Need quick Taurus SHO ? answered, What do you do if you the airbag light is on?

[5spd GT]

The reason I asked is a "mother-in-law" of mine has a 96 Ford Taurus SHO and it had been in a wreck. She went to a local dealership to see why the airbag light was on (get the codes). The check engine light was also on.

The dealership charged her two times for first getting the "check engine light" codes and the second time was for the "air bag codes".

Does it not use the same OBDII port for all codes. So it should have only taken them once? She got charged $160 bucks for this, I was pretty upset about it. Just trying to get some info before I speak with the manager. Thanks!

This is a 96 Ford Taurus SHO.

 

[Built98GT]

I definately would think they could get both codes the first time instead of having to do it twice. I would definately go talk to the manager and see what he sais.

 

[5spd GT]

Does it not take the same port, and all the codes would "pop" up at the same time? They charged her twice for it

Thanks for the reply!

They do it for free at autozone, but since she is a older lady...they stuck it to her.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

That's BS!

One diagnostic pull would have gotten all codes and all from the ODBII port.

As was said AutoZone does it for free and I would NEVER EVER go to that shop again

 

[5spd GT]

So it for sure just has a OBDII port? That just reiterates what I was thinking. Thanks guys, more verification is welcome

 

[Cantslowdown]

Even if it wasnt OBII they should have still got both codes..

 

[jasonh_86]

Hey david.. You could've gone to Auto Zone or Advance Auto Parts and they would read it for free. It is from the same port.. damn ripoffs

 

[Mike97gt]

The reason I asked is a "mother-in-law" of mine has a 96 Ford Taurus SHO and it had been in a wreck. She went to a local dealership to see why the airbag light was on (get the codes). The check engine light was also on.

The dealership charged her two times for first getting the "check engine light" codes and the second time was for the "air bag codes".

Does it not use the same OBDII port for all codes. So it should have only taken them once? She got charged $160 bucks for this, I was pretty upset about it. Just trying to get some info before I speak with the manager. Thanks!

This is a 96 Ford Taurus SHO.

diaging check engine lights and air bag lights is not just pulling codes and throwing in parts.. there is pinpoint tests and such that have to be performed using other tests and with multimeters and such..

they have to charge you diag for each of those because diaging the check engine light requires one series of tests and the air bag light another.. Would you like to do two hours worth of work and only get paid for one of them, I mean your already there why not just work for free the other hour

the day they come out with a computer that you plug in and it tells you what to replace I will be the first to buy it.

Sorry I know you guys don't know better and have been told over simplified stuff.. but I have to deal with this stuff every day and this misinformation put out to people by poorly trained service writers hurts my income. They think the customer is too stupid to understand what really goes on so they tell the customer that diag is " hooking up to the computer and pulling codes"
For years writers and other non techs have told people the diag charge is to scan the car and pull codes... this is 100 percent false, the diag charge is also to cover 1 hour worth of pinpoint tests.

Do you know how many times I have had entire interiors out of cars during diag so I can do pinpoint tests on the wiring and modules. Yeah after codes and pid data it's pulling the connectors off the modules and parts and checking resistances and voltages and stuff. Are we supposed to do that for free too..

I want to see autozone do that for free

BTW Please don't any of you take this rant personal.. This is just a sore spot for me and it's not you guys fault. I have been complaining for years that the customers are misinformed about what is done to diag cars and repair them..

 

[Kilgore Trout]

That makes sense...

 

[96SCstang]

bingo...you beat me to that svtech . most people dont understand what is takes to get codes and pinpoint the cause of the codes. airbag lights especially can take a long time to figure out, because it is a pretty complex system. not only that is was in a wreck so who the hell knows what wires have been pinched or sensors wrecked, or seatbelt switches broken(yes a bad seatbelt switch will turn on airbag light ) so please dont go into the shop and raise hell. it sounds like she got the right price for the job. now to get to the root of things. wut codes did they pull and did they fix the problem???????

 

[5spd GT]

Obviously I wasn't clear.

All they did was plug in the "machine" and pull the codes and had a print-off. They also said that vacuum lines needed to be replaced, put down a price. They also said the EGR/IAC needed to be cleaned and some other things like that.

Guess what...

They did all that without even popping the hood.

Guys, I posted that Autozone could have did it for free I knew that. I was just posting some info that I got from the "mother-in-law" and me looking at the invoice myself.

I do not see if they both require different series of test, how she got charged the same price for both "series" of test. $75 bucks each.

 

[5spd GT]

bingo...you beat me to that svtech . most people dont understand what is takes to get codes and pinpoint the cause of the codes. airbag lights especially can take a long time to figure out, because it is a pretty complex system. not only that is was in a wreck so who the hell knows what wires have been pinched or sensors wrecked, or seatbelt switches broken(yes a bad seatbelt switch will turn on airbag light ) so please dont go into the shop and raise hell. it sounds like she got the right price for the job. now to get to the root of things. wut codes did they pull and did they fix the problem???????

The problems were not solved. They added up over $2000 dollars in misc. charges. The throttle sticks slightly in that car. There solution? Put a new TB on. Cost: $600 bucks.

She didn't get the right price for the job, when they did an autozone job.