Larry, I wouldn't worry about the bag(s) going blooey when you reconnect the
battery. Sounds like what happened to your mom's Altima is that one of the two
bag trigger switches (there are two, one typically on the radiator support and
the other typically either on the dash panel -- what we engineers used to call
the "firewall" before the attorneys told us not to -- or the center tunnel
under the instrument panel) was tripped by the incident with the truck, but not
both, which is why the bags didn't go off during the incident. But now the
'puter is confused. Or the trigger on the radiator support is now broken. How
to tell? Disconnect the battery, play a game of canasta or three with your
mom, and reconnect the battery. If you feel unsure about that, don't sit in
the car when you do, but it's **HIGHLY** unlikely such an event will cause a
spontaneous airbag deployment.
If the airbag light is still on, or is blinking in Morse Code, then something
is amiss and it needs to go to the shop for further repair. If it's out, then
you've just reset things and all is right with the world. BTW, it's a
capacitor in the airbag computer, not a battery.
Well, all is right with the world except for your mother's driving, but I'm
pretty sure you've already figured that one out. I don't envy you trying to
get her off the road before she hurts herself or someone else -- had to do that
with one of my grandfathers a few years ago and it wasn't pretty -- but if
she's hitting parked vehicles and blaming them, it's probably time to think
seriously about helping her find alternate transportation.
Jim Crider
autojim@att.net (home)
jamescrider@metaldyne.com (work)
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