One of the most frustrating things in the world is to jump behind the steering wheel of the car only to find the airbag light flashing on and off. If you have been in an accident then this will be a little less aggravating. There is a logical reason why the airbag light is flashing. For any other circumstance, it is enough to cause driver insanity when trying to navigate down the road.

There are several things to do if your airbag light is flashing that does not necessarily require a trip to the car dealer or mechanic shop. First, it could indicate that the car battery is about to die. To check this out, simply take the car to a retail auto supply store and ask that your battery be tested.

Second, understand that the airbag light is flashing because an internal sensor has determined that communication has been lost between the airbag and the safety seat belt pretensioners control. This lack of communication indicates to the system that the airbag has been compromised.

More than likely this is brought on by a system default code. Dealers and mechanics have access to a scan tool that can check every corner of the system to see where the default is coming from and what may have prompted the code fault.

Before rushing off to the dealer or mechanic there is one step you can take first. Next time you start the car, pay attention to the lamp fault code or LFC as it is flashing. You can learn a lot about the potential airbag issue by decoding the lamp fault code. It works in a similar fashion to mores code. Each set of single flashes are followed by a quick succession of multiple flashes. That is what will help you detect what could be wrong with the car safety system.

As an example, when the light flashes once, pauses, then flashes twice that is a code 12. This signals a low battery voltage. One flash followed by three short flashes indicates the airbag circuit has shorted to the ground. Two flashes followed by one flash is a safety sensor not properly mounted on the vehicle. Two flashes followed by two short flashes determine a safety sensor output short to the car battery.

Other sets of LFC indicate problems with the driver side or passenger side airbag. For example, three flashes followed by two short flashes is a driver side airbag circuit in high resistance or open. Three flashes followed by three short flashes is the same issue with the passenger side airbag. Four flashes followed by one, two, four or five short flashes indicate problems with the primary crash sensor. Finally, five flashes followed by one, two or three short flashes indicate functional problems with the airbag safety system.

While it may seem easy to watch a flashing light and then decode it to find the problem, it is safer to let a trained mechanic check the entire airbag system out.