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'01 EX coupe, the side airbag light has been on and off intermittently for no apparent reason. There's nothing else on or near the seats, and everything's stock. Have any of you experienced this issue? I'd like to get some more info before having to go to the dealer to trouble shoot. thanks.

 
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the seat belt might be near the srs. when it comes on only the passenger side is turned off and nothing else. my car does it too when the seat belt is caught a little bit. no worries

 
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Thanks for the comments. However, the "side airbag" light goes on and off at a quite frequent rate, and for no apparent reason at all; I'd be at a stop light, and it would come on and off randomly. I checked the seat belts area and there is nothing unusual. The car manual says there could be a problem.

Anyone else experienced this issue?

 
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I have the same problem, I just hate taking this thing into Honda. Bunch of ****$ the last time I was there!!! Let me know if you find anything out.

 
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Has it always been like this? The seats actually have a sensor in it to detect your body position. If you lean improperly towards the door, it'll deactivate the side airbag to protect you from it detonating against your body. The side airbag is only safe to deploy when your body is in what it thinks to be the ideal position. If in doubt, check what the dealer says. There may be a problem with the sensor or something more serious.

 
Rep Power: 330

yeah my light goes on/off sometimes too. get a friend and have them move around (lean forward a lot, to the side also), see if you can trigger it. thats what does it for me. also, setting groceries or a package on the seat does it (minimal weight, it disables airbags)

but basically normal, nothing extreme to worry about, means at that exact moment the passenger air bag would not deploy (side airbag, front pass. airbag would). driver side, side airbag always deploys, so that why you as a driver can't set off that light.

 
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yep i have the same problem ...

 
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Now the damn side airbag light is on >90% of the time, when there's nothing, nobody in it except me the driver. I'll have to call the dealer. It's kind of annoying, and if this continues, selling the car later wouldn't be as smooth.

 
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now i just on an acura a day ago and it said to short the odb2 data link pins 4 + 9 to use self diagnostic on the srs unit, now im not saying do this, you should go through it with a scanner, see what autozone can do for free, the book says to use the honda PGM testers, blahabla expensive dealer special tools, but seriously the sideairbags do use a OPDS (occupant postion detetion system) -one note in the service manual says "make sure the passenger's seat is dry." -have you ever got your seats wet?

 
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to reset the passanger occupancy, you need a special tool that connects to the battery. so go to the dealership (sadly)

 
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Thanks for all the input. Honda dealer needs at least an hour to diagnose the problem. So I decide to wait a bit.

By the way, I noticed that when I have a passenger, the light would turn off. I guess the airbag sensor is probably having some issues. Maybe Honda will have a recall on this.

 
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http://www.geocities.com/pfeifferper...torComesOn.pdf

Just saw this while I was looking through a list of service bulletins, so it might help you.

 
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Streeglower - Thanks a lot for the info. This is very helpful.

By the way, something interesting happened: I noticed that my car's tire pressure was getting a bit low, ~27 psi. So I went to inflate them to about 31 psi. Ever since then, the side airbag light has been off. Could this be a coincidence? For anyone interested, I'll keep you posted.

 
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I thought I'd give this an update for anyone that may be interested (who have side air bags for Civic 01-02). This side airbag light issue has been bugging me for months; with a passenger it never came on, but when I'm driving alone it comes on and off frequently. Honda won't commit anything else dealer does the diagnostic test.

finally, I poked around under the passenger seat and noticed that where the wires came out, the carpet cover (probably a 2"x2" piece) is sort of standing up; I pushed it down and kept it flush with the area. for a week now, this seems to solve the problem. I guess the light came on and off probably due to some loose connections.