SRS Light reset

1. The dealer has to have one anyway, as they're responsible for their after-sales service. Its not a consumable. 2. The dealers are part of (or at least representative of) Mitsubishi, the people who decided to use a proprietary protocol only they (and licensees) could reset, making it deeply unethical to overcharge for simple actions like this, as there is no technical barrier to making a user- or mechanic-actionable method available. 3. If they can attribute as little as 50% of the charge to capital cost, they'll recoup it entirely in 75 services, which in terms of time is a very low payback period, 4. I'm unlikely to use the tool 75 times and be able to charge for it, making your's a pretty poor comparison 5. Auto sparkys pay the same/more for the tools but charge less, due to being able to recoup the cost on actual jobs where its necessary and due to competition in the marketplace, whereas the dealer workshop abuses their monopoly. 6. Can't have proper flavour without a bit of salt. Incidentally enables liquids to conduct electricity better, making salts vital for brain function. If you're happy to criticise without thinking things through, can I interest you in some salty nuts?

I'm not sure if you have any real understanding of the cost to carry a franchise. Independent garages/autosparkies don't have to carry the same costs so they can often be more competitive on labour rates. Easy to buy one aftermarket specialist tool that can work on just about any brand and recoup your money quickly. Imagine what your local sparky would charge you if he had to buy a scan tool for every make of car he was prepared to work on. Most likely he would go broke.

So what do you do for an occupation greateft?

Civil Engineer, but in a past life I ran an electronics business and spent a few years with ASB and Westpac. I'm well familiar with the costs of running a business and how you apportion overheads. I'm well aware of franchising costs and mandatory equipment. I'm also well aware of the reasons one would buy a franchise and pay MMNZ those costs versus setting up shop under their own banner - they pay for the privilege of getting the dealership's clients, from after-sales support, warranty claims paid for by MMNZ, all the marketing effort by MMNZ including the right to fly the big three diamonds so people know where to take their Mitsubishis.

If I went to that same dealer and got them to weld up my exhaust, you wouldn't hear a peep out of me about costs - that requires the time of a trained technician, quality equipment and the infrastructure around it - at rates set by an open market, because there are other workshops - a shoddy job or a gouge means they'd quickly run out of customers, and my going to them is a choice amongst options. The BP can rent me a $1500 trailer for $50, because I could go to Kennard's or Hirepool or Shell and have to pay the same, because if anyone could do it cheaper and still have it be worthwhile doing, they would, and take the lion's share of the market. The only mechanic in a small town could charge as much as people would pay rather than getting a tow to the next one. I don't have to imagine what a sparky would charge if they needed specialised tools for the job they're prepared to do - because that's what they do. Which is why you won't find avionics parts for a C-130 in their back cupboards, not really their bailiwick.

The code clearance is an artificially created flaw that has no technical reason for existence. They could have used a programming sequence (e.g. press and hold accelerator for 10 seconds with key on, engine off), a relay to pull, a standard OBD2 method - but instead they use a protocol only they have access to for no conceivable reason other than to disallow a competitor from being able to do it and thereby keeping the cost high.

I'm designing a subdivision for a client at the moment, and I'm using a pretty high-end CAD machine. When I'm designing the roading and services and specifications and construction methodology and all the other stuff I've been trained for you'd better believe my employer's charging the client an eyewatering fee. When I then use that same computer to go to the publically accessible Council website, print off a form and include it with my report for them to fill in, that's something anyone could do. How happy would the client be to be charged for this at an Engineer's rate? Still, like any business, when times are good and there's more client work than hours in our day, that'll get charged. In recent years past, we wouldn't - competition, supply and demand would have made this uncompetitive.

