Jim Grant's Tech Tips

’01 Nissan Maxima, Reset Airbag

Q: After disconnecting the sensor on the glove box to replace the heater fan resistor and reconnecting the sensor, once completed, the airbag light now stays on. Is there a way to clear this light? My car is a ’01 Nissan Maxima.

A: First, if you disconnected any airbag component to replace a heater resistor in your Nissan Maxima, you went about it the wrong way! Second, if you put things back together right the airbag warning light would not be on. Your Nissan’s airbag computer only turns the warning light on if the system has a problem. So it is not a matter of just clearing codes, something is broken. Air bag codes can be retrieved two ways in your vehicle; computer scan tool or by specified procedure of cycling the ignition switch. But once you have that code what are you going to do with it? Air bag systems are not something to play around with if you do not have the training, equipment and information to work on them. I’ve intentionally deployed an air bag for training and let me tell you it is a very impressive event. You should also know that an accidental deployment could be deadly. My suggestion now is to take your vehicle to the dealer or an independent repair facility that has the tools and know-how to correctly diagnose and repair your air bag system.