I'm a little confused. I have multiple wiring harness's that run through the steering column. I used the resistor where it showed it, and everything checked out. But does that bypass the clockspring as well when used the resistor? If so, that means this test only identifies that the issue is in the steering column and not specifically the airbag or clockspring. But at least you know that you can get the system to read good from that point backwards. If we could find out the resistance of just the airbag unit itself, then someone could pull the airbag connector off and isolate it from the clockspring and rest of the system.

But for me... this worked. And since my radio/cruise works, I figure the clock spring is ok. However... I got lucky. After I did my testing, removed the resistor, and put the harness back together, my airbag system still checks good. So it's possible that I have an intermittent issue, or perhaps it had become disconnected and not reconnected properly when the previous owners replaced the instrument cluster. So far, it turns on to self test, and turns off showing that everything checks out.

So I'll cross my fingers that it was just improperly reconnected and not an intermittent issue.

 

The clockspring might have intermittent contact on that one circuit, but OK on others like the radio or cruise.

The clockspring shouldn't add any resistance, so the same resistor should work out at the bag location. (if you wanted to check the clockspring)

 

Right on. I will wait and see if/when that SRS light returns. At this point it's operating normally, so I really can't test it. If it comes back on, then I could try disconnecting the airbag and using the resistor again. In that scenario it would still be testing resistance in the clock spring.

Brilliant.

Thanks.