I have a 99 superduty ext. cab and im having some air bag issues.My keyed switch on the dash dosent seem to work. I can turn it to the off position but the "off" light dosent come on. Also EVERY 30 minutes I get a chime.....about 4 or 5 beeps per block and about 4 blocks of them. After the 4th block it stops untill the next 30 minutes is up. Im pretty sure that this is related to the airbag switch but Im not 100% positive. I would love to get it working right without spending a fortune but if nothing else I want to stop the annoying series of beeps every thirty minutes......Any suggestions?

 

The bulb is probably burned out in the PAD switch...common failure, you'll need to replace the switch for starters and go from there.

 

Thanks for the reply.....Ill start there

 

Anyone know what the bulb is in the PAD switch??.....I can replace it easy if I knew where to find them. Whats the price of a new PAD switch??

 

The bulb is not serviceable, you'll have to replace the switch. I forget how much they are, I want to say around $70-80ish.

 

Why is it not servicable?? Its just a bulb. If thats the only problem it is alot cheaper to replace a $.15 bulb than a $70 switch

 

OK I solved this problem.....I replaced the bulb behind the instrument panel and the bulb in the PAD switch....This solves the problem. If anyone has these problems contact me and Ill be glad to help you fix the problem. Its a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing the $70 PAD switch. I have a total of about $1 invested in the fix.

 

Guess I was wrong, I was always told the bulb wasn't serviceable. When it comes to airbag components, I replace the whole component just for the CYA factor. Good to see you got it squared away though.

 

Thanks for the help Quintin. I think Ford has been seeing dollar signs with the PAD switch. They get $70(not to mention Labor) everytime a bulb goes bad.

 

Where did you get the bulb from, I been to a several auto parts stores and have not been able to find anything..

 

To clarify:

The audio alarm is a backup to the primary SRS warning lamp in the instrument cluster. When the AIRBAG lamp in the dash burns out the audio tone sounds to alert the driver there is a fault. FWIW, this is in your owner's manual.

Replacement PAD bulbs are available from Radio Shack for a buck or two. 272-1141. Requires soldering.

Steve

 

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the part # from Raido Shack, picked up the bulb today, $1.41 including tax... spent 5 min soldering it in added a small bit of hot glue to hold the bulb in place and I was in business..

light works now, and no more flashing light on the dashboard for the airbag..
$1.41 was a lot better than spending $70.00

Thanks again everyone..

 

I need to do this on my '01 F150. If you just remove the whole switch assembly from the dash panel, does the switch assembly come apart easy enough to solder in the new bulb?

 

IPAonTAP,

when you remove the switch assembly from the back of the panel, it does come appart but in my case not easly, I had to use a few of those tiny screw drivers and still broke one of the clips.. no a big deal as it still snapped back together tight.. The Soldering was easy if you've ever done it befor. The new bulb has about an inch of extra wire with it, which I didnt clip off, I just stripped the ends off a bit longer, un-soldered the origional bulb, removed all the old solder so I could get the wires through the holes in the circuit board and re-soldered the wires in place, added a spot of hot glue to hold the buld in the approx same location and position as the origional bulb, removed the yellow cover off the old bulb, put it on the new one, put everything back together and tryed it out.. worked like a champ...

 

Thanks for all the info. I will try it out and see how it goes. It doesn't seem too bad.