The seat could be a placebo with that info - this might be a faulty wire in the wheel/column looms.

By the way there's no airbag wire in the trunk lid harness, merely pointing out the failures of wiring over time on these cars leading to non functioning components, the parts that stop working are replaced and still don't work....means a wiring fault - intermittent ones are the worst to diagnose, even with factory diagnostics sometimes.

This one may well be beyond you Mike.

 

Maybe, but with the input I can get here, it might not be! I should've taken the reference to the trunk wiring out of the quote, that might've confused the issue and wasn't my concern. I was wondering which wires I might need to look at under the seat.

Now that there might be another issue, the possibility of bad wiring in the steering wheel (which came up as a possibility recently, and only once) , I would like to hear suggestions related to that. Adding to the information, it might be interesting to note that I had the steering wheel and airbag module replaced about a year ago, solely because I wanted a wood steering wheel.

Unfortunately for me, I haven't found anyone here or in person who knows much about this issue. That won't deter me, however.

Thanks for all the great help so far, and I'm looking forward to finding out more soon.

 

I was "digging" around under the driver's seat this afternoon while the PB Blaster was supposedly working (no luck there!) and remembered that I posted a photo (see this thread, post #37) of the underside of the seat.

Here's my problem -- I'm unable at this time to get the rear bolts out, so taking out the seat isn't really an option until I figure out how to drill them out. But, for now, I'd like to educate myself on the wiring under the seat. Does anyone have a description of all the wires, cables, connectors, etc. that are down there? There is one connector that is attached to the control unit that's under the front edge of the seat, it's barely visible in the photo that I mentioned above, but it's a yellow connector (not the one that you can clearly see in the photo, but one that is a bit down in the photo from that one) that has nothing plugged into it -- I can't find any male connectors that need a female, so I'm guessing that this is for some option that I don't have (heated seats?). You can also see the one disconnected wire with the shrink tube on it -- someone mentioned earlier in this thread that it looks like something added on -- any idea why someone would splice into the wires under there? You can see a piece of white tape around the cable sheath where the single wire comes out.

Other than that, everything looks good. I got a good look with a mirror and a flashlight - should've taken some better photos but I didn't have my phone with me.

 

I've been paging through the PDF versions of the workshop manual and the electrical guide just to learn more about the wiring under the seat. The workshop manual has several illustrations showing how to remove the drivers seat, and some of them identify the various connectors. Here's one (in 2 parts!). Just thought this might be of interest to those who are thinking about removing the seat.

 

This is a link to using a screw extractor. If you use them often, you WILL break one off. THEN it is very difficult to drill out the extractor. Be gentle using it. #1 and #2
are the only ones you will likely need for the car. They make special drill bits that
cut when running counter clockwise, they are better. I have actually had fasteners back out with just drilling them. If the drill bit breaks, it WILL loosen the fastener
enough to remove it with small vise grips.


For under the seat, it might be easier just to use a dremel tool and grind the head off
the bolt or grind a slot so you can use a slotted screw driver. Buy the new bolt and nut plate first!

I have been traveling too much and have not fixed my car yet. I have a code for drivers side airbag short to ground. On cold days no code.

If the clock spring is bad, then you may loose cruise control and steering wheel radio
volume. I replaced my clockspring and fixed those two items, but not my airbag. A good code reader pays for itself fast, even at $500.

I think yellow connectors are airbag/SRS circuit items. I will let you know if I get mine
fixed first.

 

Thanks for the entertaining video!

I think I'll try just about everything else before using the easy-out!

LEAR45 -- Since I don't have any problems with my steering wheel controls, would it be safe to bet that it's NOT my clockspring? And, yes I believe you are right about the SRS connectors being yellow, but in my case I think I have an "extra" yellow connector on the side of the control unit under the driver's seat -- can't find any explanation for it in the electrical guide or the workshop manual.