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Comments
Problem is NOT battery. When battery tender is hooked up, green light indicates battery fully charged. Thus there can't be a drain on battery or alternator problem.
I always leave radio turned off.
Once during routine service at dealer, was told battery not charging properly. After 35 min's, manager came back and said it was OK. He probably couldn't figure it out.
Empty the CD changer? Leave it in the garage without turning on antitheft? Why not. I'll try anything.
You are probably right, but the one thing that always trip people up and makes them crazy when working on a problem, is making assumptions that something is okay without really verifying it. It's time-consuming to be thorough but it pays off.
Did you ever get your issue resolved?
Thanks!
Mustang has a battery light that is on until you rev to 2500 rpm's. Took to have battery checked, good but low, charged it and still problem exist. At the same time, had the alternator checked - it is perfect. I am assuming since belts are good, is it cable short or something much easier?? :confuse:
Thanks! -Rick
Now, I've already spoken to Ford designers and a Ford dealership about this. Both give the same annoying response like questioning about propper seating position or if my wife weighs less than 50lbs! They offer suggestions like moving the seat back or to move around a bit in the seat to get the sensor active. What a bunch of BS. My wife sits propperly, and weighs around 110lbs or so. Furthermore, moving the seat or seat position does NOT help. There is NO F'king excuse anyhow..the airbags should reliably sense if any adult is present. PERIOD! I will bring this up to my Ford dealer again on Monday. If I get the same BS casual indifference..I will take it to a higher level. Damit!
Joseph
San Diego
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Billy C.
Eric
Why do I need the manager to see the problem..wouldn't it be enough to show the service rep or one of the technitions who appeared to be available???
It's clear I'm getting a bit of runaround.
I'm working with Ford customer relations at the same time..their engineer couldn't reproduce the problem so the issue remains. This is becomming frustrating.
I, nor my wife, have time for this.
Has anyone else experienced passenger seat belt light OFF when an adult is sitting in passenger seat? It sounds like an obvious case of a bad sensor.
By the way, I did some research on the importance of airbags. In short, they SAVE LIVES! Even when seat belts are used.
Here are some findings from: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/Cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/808470.html
"For drivers reported as belted in FARS, air bags reduced fatality risk by a statistically significant 21 percent in purely frontal impacts (confidence bounds: 9 to 33 percent). In other words, in a purely frontal impact, a belted driver has 21 percent lower fatality risk in a car equipped with an air bag than in a similar car without an air bag."
This is why it is important to have a sensor that works propperly:
"The agency's Special Crash Investigation teams, as of July 1996, have identified 22 fatalities of child passengers in low-severity frontal crashes of vehicles equipped with dual air bags (14 before the end of 1995 and 8 during January-July 1996). Infants in rear-facing safety seats, and unrestrained or improperly restrained children who were out of position prior to the main impact, appear to have contacted the air bag during the forceful early phase of its deployment."
"Infants in rear-facing child safety seats should never be placed in the front seat if the vehicle has a passenger-side air bag. The safest place for children of all ages is the back seat. If riding in the back seat is not an option, toddlers and older children may ride in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger-side air bag, but only if buckled up properly and with the seat moved as far back as possible."
And in Summary:
"If no passenger cars or light trucks had been equipped with driver or passenger air bags, it is estimated that a total of 1136 additional fatalities would have occurred during 1986-95 (approximate confidence bounds: 692 to 1622)."
So as you can see, this is some serious stuff that should be taken seriously and I don't appreciate how this Ford dealership in Poway, CA is dealing with this issue.
Joseph
San Diego
And while I agree with airbags in general and especially for the driver, I question the effectiveness of passenger airbags for passengers who are properly belted in. Airbags were originally developed because people wouldn't wear seatbelts. I'm thinking if the crash is bad enough for the passenger to contact the dash (while belted), then an airbag is probably too little too late. Side airbags are a different matter though.
I'm not questioning whether you should get this fixed and I probably wouldn't disable a passenger airbag given the choice. And airbags for the driver and side impact are no brainers. I just wonder if passenger airbags are really a holdover from the original intent which was to protect unbelted occupants.
There is no need to wonder. Empirical evidence answers your questions.
Passenger airbags are life savers. Equally important to driver air bags.
It took less than 15 seconds to find this information on the internet. Google is our friend.
"FATALITY REDUCTION - PASSENGER AIR BAGS - CAR PASSENGERS AGE 13 OR OLDER
Passenger air bags in cars are effective for right-front occupants age 13 or older in purely frontal crashes. The fatality reduction is statistically significant 27 percent (confidence bounds: 9 to 45 percent).
Air bags reduce the overall fatality risk of car passengers age 13 or older by a statistically significant 13? percent.
The preliminary conclusion is that air bags are about as effective for passengers age 13 or older as for drivers. If so, it is estimated that an additional 88 right front passengers age 13 or older would have died during 1986-95 if no passenger cars or light trucks had been equipped with passenger air bags."
Joseph
San Diego
Again, I'm not against them - if for no other reason than to protect passengers who refuse or forget to buckle up. Just making an obversation.
With just the belt on, people were still sustaining serious injuries because they could still contact hard parts in front of them.
Airbags and seat belts work best when used together propperly. Doing so significantly improves driver and passenger chances of surving a random crash. That's what I get out of that report. That's what I plan on doing.
And bottom line,..I want this airbag light fixed..all airbags should be active at all times when adults are in the front seats. I hope they'll be able to fix it.
Joseph
San Diego
So Ford customer relations had me drive around this weekend with a "flight recorder" (some sort of recorder attatched to the car's CPU with cables all over the place), in hopes of catching this event on tape so to speak. I was a bit annoyed that they'd require me to test the car risking my family's safety. I reluctantly agreed to do it since the dealer was unable to reproduce the problem. Sure enough, this weekend..the light went off like clock work as I drove my wife around the block to a near by parking lot. We even tried it on the highway..and it went off there too. Basically, the light goes off spuradically, with no warning..stays on for an equally random amount of time, anywhere from 3 minutes to for the whole ride. Finally got my wife on the scales this weekend and found she weighs 118.5 lbs. That should be enough weight for the sensor to identify and adult present.
So, I'll be returning this gadget to the dealership today. Now, I want this fixed..or my money back!
Joseph
San Diego
Trouble codes are worth looking for, to give you a start or clue.
Thanks a lot Mr. Shiftright for helping me out.
Thanks you
My car battery goes dead in a matter of days since new. Ford told me to make sure my radio is turned off before I shut the car off each time. I do this. Still the car goes dead quickly. Then they had me replace the battery. I had my dealer put in a new battery. I still have the same problem.
I saw on another "Ford Forum" site that supposedly there is an issue where the radio system draws 1.64 amps instead of .11 as it should. It says Ford is aware of this problem. I called my dealer and neither the service manager or the electrical guru service tech ever heard of the issue. I know I'm not the only 05 owner with this problem. I keep the car on a trickle charger most of the time now but the other day (with a full charge) after sitting at my office for 8 hours, I went to leave work and it wouldn't start. I waited 2 minutes and it fired right up like there was no problem but as other people have mentioned, the radio came on to AM540 and the CD's cycled through and the guages did a complete reset. Can anybody help me with this?