My SRS light came on last month and last week I took it to a local independent Rovers-only shop to have the SRS codes read. (They charged me a $95 diagnostic fee but in addition to the SRS code they gave my truck a pretty good look, including testing the ball joints, and I got a little peace of mind that the truck is in as good shape as I thought.)

The SRS code indicated a bad driver's side airbag, but the tech at the shop said it's also possible that it can be a bad harness throwing that code. They said that in their experience a bad harness was a 50/50 outcome. Replacing the air bag seems easy enough but a bad harness would be a very expensive outcome.

Have any of you had to replace an airbag? Have any of you had the airbag not be the problem, indicating that the problem was in the harness? The horn and other steering wheel-mounted controls work as they should so, according to other posts, that should indicate that the problem is not in the rotary coupler.

As a long-time user and contributor to this and other Rover forums I did search for prior examples of this question but I found none about the SRS system that hit on these particular questions.

 

Im working on this same issue myself. My steering controls and etc work fine. I get a code "9008 Drivers side airbag open circuit". I pulled the airbag and put some dialectric grease on the connections, and did not see anything obviously wrong inside the steering wheel, put it back together and still had the SLS light on. It took me 3 attempts with my scanner to clear the code. Hasn't come back on yet in over a week. I didnt want to replace the rotary coupler yet either....

 

I have the light SRS light. had the codes read and got bags and one of the seatbelt sensor. Bought a seatbelt sensor and put it on while I did some other stuff.

After I took the center console out, I think I found the problem. Evidently while the truck sat waiting to get her new engine, a mommy rat decided to build a nest right next to, THE SRS MODULE. A bunch of wires were chewed up.

I have fixed the wires, but still have the light.

So, to sum it up, even if you fix it, I think you have to have the code reset for the light to go away

 

Well, I ordered a driver airbag from Paul Grant and installed it last week. I took the truck over to the shop that read the code for me. They cleared the code with the Autologic but it came back immediately. That means the problem is upstream, either the rotary coupler or somewhere else in the wiring. (I should note that I spoke with Paul before ordering and he told me he only keeps and resells airbags from systems that show no SRS fault when he gets the truck.)

I looked up the SRS system in the Electrical Circuits PDF. Seems pretty simple. As soon as I get time I'm going to test continuity of the driver airbag circuits (pos and ground) back to the DCU connector. Most of you probably know that the Electrical Library PDF shows which pins connect to each device. That means taking out the console at least, and more than likely removing the steering wheel to test the rotary coupler and back from it to the DCU connector.

 

My diagnosis work is only partly complete, but I got a surprising result when I tested continuity from the driver airbag connector to the DCU connector. Instead of finding that either the POS or ground connection had no continuity I found that there was continuity from either side of the circuit to the other as well as in each side. Despite the displayed fault being OPEN CIRCUIT FAULT IN DRIVER AIRBAG CIRCUIT it appears that instead the two conductors are shorted somewhere. If I'm lucky my continued work will find that the problem is in the rotary coupler which is easy to replace.

I read that the driver airbag was connected to pins (cavities) 1 and 2 on the DCU multiplug (connector). I removed the driver airbag and connected my multimeter between one of the two cavities on the airbag connector and the DCU multiplug. I started with cavity 1 and found that there was good continuity. (The multimeter was set to read ohms and the reading quickly went to zero, indicating minimal or no resistance.) The surprise came when I moved the multimeter probe to cavity 2 and immediately got the same reading with the probe at the airbag connector still in the original position on the airbag connector. I next swapped the position of the multimeter leads at both ends of the circuit and in every combination of positions there was no resistance (i.e. continuity of the circuit).

I'm next going to remove the steering wheel and rotary coupler and test again from the connector into which the rotary coupler plugs into the harness. I hope to find continuity from it to the DCU in both the POS and ground conductors but not the "cross continuity" described above.

 

Now I'm stumped. I removed the rotary coupler and tested continuity from its harness connector back to the DCU multiplug. Same result - cross continuity between the two conductors. Then I tested the disconnected rotary coupler from the airbag connector to the connector that attaches the coupler to the harness. Same result. Maybe I don't understand electricity and electrical testing as well as I thought I did. Now I'm trying to decide whether to "throw parts at it" by getting a rotary coupler from Paul Grant to see if that works or just button it all back up and live with the SRS light. I don't like that outcome especially since the truck is my 17-year old's daily driver. Despite the limitations of airbags I still think having one is better than not having one. Any constructive ideas are welcome.

 

But a used Rotary coupler for it? idk..

I know we have the same problem. I got my light to clear for now, but...

Seems like every thread/search I've read on similar SLS driver airbag issues, people replace the airbag, and it doesnt fix the issue. I dont think this particular code has been solved from what I've read?

 

What I was calling "cross continuity" is otherwise known as a short circuit. Duh. Many thanks to P.T. Schram for his patience in pointing that out to me, and for the 30 minutes he spent on the phone with me, and for calling me just 23 minutes after I sent him a text asking for help.

I'll be installing an overlay which should (I hope) solve the problem.

 

Problem solved! Before I ordered the overlay harness I wanted to confirm I would be able to remove the two driver airbag wires from the DCU multiconnector so I unplugged the connector. The wires were easy to remove, and while I had them out I decided to test continuity again. To my surprise the short was gone!. I reinserted the leads into the connector and the short returned. That meant that the short was occurring inside the connector, despite it being designed to prevent shorts and despite there having been no problem with it for 16 years. And despite there being no other shorts among the other 13 wires in the connector.

I decided to take two approaches. First, I tried to figure out how to clean the connector cavities. l used a pipe cleaner to run through the cavities. The white pipe cleaner came out clean; there was no visible sign of any corrosion or other contamination. In retrospect I wish I had used some kind of solvent on the pipe cleaner, perhaps electrical contact cleaner.

Because no contaminants were obvious inside the connector, I next looked at trying to add insulation to the exposed ends of the two wires. Each wire in the connector has a bare metal terminal that clicks into the connector. Somehow current was passing between the two terminals in cavities 1 and 2. The terminals fit fairly snugly into the cavities so there wasn't much clearance to try to add insulation. Not enough clearance for the thickness of electrical tape, for example. I decided to try something very unconventional. I wrapped each terminal with Scotch brand Magic Tape, the kind you use to wrap gifts.

After taking both steps I reinstalled the wires and the connector and connected the battery. When I turned the key to position II the SRS light illuminated briefly and then turned off.

I wish I had tested the system after I cleaned the connector but in the interest of time I went ahead with adding the Scotch tape before testing. I expect that there was some sort of chemical contamination causing the short because there was no sign of physical damage to the connector or the terminals.

The moral of the story - diagnose, diagnose, diagnose.

(I apologize that I don’t have better photos or more of them. It was getting dark and I was short on time.)

 

Are you still SRS light free with your fix?? Mine went away all summer, but now its back and annoying me.....