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I know that one of them is for AirBag (probably the thick yellow one), but what is the other one?

Car is Chevrolet Aveo 2007.

As can be seen on driver's side there is:

  1. thick yellow cable (update - it is AirBag); and
  2. cable that contains black and brown wires (update - it is Seat belt sensor)

enter image description here

On the passenger's side there are two thick yellow cables that both go inside the seat - what is their exact purpose? One gotta be the AirBag cable just like on the driver's side, but what is the other one?

Passenger's side picture

The reason I am asking this is because the AirBag light is on. My car does not give any codes on dashboard by blinking a code - it is solid red. I also went to Chevrolet dealership who supposedly should have had the right reader to get SRS codes, however, they said that they did not see any codes that are directly related with AirBag even though AirBag light was on when I brought car. Instead they recommended to replace battery because it is still the original one from 2007. However, I did not fully buy into that idea, because car starts completely normally.

So, I feel that I want to figure this AirBag issue on my own now. After disconnecting battery and waiting 20 minutes I cleaned those 2 thick cable connectors of possible rust with WD-40, but it did not help. So I am trying to figure out if there are any other low hanging fruits I can do at home.

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  • 1
    Probably the sensor to tell if your buckled up.
    – vini_i
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 3:16
  • Why will there be an air bag control wire under your seat? It could be for tightening your seat belt in an accident instead.
    – HandyHowie
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 9:38
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    Yellow is strictly used by Chevrolet for air bag related circuits (I believe other manufacturers use it as well). Don't mess with it unless you've drained all the power from the vehicle, as air bags might deploy otherwise. The other most likely to checks seat belts or is for a seat belt retractor. You can probably trace this to what it's connected to. I don't have a schematic, so leaving this as a comment.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 11:07
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    @HandyHowie Side impact air bags are often in the seat.
    – vini_i
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 14:57
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    I unplugged the yellow line, sprayed the connector inside with a mist of WD 40 ran a rag inside lightly and plugged it back in . case closed, light went out , fixed the problem , this was done on passenger side, you can always teach an old dog new tricks !!! lol ME of 60 yrs. still learning something new every day!! Robert in Nashville,Tn
    – Robert Carpenter
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 22:48

2 Answers 2

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The plain white connector with two wires, black and brown with a white stripe, go to a switch in the seat belt buckle. This turns off the warning light on the dash.

The yellow connector is for the side impact airbag inflator located in the outer seatback side bolster. These wires are carefully protected and colored yellow to let all who see then to work with caution. Do not touch this system without understanding and following all the manufactures cautions.

On this model there is an optional device in the passenger seat to detect if there is a person in that seat. That is the second yellow wire under the passenger seat.

--- Update ---

You mentioned in your updated post that the SRS dash warning light is on but no with codes stored in the unit. The most common cause of this is a failure inside the SRS control unit. There is no way I know of to test for it except to substitute a known good unit. It is possible but unlikely that the cause is in the inflator circuits. A short to ground on the wire from the SRS light to the control unit can cause this.

These control units are usually designed to so that the will not reset if the battery is disconnected; for liability reasons. An appropriate scan tool is needed. This is the first thing I would do when testing this system.

A low battery voltage can cause SRS codes but these should clear with an appropriate scan tool command. The voltage can go too low during cranking even without a driver perception of the problem. The voltage should stay above 10 volts at all times during engine crank.

I do not recommend working on this system. One wrong move could result in serious injury. Even those trained on these systems are wary of them.

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  • You are right about the driver's side that the other cable is for seat belt. But why do I have two of them on passenger side as well - passenger side does not have seat belt sensor? I will upload pictures in 30 minutes to show that.
    – Jonny
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 23:05
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The most common problem with the Chevrolet with an airbag light on and the dealership that doesn’t want to tell you the codes is the clock spring is defective which is located in your steering wheel and activates your airbag. Sometimes they just crap out other times they are defective because of front end work and the wheel was spun one full rotation without the vehicle running and the linkage disconnected. If you haven’t had any front and work done that is most likely the issue I would go to a different garage family-owned preferably with a good scan tool and have them look at it for you airbag codes are very simple with the scan tool .

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