In the same way, if I had an ignition timing problem or something that required real training to solve, a dealer's technician is a professional who's time I should be paying for at a professional's rate, using that same scantool to get the data they need. You can't seriously expect anyone to be thrilled to pay that same rate for someone to navigate a self-explanatory menu to clear a flag with no analysis by man or machine, simply because the car and tool are designed to talk only to each other and with no competing gear. Yet, I'd still be happy to pay that if every person capable of doing that job was otherwise occupied and I had no other choice, or if the scantool needed to do some specialised complex analysis of god knows what in order to do its job. However, its a guy with eyes, a basic vocabulary and a pulse, and a flipping of an EEPROM bit that could be done with a $10 chip if Mitsubishi were to use an open. not proprietary, protocol.

Notice I didn't say much about the $700 cost of getting the clock spring replaced by the dealer. #3 mentioned being quoted $150 for the same job on a Commodore - I was quoted $200 by an auto sparky (for just the replacement with secondhand, he couldn't reset the code). At an $80 chargeout that's less than an hour's labour which is about right given the time it took me to carefully do it. No issues with any of that.

That was an option offered on the open market - if I'd still gone to the dealer, I'd have had a reason - convenience, guarantee, brand new part with warranty, Mitsubishi-endorsed technician - pick any and all. If all that was worth $700 or more to me, that'd be fair. It wasn't, so I went elsewhere for the part and did it myself, sacrificing those perks which is also fair.

Likewise if I had a later model car, and the dealer quoted me $80 for the scan, I could choose to go get it read somewhere else. Or, I could pay that for the convenience and reliability of getting a diagnosis from their technicians. Valid choices. My gripe is they've used an artificial barrier (closed protocol) to shut out the other choices, creating a monopoly condition by removing choice, not by doing anything more preferable.

Greateft- have you contacted the dealership and asked them how much to do a simple code clear? You will likely find its not the $80 to do a diagnostic scan.

Also I have to mention your repeated reference to the $700 for a NEW clock spring including fitting.
You have purchased a second hand part of around the same age and use cycle as the one you removed from your car. Can you see the problem there?
Im not attacking you but a clock spring by it nature/desighn is at risk of breakage. Mitzi clock springs from that era seem more prone to it than most.

Last- Its not just Mitzi who have closed up shop with scan information.
I did think that there was a time span after which the info went public though.
The last couple of years Ive taken almost every brand of car for scan at the franchise dealership because they could rectify minor glitches.

Yes - $80 for a code clear, same as having the code read. Although the $700 would include that if I got the clock spring done. I've already acknowledged what would make the $700 worth it including the brand new part - the lower cost I paid carries the risk of the new part being defective, wearing out, or being incorrectly fitted by the idiot who did it (me). The age of the car, the relative worth to me and my appetite for risk made the secondhand the better option but if that wasn't the case the $700 would be worth it - the labour, overheads, new part costs and after-service liability are irrespective of the car's age or usage in this case. As for the closed shop - standard industry practice doesn't mean ethical or right - unfortunately the only way to change that is with a test case or action from a competition watchdog, and neither seems likely.

Brighter side now - there's a guy on here (stahlcar) selling an aftermarket MUT-compatible scanner for $200 that will clear SRS codes - going to buy that if I don't find a better alternative by Monday. Anyone encountered his gear before?

I see that in a past life you were involved with the banking industry. Banks are experts at applying charges and gathering massive amounts of money. Is this SRS lamp just a bit of krama?

greateft,
I haven't read your entire thread, but if you are in Tauranga and want a much cheaper reset option for Monday I might just have one for you. Trouble is, you need to figure out if there is a way to get in touch with me without breaking trademe rules.
Best of luck.

greateft.--I find myself morally in two camps on this scenario.
On one hand I don't see the automotive industry any different from The movie or music industries.In that what you are asking for is cheap access to their intellectual property. Mitzi spent millions of dollars creating the scan technology why should anyone just come along and take it for free or cheap?
Flip side is that equally there has to be a time limit that this IP can be held by the manufacturers and Ida thunk that time on a mid 1990's car would be well past

Hah, might I ask what you do for a living, and if you're responsible for the sins of everyone in your industry? FYI my longest stretch was in Fraud Investigation, so I'm pretty satisfied with my karma.

