Air bag
10-20-20, 12:45 PM
#1
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Air bag
Anyone know where the air bag module is located on this car ?
i have the air bag light on and followed the process to reset it and have tried for about 100 times and it won’t reset. It just comes back on. Any insight would be great. Thanks guys
i have the air bag light on and followed the process to reset it and have tried for about 100 times and it won’t reset. It just comes back on. Any insight would be great. Thanks guys
10-21-20, 01:36 AM
#2
Do you mean the airbag ECU? On the 1992-2000 SC300 and SC400 (and JDM Z30 Soarer) this module is located underneath the radio/head-unit.
However you won't be able to get the airbag light on the dash to turn off by doing anything with it physically. The way I was able to successfully do the airbag light cancelling "dance" successfully was to point a camera at my dashboard light which transmitted the image to my laptop computer. That way I could keep doing the procedure while watching the dash light. Far easier than going back and forth over and over again between the hood and the dash (which for me didn't work and took forever).
You can do this easily with a cellphone in video chat mode over Facetime, Facebook Messenger video or any other service like that on Android phones. Use a good friend's cellphone if you have to. The main thing is that you want to balance the cellphone's camera so as to have a clear view of the dashboard air-bag light as it flashes its sequences and you want to be able to see that clearly while you're in the engine bay with a laptop computer or other cellphone running a video chat program. This method is what finally made the process easier for me to get through successfully.
Hope this helps.
However you won't be able to get the airbag light on the dash to turn off by doing anything with it physically. The way I was able to successfully do the airbag light cancelling "dance" successfully was to point a camera at my dashboard light which transmitted the image to my laptop computer. That way I could keep doing the procedure while watching the dash light. Far easier than going back and forth over and over again between the hood and the dash (which for me didn't work and took forever).
You can do this easily with a cellphone in video chat mode over Facetime, Facebook Messenger video or any other service like that on Android phones. Use a good friend's cellphone if you have to. The main thing is that you want to balance the cellphone's camera so as to have a clear view of the dashboard air-bag light as it flashes its sequences and you want to be able to see that clearly while you're in the engine bay with a laptop computer or other cellphone running a video chat program. This method is what finally made the process easier for me to get through successfully.
Hope this helps.
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Slaker13 (10-21-20)
10-21-20, 09:51 AM
#4
Kahn, I've never heard of that method. Very creative!
I, too, thought the reset dance is just by the steering column... And, I, too, never got it to work on my first SC. The only solution I ever came up with was to ditch the airbag and put in a resistor.
Edit: Although, even that may not reset it. Can't remember if that was on the same car.
I, too, thought the reset dance is just by the steering column... And, I, too, never got it to work on my first SC. The only solution I ever came up with was to ditch the airbag and put in a resistor.
Edit: Although, even that may not reset it. Can't remember if that was on the same car.
10-21-20, 06:26 PM
#5
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Hi
Well we’re trying to get the vehicle safetied. So with the air bag light, it fails the vehicle to be driven.
with a resistor in place, can it work normally like when you turn the key on it will light off then off right away. That’s really all I’m trying to do. I can’t take the bulb out now because it’s already noted when it got checked.
anything I can do to bypass the light?
thanks for your reply.
with a resistor in place, can it work normally like when you turn the key on it will light off then off right away. That’s really all I’m trying to do. I can’t take the bulb out now because it’s already noted when it got checked.
anything I can do to bypass the light?
thanks for your reply.
10-22-20, 01:40 AM
#6
It has been quite a number of years since I did this and it was only because I made the mistake of turning on my SC while I had the instrument cluster out to replace backlighting bulbs and a bad fuel gauge. When it comes time to remove my gauge cluster for needle motor repair I'll just leave the car's battery disconnected until I get the cluster back in. That airbag "dance" is very low on the list of PITAs with these cars but it still can be one.
t2d2, thanks! It was a method born from frustration with how annoying a task this is when you accidentally trigger that airbag light.
