The confused Dodge Ram?

2003 Dodge Ram 1500
4.7l v8 manual transmission
(This will be needlessly long )

Dropped off for heater core replacement. The guy at the shop who did the job made good time, but now the airbag light is on so he asked me to help.

With the Solus I pulled two codes... Well, code definitions really. There was no code number displayed for either code... One was an open circuit code for the passengers air bag shut off switch and the other was an open circuit code for the bulb for said switch.

Only, this truck doesn't have a passengers air bag shut off switch! I asked the tech who did the job to pop off the fill panel where the switch would be, and there was a 4 pin connector fitted neatly into a blank cavity molded into the back of the fill panel. Clearly this harness was not intended to be used on this truck, but I have no doubt it is the harness that would have been used had this truck come equipped with the shut off switch. I looked for some kind of shorting connector and was not rewarded.

With the Solus I had options to view codes, clear codes, view data, and view calibration data.

According to the calibration data, the air bag computer is convinced this truck came from the factory with that switch!

The tech who did the job has a Launch scan tool. X4-something-tablet.

That girl showed no trouble codes present despite the warning lamp.
However, after much fumbling, I discovered an option to calibrate the air bag module to one of two options: with or without passengers air bag shut off switch!
So I gently reminded this poor confused Ram not to expect any feedback from the switch circuit, the air bag warning lamp went out and so did the Dodge.

I was later informed that he forgot to connect the air bag control module after the dash was back in and plugged it in with the truck running.
I didn't think something like that would slap the sense out of a module but it's the only explanation I have. And thank goodness we have different scan tools! His wouldn't have shown us the codes and mine couldn't have done anything about them.

Nice catch!! It seems technology n manufacturers are continually putting us in a tougher position everyday

It seems like Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep modules will take just about any excuse to fail. :silly:

I'm more and more convinced every day that an independent tech can't get by with just one aftermarket scan tool. None do it all.

My boss told me the story of how the other tech figured out what was wrong with the Ram and how he got the air bag light off...

No Credit Noah, lol

Noah wrote: My boss told me the story of how the other tech figured out what was wrong with the Ram and how he got the air bag light off...

No Credit Noah, lol

Sounds like they're on their own next time.

Yeah, I guess I should have just let boss go on thinking the tech left something unplugged. He'd still be making him dig through the dash harness, lol.