Air bag light on after seat swap

RipNtear · March 17, 2023

Need a little help if anyone is willing to offer it…

I did search to see if there was an answer already with no luck….

story: I have 2 trucks a 2011 Denali diesel and a 2009 1500 gasser. I recently purchased 2018 seats to swap into the Denali and then to move the old seats from the Denali into the 1500.

issue: after swapping the seats around I get “service airbag system” and an airbag light on. The 1500 was no big deal I just swapped the seat position sensor over. The diesel has me stumped. I don’t know how the seat positioning sensor works on this truck. As there physically isn’t one on the rail. I’m trying to get the 2018 seats to not have an air bag message in the 2011 diesel. Can anyone help with what to do?

thanks in advance.

sfcrob · March 17, 2023

JUST FIXED THIS EXACT SAME PROBLEM A FEW DAYS AGO. ON MY TRUCK THERE WAS A LOOSE WIRE IN THE SEAT HARNESS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE FRONT SEAT, NOW SINCE YOU REPLACED ALL YOUR SEATS YOU NEED TO CHECK ALL SEATS WHERE YOU REMOVED WIRES TO REPLACE SEATS YOU EITHER TORE A WIRE OR PULLED ONE APART DURING REMOVAL OR INSTALLATION. GOOD LUCK

Pete Hernandez · April 10, 2023

Like Robert said, check wire connectors on or under the seats. Mine was a bad connection under the driver's seat.

swathdiver · April 11, 2023

They're supposed to be calibrated when a new one is installed. Need a scan tool for this but not sure it will work since you are using different generation parts.

Might pose this question under Ask a GM Tech.

RipNtear · May 10, 2023

On 3/17/2023 at 4:35 AM, sfcrob said:

JUST FIXED THIS EXACT SAME PROBLEM A FEW DAYS AGO. ON MY TRUCK THERE WAS A LOOSE WIRE IN THE SEAT HARNESS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE FRONT SEAT, NOW SINCE YOU REPLACED ALL YOUR SEATS YOU NEED TO CHECK ALL SEATS WHERE YOU REMOVED WIRES TO REPLACE SEATS YOU EITHER TORE A WIRE OR PULLED ONE APART DURING REMOVAL OR INSTALLATION. GOOD LUCK

Thanks for the info! My situation is a little different. My issue is the swapping of the seats across generations of trucks. Each truck has a unique position sensor that I have to figure out so I don’t get an airbag light on. It looks like others have done seat swaps like this without triggering the airbag service airbag message, but haven’t shared their secret sadly.

RipNtear · May 10, 2023

On 4/11/2023 at 3:15 PM, swathdiver said:

They're supposed to be calibrated when a new one is installed. Need a scan tool for this but not sure it will work since you are using different generation parts.

Might pose this question under Ask a GM Tech.

That’s a good idea. Illl post there to see if anyone can help!