Miscdiyer, least the way I learned to do it back then involved using the diagnostic port under the hood... which made watching the dash cluster airbag light live impossible so I'd never know when to *stop* doing the "pin dance". There was a slight 1/2 or 1/3rd second delay with the method I used but it wasn't a big deal. I'd venture a guess it would also make doing it from the under-dash OBD1 port easier as well so that you don't have to keep looking away from what your hands are doing and lose the rhythm.
t2d2, thanks! It was a method born from frustration with how annoying a task this is when you accidentally trigger that airbag light.
Miscdiyer, least the way I learned to do it back then involved using the diagnostic port under the hood... which made watching the dash cluster airbag light live impossible so I'd never know when to *stop* doing the "pin dance". There was a slight 1/2 or 1/3rd second delay with the method I used but it wasn't a big deal. I'd venture a guess it would also make doing it from the under-dash OBD1 port easier as well so that you don't have to keep looking away from what your hands are doing and lose the rhythm.
10-22-20, 01:43 AM
#7
Well we’re trying to get the vehicle safetied. So with the air bag light, it fails the vehicle to be driven.
with a resistor in place, can it work normally like when you turn the key on it will light off then off right away. That’s really all I’m trying to do. I can’t take the bulb out now because it’s already noted when it got checked.
anything I can do to bypass the light?
thanks for your reply.
with a resistor in place, can it work normally like when you turn the key on it will light off then off right away. That’s really all I’m trying to do. I can’t take the bulb out now because it’s already noted when it got checked.
anything I can do to bypass the light?
thanks for your reply.
t2d2, can you confirm your method to solving the issue for miscdiyer? I'm totally unfamiliar with what is involved in doing that. I only know how to get the airbag light canceled out again with a fully working system.
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10-23-20, 03:28 AM
#9
10-23-20, 08:41 AM
#10
anything I can do to bypass the light?
10-23-20, 04:35 PM
#11
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I’ve tried to do the procedure on the first link that was posted here but didn’t try the other 2 yet.
I unplugged the air bag assembly under the stereo, key on and no air bag light at all but all the other lights come on. Turned off the car, disconnected battery for about a min, plugged in the assembly, reconnect the battery negative, key on and we’re back to square one.
i tried to get the assembly “reset” but they couldn’t do it. My next option is to get one from eBay because I saw there was a lot of these on sale. I’ll order one and get it programmed and put it back in the car and see what happens. I’ll update again In a couple of weeks or so. I’m trying to help this guy out, but can’t do much until we get a different air bag module.
thanks for the help guys!
I unplugged the air bag assembly under the stereo, key on and no air bag light at all but all the other lights come on. Turned off the car, disconnected battery for about a min, plugged in the assembly, reconnect the battery negative, key on and we’re back to square one.
i tried to get the assembly “reset” but they couldn’t do it. My next option is to get one from eBay because I saw there was a lot of these on sale. I’ll order one and get it programmed and put it back in the car and see what happens. I’ll update again In a couple of weeks or so. I’m trying to help this guy out, but can’t do much until we get a different air bag module.
thanks for the help guys!
10-24-20, 12:09 AM
#12
As a very last resort you could also take your SC into a Lexus dealer and have them do the reset procedure for you. The factory TSRM or a special tool (much like the DIY one that is described in one of the links I posted) will require them to do pretty much the same procedure that you tried.
No need for you to replace the airbag ECU if it hasn’t actually failed but you could get another used one. Yet... you will have no way of knowing if that spare airbag ECU will have also been activated with no airbag or instrument cluster connected.
What is probably going on is that the airbag ECU has an internal memory function independent of battery power that will remember any fault that is detected. Only a working system that is reset correctly will cancel out and overwrite that airbag light “ON” value.
If you think about it, under the usual circumstances that any car might have an airbag system fault this memory function makes a lot of sense to require of a manufacturer to implement.
