2003 Chevy Avalanche Airbag Light Issue?

[JUSTIN]

My father has a 2003 Chevy Avalanche, and lately the airbag light has been coming on and staying lit. The truck has never been in an accident, or jarred on the bumper to the best of my knowledge.

I have searched online and came up with simply replacing the sensor, which runs around $300. On another forum a guy said he had replaced his and he ended up with the same problem a month later. We can not justify spending that much to fix such an issue. Is it unsafe? We were thinking about taking it to a dealer but have not done so yet.

Is there any way you guys may know to alleviate this problem? Maybe it is dirty? How could we clean it without harming it? If anyone has had similar problems on other models feel free to contribute.

Thank you so much!

 

[helpful bob]

Yes it's possible either moister has corrosion or dirt on the plug in contacts of the air bag sensor or there is simply a bad ground, plus it is possible to clean the connections and to even clean some of these types of sensors too.
More then likely from the info you've given me I'd say it's a bad connection or bad or dirty sensor and it's only really a issue if the vehicle is to be re-certified as fit for the road in the future.
You can just try to clean it or get the dealership to do it but it still will be quite costly bec I believe the majority of the price you were given is much related to the labor fees.
What I might do first off is try is calling a customer service rep from a dealership up seeing if any recalls issues are related to the air bag light and ask them what they suggest and don't forget to try more then one dealership and check online via the vehicles vin numbersownership on GM's site.


Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way some of the small town family owned shops that have done a lot of Chevy's might offer you a much lower repair rate or labor rates.