tl;dr A friend of mine spilled soda everywhere in my car (it smells like **** unfortunately, even after cleaning & Yankee Candle air freshening it) and the airbag light is blinking now for some reason. I've tried manually resetting it, but it keeps coming back. The dealer said they'd "replace" my airbags for $2000, but seriously... heck no!

What should I do?

 

If this happened recently, the moisture is probably grounding the indicator. Hopefully the problem goes away when it dries out. Illinois has been receiving moisture lately, so drying may take some time.

--Spike

 

if your friend has homeowner's or renter's insurance (or if they live with their parents who will have insurance), ask them to file a claim under their liability insurance. You cannot file this type of claim against them like with auto liability insurance. Their home/renter's liability insurance will probably pay for it as he/she was negligent by spilling her soda resulting in property damage. If not, then sue them in small claims court which will undoubtedly lead them to filing the claim. Just because it wasn't on purpose doesn't make them not legally liable for the damage.

Note, I am NOT talking about their AUTO insurance, i'm talking about their homeowners or renters liability insurance.

 

This is fixable. Where exactly was it spilled? Near the center console?......The airbag main computer resides under there. This will cost way less than 2 large to fix, but we need specifics.

 

^^ I agree. This is an easy repair that will not cost anywhere near the $2k dealer quote.

Note: A spill on the outside (towards the door) part of the seat can be trouble, in addition to an inside spill over the center console.

--Spike

 

Thanks guys, the spill was directly over the radio, stick, and center, so I'm assuming the airbag computer was affected. How would I fix this?

 

You are going to need to remove the center console between the seats. The airbag computer resides toward the rear of the console, behind the parking brake lever, under the flip-top lid compartment.

Disconnect the battery. Unhook all the connections going into the airbag computer. Take the airbag computer to your bench. Use some q-tips and alcohol to clean all the connections out. Clean the harness connections in the car that plug into the computer. Re-mount, re-install, connect battery. If you are lucky, following the airbag reset procedure in the FSM will reset that airbag light.

If you are not lucky, you'll need to get another airbag computer and install it. What year is your car? Here's an example of what you can find:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/03-04-05-06-...095#vi-content

 

Well, since your "friend" f'd-up your car, call your "friend's" insurance company and have them pay for it. You shouldn't be responsible for paying for damage someone else did to your car.

 

^^ C’mon… Someone spills some pop and then they are on the hook for a very expensive repair. There is no reason to involve any insurance company.

That scenario you describe will never happen. And, the fix is simple and inexpensive.

--Spike