there were several reasons why it would come on, including one that would reset itself, and that it could wait. So I did, and 3 weeks later it reset itself.

I would not be comfortable driving without knowing what was up, but there's no reason not to try to figure it out yourself before you spend $$$.

Good luck!

[juliahenry]

Nov 13, 2013 17:03:07 GMT -5 demelza said:

Which Julia is good with cars?juliahenry is it you? 

edited: wrong julia nm!

Sorry. I answered anyway. I'm sure plenty of people with more car know-how will be able to help. Good luck!

[demelza]

good advice, juliahenry ! Gotta love google!

[JuliaGulia]

Nov 13, 2013 17:07:45 GMT -5 @guernica said:

Codes just give you an idea of where the problem could be. If a car throws a code for an ECM (electronic control module) being out, it could be the actual ECM or it could be the electrical system leading up to that item.

Since this is an electrical issue, it could be as simple as the wires being bad and it throwing a code, the ECM, one of the fuses, it could even just be a phantom code. Do you happen to know the code it was?

I had a Ford Focus that the airbag light would occasionally come on. H and the dealership determined it to be "terminal fretting"; which means the contacts of the wires were frayed so they had to be fixed. It could be that simple.

And its JuliaGulia who is a body shop writer/works at a shop

ETA: That does sound about right. It will take the tech anywhere from 1-5 hours to figure out what the problem is and to fix it (this is just general), most shops charge between 75-$150 an hour for diagnostic and for technicians time so that's pretty standard. H usually has the service writer give him at least 4 hours of diagnostic time (as does every other ASE tech in the shop)  if its an electrical/wiring problem since it could take hours to chase down the problem to one piece. 

Not me! You tagged the wrong Julia!

[demelza]

Nov 13, 2013 16:57:49 GMT -5 demelza said:

So I have a 2010 Subaru Legacy and a 2006 Ford Fusion that both have the safety restraint system lights illuminated on the dash of each car.  The Ford's light just popped on today.

 My H took the Subaru to the dealer this afternoon and they said it would be $200-600 to look into each part of the system just to figure out what is wrong.  OMG!!! I thought these codes would be more detailed and tell them what part is failing or throwing the code out there without having to go through every part.  This sucks especially to have it happen to both cars at once!  

Has this ever happened to anybody else on here?

juliagoulia

[juliagoulia]

Did they happen to tell you what code number/ or number-letter combo it is? I have all the SRS codes for that year/make/model pulled up, I can look and see what the possibilities are to let you know if it's legit. Some of them are very cut and dry, Subaru codes are pretty good.