Q: I am worried my airbags won’t work in a crash
I had a wiring problem in my 2011 Ford Mustang recently that made me replace some electronic parts connected to the airbag system. At around 34,000 miles, the airbag light came on and obviously I don’t want the car to be hazardous. Is this a bad sign? Are more electrical gremlins going to be popping up now that I have replaced some wiring?
As long as any new electrical gremlins that pop up are not related to the same passenger airbag circuit, I would doubt that this repair would cause new electrical issues.
Ford has had this specific issue come up in the past on multiple vehicles with the same passenger airbag design and electrical wire routing. A fix from Ford is available on Mustangs from 2007-2009 in Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 09-8-7 that came out in 2009 but it supersedes an earlier TSB 7-10-3 addressing the same complaint.
At this point, Ford has not acknowledged that it is enough of a problem for any kind of recall and has not had enough customer complaints to address it with a TSB fix on the 2011 Mustangs. However, looking at the history of this issue with Ford vehicles, it is obvious, in my opinion, that the problem still exists. What happens is that the improper wire routing for the passenger seat airbag module (which is the unit you sit on) moves around, causing it to chafe and become exposed, therefore touching the ground or breaks.
A certified mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, can perform an inspection of the airbag system and determine if a wiring repair needs to be done or if the module or sensor have been affected.
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