ah802

The passenger side front air bag sensor doesn't work. How much trouble and effort is it to get to, I've heard removal of the front bumper is needed.

Is there a secondary parts supplier for this in Canada?

Noah911

What makes you think it is a faulty front air bag sensor?

It should be simple to remove. Maybe two bolts holds it on. You might need to remove an air box or a headlight for easier access?

Have you looked to see if there are any recalls, or TSBs for it? There is a good possibility the airbag light may be a faulty ACM, or Airbag Control Module. The ACM is located underneath the center console, near the cup holders.

Noah911

I thought to add;

Be cautious while working near airbags, in their circuitry. Disconnect the battery and fully disarm the system first, before working on it. It should be treated like a loaded gun. There is an airbag capacitor. The capacitor remains energized for awhile after you disconnect your battery, and should be allowed time to de-energize.

A 2004 WJ has a improved version ACM.

BurgherKing

The comments from Noah911 couldn't be more on point.

It took 8 months before I got this resolved, and am posting in case anyone still has this problem.

Last fall, I found a 2002 GC with, according to the used car dealer, one owner and 105K on the clock. Fortunately, the dealer let me test drive the car solo, and I had mid-level Innova code reader in my briefcase. I was able to get some more input into what I was buying doing that, but in any case, the one item shown was to replace the right air bag sensor . That didn't sound so horrible and I brought it home. FWIW, the error message is really useful to note if the seller hides the fault by pulling the air bag fuse.

There were no Carfax red flags (a couple of failed inspections), but the only maintenance records in the car were a few oil change receipts.

As per other posts, I ground through the various gremlin fixes and minor replacements on my GC. The air bag light issue remained, though, and that was the last item to address.

The right side sensor is fairly accessible (the left one is an SOB to get at). While waiting for a new alternator to arrive, I found a new Mopar sensor for about $95 and installed it while replacing the alternator. No luck.

Fast forwarding a couple of months, I had the GC in for inspection and a coolant flush. The dealer informed me that none of the safety recalls had been fixed on the car, including the ORC Module. Thanks to this forum, I did find the recall notices on the ORC and further comments about the 2004 version having internal sensors, eliminating the need for the two remote ones. This sounded promising, but a 20 year old module wasn't readily available for installation. I knew that I was coming back in a couple of months for a tranny flush and ran the car with the bag light on for a while longer while the dealer waited for a new module.

The dealer had the ORC Module the next trip in. The replacement was finally done, but the tech reported that the air bag light was still on. I was given a $446 estimate to track down the problem (plus sensor replacement), but by the time I got the car back, there was no warning light. My guess is that either the 2004 ORC Module was installed or it took an ignition cycle or two for the new ORC to recognize the sensor. For diagnostic purposes, it would have been better to have had the ORC Module replaced first, then replace the remote sensor afterward, but at this point, I'm figuring that I just dodged a $600+ bullet and am leaving well enough alone.

The dealer does get props for not ducking the safety recall fixes for the GC. Oddly enough, this is one case where doing the brute force replacement of the sensor may have been better than going through the diagnostics of finding the problem.