An SRS Module DIY Success Case w/Write Up
Hi, I just wanted to share my own personal experience with an 03 pilot that a friend of mine recently purchased with the srs light on. Disclaimer: (I do all the automotive work on my vehicles and a fair bit for friends and family's recreationally. I am not a certified Honda technician, but have done a strong amount of car work and have had some airbag light experience with a bmw of mine) Here's what I did, maybe folks with the same issue can have similar success doing this. I had searched high and low for an example of someone doing this on forum posts but they all dead ended so I decided to give it a try anyways and here’s how it went.
Srs light had been on since previous ownership. Pilot was an 03 with 143k. I swung it by the dealer near me to have the code read to determine where the fault was (Driver or pass front seat, clock spring in steering wheel, or the srs unit itself) the code came back as 7-2 (I think) which said "internal srs unit failure". The dealer quoted me $1k to replace the SRS unit, reset it, & have it serviced by a qualified technician, blah blah blah. I said thanks and left.
Got home, unplugged the battery, then turned the ignition on & turned the headlights on as well to be sure to drain any residual electricity out of the vehicle for about 10mins. Next, on the driver and passenger side I removed the kick panels along the lower front part of the center console beside where the drivers right foot and passengers left foot would be. These panels have spring clips that allow you to gently pry/pop them out easily. Once these are out, with a light, you can easily see the SRS unit from the drivers side in there to the right of the gas pedal. It will be labeled SRS & have a model number & date on it. I took a picture of this model number which for me was:77960-S9V-A720-M1.
Next I went online and found a "working used” one on ebay with the identical model number and ordered it for $80. It has 3 yellow connectors (2 large, & a smaller one on the right side). All you need to do is work these plugs out pinching & prying them properly and then unscrew the bolts that mount the srs unit to the body. Next mount up the new one and plug it in, reconnect the battery and turn the car on. After firing the car up, the srs light went out for me and still has not come back in the 3 months since doing this fix. I did not have to have the srs system reset, the properly functioning ebay srs unit automatically cleared the fault & all was well. This repair took me about 20 mins to do, was very easy to access, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. If you have some decent common sense and some basic mechanical skills you can easily do this and potentially save yourself a lot of money! Thanks for reading