Checking airbag sensors

[Falcon_LS]

Long story short, my Mercury was in for a paint job in December and is now in for a repeat job. Guy who does sanding at the paint shop mixed up the brake pedal with the gas and hit an industrial garbage skip. I'll leave it at that.

The head panel, lights, grille and bumper cover were all off the car at the time. The car was quite close to the skip before it bashed into it, so damage is limited to the hood. The hood and hood latch needs to be replaced, which they are paying for (brand new OE) and I've also asked they replace the core support, which has minor damage.

Otherwise, I've checked the frame, base and edges of windshield, wiper cowl, fenders and the spacing between the doors and the fenders. The only thing I'm paranoid about are the airbag sensors, as I don't want my airbags deploying the moment I go over a pothole. Just wondering how I can go about doing this. Thanks!

 

[Dave Sherman]

There's really nothing you can check. The SRS module looks to make sure it can detect the sensors. If it's anything like the one in my Saturn, the only sensor was an accelerometer inside the SRS module, located between the front seats. Early airbag adopters like Chrysler figured out that having a pressure sensor in the bumper doesn't work if something hit higher than the bumper, so I'm pretty sure most manufacturers use accelerometers now.

So, you may not have any sensors at all in the repaired parts, and you wouldn't be able to test them anyway, unless you really want the airbags to deploy.