Airbag Fault

Electronic systems, stereo and Holden iQ, wiring, it all goes here....
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twofi5e
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Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:50 am
Location: Maryland

Re: Airbag Fault

Post by twofi5e »

As promised, here is what I found in my car. I knew going into buying this car that it had been in a front end collision. The dealership that I bought it from was up front and honest about that. I made the decision after looking at the car with my mechanic that the damage had been pretty well fixed. You would have had to go over the car with a fine tooth comb to find where the damage was repaired. My mechanic and I decided that the repaired damage wasn't enough to keep me from buying the car. What I wasn't aware of was the cheap cover up that the dealer took to "fix" these seatbelt tensioners. I looked at the passenger side first and immediately saw where the rubber covering was bunched together, hence them wiring in the resistor to fool the car into thinking it was good to go. Here is the passenger side:

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Another:

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Here is a shot of the explosive portion of the tensioner. This compared to the driver side does not look like it has actually been set off. I remember from that youtube video you showed me that when they are set off, the part where they put the paint blew out and was sticking out about a half inch or so after it went off. On this one on the passenger side, it was still tucked inside the device despite the rubber boot on the anchor being scrunched up indicating that it has been set off.

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So this tempted me to look at the driver side....and to no surprise, it was the same. I first looked under the seat and there it was...the same wire with the green and gray wires was cut and the yellow plug had a resistor wired into it with shrink wrap covering it. So I looked at the tensioner on the anchor and this side was really bunched up.

Drivers side:

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Another:

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As far as the explosive portion on the driver side, this side was protruding out of the device as if it went all the way off:

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I again can't believe that this place would take such a cheap route to cover this issue up....especially being a safety issue such as seatbelts and airbags....the two things that save your life in the event of an accident. With those resistors wired in there like that I am not so sure the airbags would have even went off, God forbid I got into an accident. It's crazy how places will do anything to save a few dollars to make a sale. I called the dealership that I bought the car from and explained this situation to them and how displeased I was with their lack of attention to safety. The guy who runs the place was trying any and everything he could to make excuses for it. He told me that instead of replacing them the right way, he sends them to someone who in his words "resets" the seatbelts and then wires those resistors in there. I told him there is no resetting them, once those pretensioners are blown, they are no good and need to be replaced. I told him that's just a cheap cover up to save a few dollars but in turn puts the buyers safety in jeopardy. As I said, I'm not so sure the airbags would have even gone off had I gotten into an accident, and I damn sure am not up to trying to find out.

After telling the dealer about this, he agreed to order brand new seat belts and all the parts associated with them to replace them for me free of charge....only thing is I have to drive the car up to New Jersey for him to install them. Not exactly happy about that part but if it means I can get all the parts replaced free of charge, then I am happy with that.

Again I knew the car was in an accident and I was okay with that. I just can't believe that they put saftey on the back burner for the sake of saving a few dollars. No dealership big or small should do that. From what I understand this dealership sells a lot of these cars and I would be willing to bet every single one has this seatbelt hack done to it. The name of the place is State Surplus Auto Sales in Newark New Jersey. It's a little small private owned dealership. I'm hoping that anyone who comes here for info to buy a Caprice before making a decision and may be considering that place will come across this thread and read this information. Or anyone else who might be having these issues will read this information. Before this, I had no clue what a pretensioner was or what it does.

Steve, I know I have said it many times, but again thank you for all your help!!! I'll keep this thread updated as the repairs are completed but that probably won't be until sometime next week, or even the week after. All depends when I have time to get back up to New Jersey.
-Kase
Maryland
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2012 Chevy Caprice PPV 9C1
2001 GMC Sonoma SLS(r.i.p.)
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smwalker
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Location: Azusa,CA

Re: Airbag Fault

Post by smwalker »

Yea that folded up accordian style just like GM said it would, interesting.

So I wonder if there exists a service that will inspect all your devises to make sure nothing else has been done to them. Don't think I would trust the word of this dealer. Something like a third party that will confirm all the work is done correctly or give you a list of all the parts that need replacing and then compare it to what the dealer does.

Glad they are going to fix it because they know that is a huge lawsuit on them if anyone got hurt. I would even consider talking to someone at the regulatory agency that regulates dealers and give them your story. If what they said is true the shop that is doing these modifications for the dealer needs to be shut down. Who knows how many cars are running around with no protection.

Anyway glad you are getting it taken care of. Thanks for the pictures, now we all know what to look for with used ones.
Steve Walker
Azusa, CA
'11 PPV 9C3 Huron White
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twofi5e
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:50 am
Location: Maryland

Re: Airbag Fault

Post by twofi5e »

smwalker wrote:Yea that folded up accordian style just like GM said it would, interesting.

So I wonder if there exists a service that will inspect all your devises to make sure nothing else has been done to them. Don't think I would trust the word of this dealer. Something like a third party that will confirm all the work is done correctly or give you a list of all the parts that need replacing and then compare it to what the dealer does.

Glad they are going to fix it because they know that is a huge lawsuit on them if anyone got hurt. I would even consider talking to someone at the regulatory agency that regulates dealers and give them your story. If what they said is true the shop that is doing these modifications for the dealer needs to be shut down. Who knows how many cars are running around with no protection.

Anyway glad you are getting it taken care of. Thanks for the pictures, now we all know what to look for with used ones.
Yeah I don't really trust them 100% but as for now it's my best option. I know what I'm looking for to be replaced and I told him I want him to send me pictures of what he gets delivered next week. If he only sends me pictures of the seatbelts themselves and none of the wiring and pretensioners then I'm not going to waste my time driving up there until I know he has all the right parts. I suppose my only other option after that is to take it to a Chevy dealer and have them use a scan tool to see if any other parts of the system are showing faults.
-Kase
Maryland
____________________
2012 Chevy Caprice PPV 9C1
2001 GMC Sonoma SLS(r.i.p.)
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