Still, I see your point - that is one industry full of players who make money because they can whether is morally right to do so. Thankfully life is never a binary choice between sainthood and. well, being a normal greedy human.

greateft wrote:
Hah, might I ask what you do for a living, and if you're responsible for the sins of everyone in your industry? FYI my longest stretch was in Fraud Investigation, so I'm pretty satisfied with my karma.

Oddly enough I am in the motor trade and have been for 37 years. And no, I do not feel responsible for any sins that the industry may have. Over the years I have met numerous people with a similar gripe to yours. Having said that, I have never encountered anyone who felt that burning their car outside the relevant dealership would be a solution.

. you need to read things like that either less literally, or more. Less, because its the kind of metaphorical BS people say when they're irritated. More, because of the word "sooner" - I guess if I was down to the last two options I'd be prepping a big ol' barbeque, but that's after having strolled past the options of selling the car, disabling the ABS light, ripping out the airbag, replacing everything, buying a scan tool, breaking into the dealership at night, sacrificing a goat to Loki, giving it away for free like its a Saturday night, homeopathy (because everybody's doing it these days).

throw the tool away, put foot on brake then just turn the ign on then off either 3 or 5 times within 7 second, then turn it off take out the key and restart as normal. should do the trick

Ah, gave it a go but no dice - cheers anyway gypsypom

Sorry to semi hi jack this thread, but I have a 2004 Ford Escape with air bag code 36. Flash 3 pause flash 6.
I think I may have fixed the problem ( connections under seats) but the light still flashes. Would anyone know if their is a quick fix reset available like the above ?
I had code 46 a few years ago and thought I had fixed it, but now I have got 36.
Searching with google the internet is saturated in this problem with Escapes !

there will be more then just 2 numbers for a error code on a 2004. and you cant read out error codes with global obd2 as that is emission only.

Do you happen to pop through to Te Puke/Tauranga on occasion? If so I might be able to point you in the right direction.

I certainly can.

Cool, if you can come up with a way of getting in touch with me without breaking any trademe rules I will be happy to point you in the right direction. With the Escape I might need to put you in touch with someone (not a business) and I don't think it's fair to just post their private details here.

Trademe, if you are not happy with that, please delete this post and advise me of how I can help without upsetting you.

i know a mobile mechanic that will do the reset in auckland.for 40 including travel

start a listing and i will put you in touch with him.

did you read thru the document i posted, srs system are complet just 1 circuit system they have to be rliable they cant be part of engine managment on a can bus the crash sensor must be able to make the call when to deploy what airbag in mear millisecounds , they can not go on the can- bus= public transport when they have milli secounds to deploy the airbag in the correct time so your head enters the fully inflated airbag. a few 100 millisecounds to late and it could snap your neck with the airbag.= why its its own independend system.
there is a full video about it but i doubt it makes much sense if you dont have a good base foundation of how electronics functions . you would need to start where i did with ohms law .
if you dont understand ohms law then its a waste of time for any correct diagnosis because the bulb tuns on there must be no voltage left after a bulb if there is you got ohms resistence in the wire= ohms law matters by dan sullivan i recon he is the best tutor of ohms law
not E, I and R crap its volts ohms and amps that matter to the real world e.i.r is only for pen pusher theoretical booring stuff.

E=volts I=amps R=ohms whats hard about that.

Yes, 36 is not strictly an error code rather than an indication of one of four potential problems in the air bag wiring/system.

1. DTC B1992 - Left side air bag circuit short to battery or ignition
2. DTC B1993 - Left side air bag circuit short to ground
3. DTC B1994 - Left side air bag circuit resistance high
4. DTC B1995 - Left side air bag circuit resistance low

I found that, so don't know if it is 100% correct, but I also ascertained that I don't need a reset.
Unless having the battery disconnected for an hour while I cut out and hard wired all the dodgy connectors under the front seats helped.
Main thing is my error light is gone and I didn't get a whack in the noggin from the air bag going off :-D

Result!
Thanks for the update, so many just disappear and leave us wondering what happened.Glad it worked out so well for you.