looking at a used truck.  When the passenger airbag is turned on, the passenger airbag's OFF light (right beside the passenger sides airbag switch) is not lit.  so thats good right?  but in this condition, the drivers console AIRBAG light wont go off.

If you switch the passenger airbag off, its OFF light comes on, and the driver's console's AIRBAG light goes off.

This seems counterintuitive to me...

Now, the truck may have been in a wreck; I noticed a primer spot under the hood where the rest of that area was blue, so it appears the truck was painted at some point.

It makes sense to me.

Dash one is a fault light, you have a fault since an airbag is turned off


My ranger doesn't have a dash light but it does have a switchable passenger airbag that has the light turn on when it is off.

Yup.
When you turn the passenger bag on, it creates a fault in the system.
It's possible that if the truck was wrecked, one of the bags was deployed but not replaced.  Who knows, electronics are kinda funny like that.
 

I wouldn't trust it. I can turn the passenger airbag on and off in my Toyota and that will not throw a fault light, because there is no fault, you simply turned it off. I had a buddy who bought a used truck and we were in a pretty big crash. Rear ended someone at a stop, we were doing 55. (Wreck in front of us). Regardless, our airbags did not go off, and we tagged the guy in front of us hard. We were all ok, but it turns out there were never any airbags in the truck. They were removed/stolen by someone at the dealership when purchased (Vehicle was used). there is a black market for these things, they can go for a couple grand each. I would have a trustworthy mechanic look at it. Someone who would specialize in vehicle electronics or safety devices. Not something to guess on.

Its a Ford,probably. The indicator bulb in the pass airbag deac switch is burned out.Wont set a failure code(or light the DIC light) unless you turn it to "off" position which SHOULD illuminate the bulb next to the switch. Replaced tons of em,(the switch assy)no harm no foul.Now the clockspring on the other hand !

Lots of times the guys cleaning them take the seats out too and if they unplug the harness under the seat without unhooking the battery it can trip the light.  Seen that a ton. Also if they break the connector under the seat or simply forgot to plug it back in.

Or what the guy above me said. Personally I've seen more clock springs then bulbs but I wasn't a mechanic and that was German cars.

is it just me?  because you 2 guys' statements seem to conflict with each other.  It just seems to me that disabling the passenger airbag should be what triggers the fault, not ENabling it.


havent bought it just yet, jury is still out.   its a 2003 with only 70K miles, which seems unbelievable, and i suspect he may have been able to roll the odometer back (hes an automotive tech) but I did poke around in the glovebox and found the bill of sale (along with his DUI paperwork) where he bought it  used from the dealership that he works for and last year it had 50k miles on it then

Yesterday I took it to autozone and they put 2 different computers on it. no codes. By then I had cranked it a couple of times hoping to coerce the ecu into spitting out anything it had.

Jury is still out...