Fixing Holden Viva Air Bag Problems - Flashing / How to Reset Light  

Holden Viva's have a common issue with the air bag warning light coming on and flashing, becoming rather annoying!

The first thing to check is that under each of the front seats there are a cable with a connector, where these connectors can commonly come loose and trigger the warning light. Try unplugging the connection and reconnect (whilst the car is off, keys out of the ignition), ensuring that it connects well. You may want to grab some zip ties to hold the plug together if it's a bit dodgy.

You may also need to just reset the warning light as a one time event may have triggered it - such as installing a new stereo system and forgetting to isolate the airbag components. In such cases, the car's computer will remember if something went wrong and continue to give you a warning even after the fault goes away to encourage you to go to a dealer and have it fixed.

If you think it was a one time fault, you can reset it by putting the key into the ignition and turn it to the "On" position.

Wait for the Air Bag warning / SRS light to illuminate on the dash, and the moment that the light turns off, switch the ignition key to the "Off" position within one second. Rinse and repeat 2-3 times and then turn the key back on and the light will hopefully now be gone away as it's been reset.

Now you can start the engine to verify that the warning light is gone... but if not, you may have a more permanent problem to deal with... however, a more thorough method to resetting the cars computer (ECU) is to disconnect the battery, so basically pop the bonnet, grab a shifter and disconnect one of the battery terminals. Once disconnected, turn the keys in the ignition to the on position (which obviously won't do anything, but it drains any residual current in the system), then turn the keys back to the off position and remove.

Then reconnect the battery, and the ECU will have been hard reset.

Yet, if the problem persists, check out under each front seat you will find a cable with a connector - the light comes on when the connection is loose (for example if something was pushed under the seat), unplug the connection and reconnect and the light should go off.

Hopefully...

Still not fixed? You might need to visit an auto-electrician or a mechanic I'm afraid.


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