Do i need to fix air bags when salvaging car?

A phone Call to your DMV should get you a reliable answer.

You need to get the airbag repaired for your own sake. The collision you describe leads me to suspect one of the collision sensors in a pair was depressed resulting in the light. Both sensors in a pair have to be depressed to fully arm the airbag in these situations. If this is the case, the airbage may be more or less "semi-armed" and susceptible to deployment at any time. It may not have deployed simply because the accelerometer did not sense enough speed change to qualify the bag to deploy. You do not want it deploying without good reason. A well equipped shop can read the code to determine the problem. Again, the bag can save your ass but, you do not want an unintended deployment. The cost of a pair of sensors is cheap to return it to proper operation. In my bread and butter occupation, I have seen these things do their job too many times not to be convinced of their importance or their ability to inflict lots of hurt if deployed at the wrong time. I would not take the chance.

Lugnut

"Prinler" wrote in news:1172785609.173492.166330 @s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com:

If you want to re-register the car for the road in CA, you need to have the SRS system present and fully functional at the time of inspection.

This from:

A quote from that document: "NOTE: Vehicles being presented for inspection that were originally manufactured with a supplemental restraint system (air bags) need to be equipped with air bags in good working order, which meet applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards and conform to the manufacturer?s specifications for that vehicle."

Well sHoot, i guess im gonna have to get it fixed. Just some info, when i got the car(leansale) it had the light on already. The car was backed into lightly by a friend on an incline. It hurt the hood and pushed the bumper into the condenser. thats all. 1` mph maybe.

"Prinler" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:

Lugnut is almost certainly correct; it's probably nothing more than the bumper impact sensors that need replacing.

Unlike him though, I don't think the system can be semi-armed. As far as I know, an error will result in a disabled system, making the car just like any 1987 model.

You are aware the SRS light can be read for codes? This will give you a clue as to what's wrong.

I am using the term semi-armed as I suspect one or more of the sensors is depressed or damaged which is the first of several qualifiers to deploy the SRS. I suspect one or more of the sensors has not been reset or returned to normal as the system expects. Additional qualifiers include vehicle speed input and decel rate to indicate a collision has occurred. If all the qualifiers are not met, the SRS will not (should not) deploy. If undamaged, the system will reset to normal operation unless something about the system is no longer normal like a damage or jammed sensor or harness damage in which case a fault light will become illuminated. The bottom line is that the system is certainly inoperable or disabled as-is and, possibly, not to be trusted not to deploy accidentally, as-is.

Regards Lugnut

then why was the car declared "totalled?" A punctured condensor sure as heck isn't worth a total-out.