replace air bag sensors?

[joeypruett]

allo all! i'm very happy to see a place i can post my questions.

my wife's 1992 LS400 has had the air bag light on for two years. we just took it to the dealership and they say the center air bag sensor is kaput. they recommend replacing for $850 and say the air bags will not deploy until fixed.

i'd like thoughts on whether or not to replace.

the air bag light has been OFF since the visit. was the bad sensor reading an anomoly? is it okay now?

thanks!

-joey

[ctrj]

What they more than likely did, was hook your car up to a scanner and check for codes. They then reset your codes. If your car runs fine and you're happy with it, I'd leave it alone. Is it worth $850 to fix it? Look at how much your car is worth as a whole. Might not be worth it.

[joeypruett]

okay - we told the dealer NOT to replace the airbag sensor. we reiterated this when dropping the car off. well, the replaced it anyway. they tried to make us a "deal" but we refused to pay for a part that we felt was not broken and we didn't want replaced. they apologized and put the old sensor back in.

this reiterates my belief in providing a piece of paper to the auto shop with the day's repairs listed.

it also reinforces my belief that every dealership is retarded.

they did replace our door handle and antenna as asked - and did a horrible job detailing.

thanks for all the advice. we're definitely not replacing anything expensive on this car. i just want to keep the wife happy for another year or two to save money.