I've been dealing with some difficult to diagnose SRS light issues for a few months now, so I apologize in advance for this being a bit of a long story. Here's the short summary:

1) At first, SRS light would come on intermittently. When I unbuckled the seat belt, I noticed the seat belt light was not coming on. I pulled the codes via the paper clip method and got 5-3 and 6-1. Took the car to the dealer and they did a scan (came up with 61-10) and replaced the driver's seat belt buckle. They never mentioned anything about a 5-3 DTC.

2) Everything seemed fine until a few days later, when the SRS light came on about 20 minutes into a drive. When I shut the car off and turned it on again, the SRS light would go through its 6 second bulb check, and then go out again. It never stays on after starting the car, but rather always comes on 15-20 minutes into a drive. Additionally the SRS light sometimes doesn't come on during a drive at all.

3) Took the car back to the dealer, they told me I needed to have my seat belt tensioner replaced. They did that, but as I was driving home from the dealer the light came on again during the drive. This was about 2 weeks ago.

4) About 1 week ago, I replaced the battery and cleaned the terminals. This didn't help with the SRS light issue. I cleared the DTCs via the MES connector (saw the 2 blinks at the end of the procedure), and the light came on again the next day during a drive. This time, the code stored in the computer is a 5-3 (Internal failure of SRS).


My question is: can an internal SRS failure happen intermittently and seemingly randomly, like in my situation, and do I need to replace the SRS unit?

On some drives the SRS light is totally fine, but on about 75% of drives it'll come on at some point during the drive. I've noticed that the SRS light tends to come on when I'm slowing down while coming off an on-ramp, but this could just be a coincidence as it's happened in other places as well.


Any help on this issue would be much appreciated!

 

My guess is that you have a marginal resistor or capacitor on the SRS circuit board. Or you have have cracked solder joints like what happens on the main fuel relay on accords from the 90s.

You may want to search the web for places that will repair the board for you. It would be much cheaper than a new SRS unit.

 

Thanks for the tip. I installed an ipod/aux adapter, so I was thinking there might be a small chance of interference between the adapter and the SRS computer (since the 2 are placed close to each other).

If the SRS computer had bad capacitors or resistors inside, would that be likely to cause intermittent failures? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that any kind of issue in the SRS computer's circuit board would make the SRS light stay on right after starting the car.

 

I had something similar on 2003 Accord. It was a coin in the passenger safety belt on the female end by the console.

 

Checked all the seatbelts and surrounding areas and they seem to be clear of debris or other things.

Also removed the ipod adapter. Thought I was good to go because the light was off for a 30 min trip, but it came on JUST as I was about to get home. The light seems to like to come on when I'm braking on a downhill segment of road (though it sometimes comes on at other times too). I wonder if that's somehow related to the problem.

 

I believe what you mention is related. My Prelude when new had a check engine light along with running issues when the light came on only on turns. The dealership replace all kinds of stuff. One of the mechanics finally call the Honda help line and was made aware of an issue with pins on a connector that runs over the shock tower. Problem solved.

 

Bump for additional ideas

 

The seat belt retractors have a tilt feature that will lock the belts, and that can be affected by applying the brakes, or making a hard turn. But that doesn't seem like something that will cause the airbag light.

 

So far I haven't noticed the light ever coming on after a turn (even a hard turn), but it does usually seem to come on after braking on a long or steep downhill road.

As I mentioned in the first post, the SRS code that I'm seeing now via the paper clip method is 5-3 (Internal failure of SRS). It just seems so strange to me that a failing SRS computer would cause the light to consistently come on ~15-20 minutes into a drive, and usually after braking. I always thought a failing SRS computer would cause the light to stay on until it was replaced.

 

When the transmission computer went out on my 92 Accord, it was all about temperature inside the car. If the car sat in the sun all day, the D4 light would be on, and it would have shifting problems. If you opened the windows, and sat the car in the shade, everything would work fine. I couldn't for the life of me get this through the dealership's head, so they would park the car inside the cool shop, then say they couldn't reproduce the problem. After they had finally given up, and parked the car outside, I had to basically hold the tech's hand, and guide him to the car, and show him what was happening. I wanted to bang their heads together.