Airbag light on only at night
 

So i have an aftermarket steering wheel and the resistors are in never had issues. Then installed hids which i dont see causing an issue but it started happening after they were installed. During the day the light isnt on once night comes and i start the car the light is on. Any help?

How are your HIDs wired in? Relay or direct?

Direct

Barring a short, the only thing I can think of is that HIDs draw significantly lower amperage during operation than incandescent bulbs. This might be a CANBUS issue, and the ECU might be expecting a certain total amperage from the system. What resistance are your resistors?

Ive had the lights on during the day to check if that was why and no airbag light came on. Two 20 or 2 ohm cant remember

What brand/model HID kit is it? I would look into a CAN BUS ballast if possible as well if it plugged directly into the stock connector

Ill have to look at brand but it has a ballast that goes to the original plugs

No hate or judgement here.

Did you buy it cheap from ebay? like under 50 dollar cheap?

From a car show for 80

Yeah, I'd swap for a CANBUS ballast, or check for a short. Maybe go back to stock for a bit, and see if it that resolves the issue. I think Diode Dynamics has a CANBUS ballast as part of their HID kit.

Asides from the airbag light, is there anything else that behaves a little wonky?

Everything else runs smooth just that issue at night

Maybe the light is always ON ...... and you can just SEE it at night ......?? :popcorn:

Could your area be much more humid during the night? Maybe that's screwing up with some sort of component.

Wattage would be nice if possible as well, possibility is that if its a 55 Watt its burning some things out and creating too much draw at night only when it runs the longest.

Disconnect the HIDs, and drive around a bit at night SAFELY in a parking lot without headlights and see if the airbag light returns

It likely the hid , some aftermarket hid kits cause all sorts of weird problem as the electronics in them are poor quality and introduce electrical noise into the system upsetting the cars sensors or electronic control units..
disconnect hids and see if problem goes away.

This^^ It is well documented that some of the aftermarket units cause BCU issues. These issues show symptoms ranging from total ECU failure to intermittent and seemingly absurd unrelated conditions. This is just another to add to the list.

Ill have to give that a try then ill post the results

Put the old lights back in and see if the light comes on. If not it's the HIDs...somehow

It's not that mysterious. A ton of the accessories are wired via CANBUS, and a ton of the accessories are wired through the BCU. Electrical noise, differences in power consumption, differences in resistances, or shorts can do a number on these systems.

lesson of the day : get cheap stuff but not too cheap. :P

Lessons learned indeed

Can you take photos of the ballasts and such so we can see its specs?? I recommend getting a CANBUS HID kit from diode dynamics they have quality parts that are worth the $150, if my OLMs ever have an issue that's what I'll go to

Well after some time i think i finally figured what it was. And im pretty sure it only happens when it gets below a certain temperature outside more than likely causing a resistor pin to shrink somewhat and not be in full contact

Good fix

Ask George Costanza about shrinkage.............

Attachment 124143

if you mount your ballast very close to ABS, it causes light to be on.