I still suggest trying one of the methods in the links I posted above and barring any of that, get a Lexus dealer to do the reset procedure and ONLY the reset procedure for a fee.
There shouldn't be anything wrong with your airbag ECU and even if you get another used one... while it may be a perfectly good spare to have... you may or may not encounter the same issue depending on what that ECU encountered the last time it was powered up. As such you might have to reset that ECU just the same as your original one needs to be.
The procedure is a minor PITA but it really is doable by anyone. It comes down to knowing which terminals to touch with the wires and getting the exact rhythm that the Toyota dealer service tool does easily.
When I last did it on my SC years ago it helped to temporarily think like a robot, or like an ace drummer: you need to not only follow the procedure but do it with *perfectly consistent rhythm* and *stop* when required.
If you keep going too long then the airbag reset procedure just restarts all over again (from the airbag ECU’s perspective).
This need to stop the “wire dance” when required is why I used the cellphone camera and laptop screen live video method of monitoring the dash light in real time.
Toyota and Lexus dealers probably still have a simple electrical tool that makes this airbag reset procedure easy for their technicians but unless you have one of those or make one yourself the cheapest way is to make yourself into that perfectly rhythmically timed temporary robot to do the same thing.
It took several tries for me before I set up video monitoring of the airbag dash light in frustration. Then it took me a handful of extra tries after that but once I got the robotic rhythm down and knew where to stop based on observing the flash pattern of the light in real time I was able to clear the light and get the system back into normal operating mode again.
You CAN do this 
I say read the other threads and my advice above and give it a few more tries. It’s a pain at first but once you figure out how to get it right it will seem much easier than it has been thus far.
And then your airbag light issue will be solved!
No need for you to replace the airbag ECU if it hasn’t actually failed but you could get another used one. Yet... you will have no way of knowing if that spare airbag ECU will have also been activated with no airbag or instrument cluster connected.
What is probably going on is that the airbag ECU has an internal memory function independent of battery power that will remember any fault that is detected. Only a working system that is reset correctly will cancel out and overwrite that airbag light “ON” value.
If you think about it, under the usual circumstances that any car might have an airbag system fault this memory function makes a lot of sense to require of a manufacturer to implement.
I still suggest trying one of the methods in the links I posted above and barring any of that, get a Lexus dealer to do the reset procedure and ONLY the reset procedure for a fee.
There shouldn't be anything wrong with your airbag ECU and even if you get another used one... while it may be a perfectly good spare to have... you may or may not encounter the same issue depending on what that ECU encountered the last time it was powered up. As such you might have to reset that ECU just the same as your original one needs to be.
The procedure is a minor PITA but it really is doable by anyone. It comes down to knowing which terminals to touch with the wires and getting the exact rhythm that the Toyota dealer service tool does easily.
When I last did it on my SC years ago it helped to temporarily think like a robot, or like an ace drummer: you need to not only follow the procedure but do it with *perfectly consistent rhythm* and *stop* when required.
If you keep going too long then the airbag reset procedure just restarts all over again (from the airbag ECU’s perspective).
This need to stop the “wire dance” when required is why I used the cellphone camera and laptop screen live video method of monitoring the dash light in real time.
Toyota and Lexus dealers probably still have a simple electrical tool that makes this airbag reset procedure easy for their technicians but unless you have one of those or make one yourself the cheapest way is to make yourself into that perfectly rhythmically timed temporary robot to do the same thing.
It took several tries for me before I set up video monitoring of the airbag dash light in frustration. Then it took me a handful of extra tries after that but once I got the robotic rhythm down and knew where to stop based on observing the flash pattern of the light in real time I was able to clear the light and get the system back into normal operating mode again.
You CAN do this
I say read the other threads and my advice above and give it a few more tries. It’s a pain at first but once you figure out how to get it right it will seem much easier than it has been thus far.
And then your airbag light issue will be solved!
Last edited by KahnBB6; 10-24-20 at 12:20 AM.
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