Srs Indicator Issue

PraZ · September 24, 2015

I am inspecting a Mitsubishi lancer GLX 2008 which i like to buy. The car looks in good condition, except for one issue. The SRS indicator light keeps lit.

I've heard that airbag indicators act abnormally due to seat position detection problems. I am not sure if this is the case. But in any case, i checked with a technician. After doing the scans he mentioned that there is a malfunction in one of the srs indicator circuits (front) and i might have to replace it.

What i want to know is how big a repair this could be. If anyone have an idea on how much it could cost if i had to replace this circuit or if any other solutions exists, i would really appreciate it. The vehicle comes for a fairly lower price compared to the other ones in the market, so i would like to know if its worth taking the gamble.

Thanks in advance. Sorry if a topic already exists for this issue. I did search, but i couldn't find any leads.

Davy · September 25, 2015

On 9/24/2015 at 7:13 AM, PraZ said:
I am inspecting a Mitsubishi lancer GLX 2008 which i like to buy. The car looks in good condition, except for one issue. The SRS indicator light keeps lit.
I've heard that airbag indicators act abnormally due to seat position detection problems. I am not sure if this is the case. But in any case, i checked with a technician. After doing the scans he mentioned that there is a malfunction in one of the srs indicator circuits (front) and i might have to replace it.

What i want to know is how big a repair this could be. If anyone have an idea on how much it could cost if i had to replace this circuit or if any other solutions exists, i would really appreciate it. The vehicle comes for a fairly lower price compared to the other ones in the market, so i would like to know if its worth taking the gamble.

Thanks in advance. Sorry if a topic already exists for this issue. I did search, but i couldn't find any leads.

Welcome to the forum!

The problem could be as small as a loose connection (which is interrupting the signal from the impact sensor at the front) or as worse as the car being involved in a serious frontal (which might have caused the airbags to deploy) and then the repair job was not done properly. First of all, ensure that car has not been in an accident.

If this is genuinely a random electrical issue, then you can probably ask the seller to get a quote from Unit3d Mot0rs indicating how much the repair will cost you. Based on that you can work out a deal with him. Keep in mind that the SRS components might not be available elsewhere and you might have to rely solely on the agents, in which case prices might be high.

Just my 2 cents.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Davy

tiv · September 25, 2015

Sharing a recent experience, Went to see a Nissan X-trail recently, looked mint outside, a minor degree wear inside, however looked mechanically sound too, pulled like a train, there was an on off idle miss though

On switching it on, I noticed that along with the engine check and several other warning indicators were lit, but have been neatly covered up with a kind of a tint like adhesive tape, the texture matched 100% to the fascia of the meter board itself, almost invisible at several glances.

The dead giveaway was that the perspex cover of the gauge cluster was cracked and had a hole in it, allowing me to pull the tape out. Which had lifted from one end lightly showing a small shimmer from the indicators hidden behind it.

By looking at the sheer amount of warnings and indicators lit on that thing, and further inspection of the undercarriage, we ruled out it had been in a major degree front end collision and had been poorly patched up by some joint, All in all, I would be in some garage trying to fix that X-trail even at this moment if I hadn't spotted that light.

Edited September 25, 2015 by tiv

PreseaLover · September 25, 2015

On 9/25/2015 at 1:11 AM, Davy said:
First of all, ensure that car has not been in an accident.

To ensure if the car has not been in an accident you can closely look at the colour of certain body parts such as the bonnet, buffer and fender... if you see a significant colour difference in these parts, there is a high probability that the car has been subjected to a collision...

Let me share one of my experiences...

When i went on hunting a presea for me to buy, I found this gorgeous white presea in good condition.. interior was good as well... the engine was good too..... However I noticed that the front emblem of the bonnet looks very fresh and newer than other cars... I moved away from the car back around 20meters and noticed that there is a color difference in the bonnet... then i realized something was wrong, so i went closer, bent over and had a closer look at the chassis to find out that it is crooked and has met with a major accident...walked right away from that car... likewise as davy said, first figure out if the car has met with major collisions like this... good luck!

PraZ · September 28, 2015

Thanks alot for the replies guys. Really appreciate it. The owner agreed to do the fixes. Apparently there was a problem on a ribbon near the steering wheel. Replacing that fixed the problem. Did another scan after the fix and it didnt show any error codes afterwards.