SRS light on the dash, need help!
 

I bough my 2013 Subaru BRZ used and the last owner had a harness bar installed. The original front left hand and right hand seat belts were not removed, but the top bolts were undone and the seatbelt was wound up and tucked behind the b pillar. The guy said that it turned on once he installed the harness bar. I removed it and rebolted the seat belts.

I’m getting a B1900 code when I use my OBD2/SRS scanner, I can delete the code, but it comes back on once the car is reset.

The code says that it is a Short In Front Driver Side Pretensioner Squib Circuit.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? And also is this a “hard code” on my SRS module that I would have to send in to reset?

The previous owner isn't telling you something more than likely. I wouldn't be surprised if the car was in a non-total front end collision that activated pre-tensioner.
The pretensioner (not 100% sure if its this way on the frs but for the most part they are all the similar) is basically a one-time use mechanism that fires (literally..there is a pyro-charge inside that once fired, it shoots a metal tension cable) off during an impact (even if airbags don't deploy). This sucks down the BUCKLE where the seat belt snaps into. Once this happens the resistance that value changes and the car knows that its been deployed, hence the code you are seeing.

To check it, you'll probably need to unbolt the seat and take a look at the buckle and see if you can find whether or not its been activated.

Hopefully that isn't the case, but either way isn't a HUGE deal.. Are you able to pull out your seat belts perfectly fine? There are companies on ebay (I think one is in GA) that you can send this assembly into to have it reworked/recharged. Alternatively you can just source a belt/tensionser assembly from a wrecked car on ebay.

With regards to the code, this isn't a simple "check engine light" as it pertains to safety and you can't just simply reset it with a basic (sometimes not even with a more sophisticated ) obdii computer. The wrecked 2015 Buick Lacrosse that I fixed had the pretensioner fired and belt locked up, so I just found those as a set on ebay for 60 bucks. I was able to use my buddies more sophisticated obdii reader to clear the code (it also will only clear if the issue is fixed, you can't just delete the error). But sometimes, depending on the severity of the impact, these codes can get HARDWRITTEN into the SRS computer (this too probably can be flashed through the same company who can rework the pre-tensioners).


If I have scared you completely at this point, thats OK, but this could be something as silly as the plug to the pretensioner being loose or broken or something. But either way, you'll need to get in there and see what it all is looking like visually.

I’ve unplugged and rep lugged the cable twice and it still shows up. How would I know if the pretensioner has gone off. The seatbelts do work fine. But yeah this car hit a deer before, that’s the only collision history but the last owner said it was only until he installed the harness bar that the code turned on. I hope it’s not hard written because i don’t have another car and sending in the module takes time, especially during the coronavirus


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if the pre-tensioner has fired you should see the a difference in the buckle height compared to the other seat. It basically has a metal cable connected to the seat buckle that pulls it down and (literally does what its called) pre-tensions the belt in case of the impact.

On the buick, I had two different plugs associated with this. One plug is on the belt assembly in the pillar itself (because the belt assembly a lot of times is also a one-time use thing in case of an impact) and the other plug goes to the pretensioner on the seat.

What you could also do, since the issue is showing up on the drivers seat and not the passenger seat, is take a multimeter and compare the resistance on both pre-tensioners and continuity on the plugs. I was able to diagnose a bad plug (they were kind of special plugs, at least on the buick) that was giving me a similar issue.

Its quite possible that something happened to the plug or wire itself and nothing serious is actually happening.