My Car Airbag Light is On. Is it safe to drive?

It's a sunny Monday morning and you’re driving your kids to school. While you’re stopped at a light, you notice there's an unfamiliar light flashing in your instrument cluster. It’s a little red symbol of a stick figure wearing a seat belt with the initials SRS under it. The car is driving fine and you look in the rearview mirror and the kids are all buckled up and so are you. So what is this light and what does it mean?

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An SRS warning should never be overlooked as it could be the difference between a fatal and nonfatal accident.

If your vehicle has an SRS warning light, then you may have the following questions.

What is an SRS warning light?
Is it safe to drive with an SRS light on?
What is the cost of repairing an SRS light?
What should I do If my car has an SRS light on?

In this article, we’ll cover these questions and more.

Did you know?

An SRS system needs to be inspected and replaced even if you've never been in an accident. Car manufacturers suggest that you have the airbags inspected every 10 years or so as these restraint systems have sensors and wiring all throughout your vehicle and will wear down. This doesn't mean that your system must be replaced but it's important that you check it and make sure everything is working as it should.

If your less than perfect or junk car has SRS issues and you no longer wish to keep it, then check out CarBrain! We’re the fast and smart way to sell your car! Most of our offers only take 90 seconds!

What is an SRS warning light?

Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) in other words this is what controls the airbags in your car. The SRS system is designed to supplement your vehicle’s seatbelts as an additional method of safety. Depending on what car you own can alter how complex this safety system is. Common cars made before the year 2014 have about 6 airbags and the ones manufactured after may have ten or more bags!

SRS systems have sensors all throughout the vehicle. They are programmed to detect any dramatic vehicle deceleration like that of a collision. These sensors detect the impact and they immediately send an electrical charge to the designated airbags and causes them to instantly inflate!

What causes my SRS light to turn on?

An SRS warning comes up when any components of the restraint system are not working properly. Issues like these can set off the warning light.

Faulty seat belt switch
Damaged Clockspring (Inside the steering wheel)
Crash sensor that's defective or needs to be reset

Here's an interesting fact!

Some airbags can expand at 186mph and deflate in just .1 seconds this means most people won't even notice their airbags deploying! It happens so fast that you could miss it with the blink of an eye.

Is it safe to drive with an SRS light on?

When the airbag light or SRS warning comes on it should not be overlooked. It doesn't necessarily mean that the car isn't safe to drive but it's like playing with fire if you do. When this light is on it means your safety system isn't working at 100% and in some cases, it could mean that your airbags are disabled and will not deploy in an accident.

So is it safe to drive with an SRS light on? The answer would be no, Even though there's a possibility that the airbags could still deploy with the light on it is a huge risk if one were ever involved in an accident. We recommend having a professional look at it and diagnose the issue to have fixed immediately.

What's the cost of repairing an SRS light?

LIke any car repair, the exact cost will be unknown until the repairs have been started and the issue has been properly diagnosed. Your airbag system could just have a faulty switch or sensor, in this case, consider yourself lucky because the cost of repair could just be $250 - $350 per sensor.

Now if the vehicle has a more severe issue and the airbags have either been deployed from a collision and never changed or if the airbag has an issue where it needs to be replaced then prepare to dish out some serious cash. It can cost you anywhere from $1000 to $1500 per airbag!

What should I do If my car has an SRS light on?

When the SRS light comes it’s no reason to panic but instead to be aware of the situation. Take the vehicle to your local repair shop. Have them Diagnose the computer of the car and check the code as to why this warning light came on.

Once the diagnostic is made and you know what repairs are needed then you can make the decision. If your vehicle is relatively new and all it needs is a simple crash sensor reset then go ahead and get that repair done so you may have that peace of mind while driving.

Now if your vehicle needs a few airbags replaced with sensors and all, then you could potentially spend tons of your hard earned cash on fixing the airbag system on a car that may not even cost as much as the repair itself. It may be best to sell that car before you open up a can of worms.

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