A number of culprits could cause the Toyota Corolla’s airbag light to come on, but It could mean there’s a problem with the supplemental restraint system. If the light turns on, you should take your Corolla to a mechanic as soon as possible.
Seeing your Toyota Corolla’s airbag warning light on can be alarming—but just how serious is it? Usually, pretty serious. But if you’re not a car repair
expert, don’t fret—here’s what you should know. 
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What does the airbag light mean on a Toyota Corolla?
The instrument cluster on your Toyota Corolla’s dashboard is filled with all sorts of messages to give you important warnings or reminders about your car. Every time you turn on your car, your vehicle’s computer will run a scan to look out for any alerts. If it discovers a problem with your vehicle’s airbags, your airbag light
will turn on or flash. The Corolla’s airbags are part of its supplemental restraint system (SRS). The warning light for this system is a symbol with a side profile of a passenger wearing a seat belt and facing a large circle that represents an airbag.
There’s a range of issues that could cause your Toyota Corolla’s airbag or SRS light to turn on. Broadly, it implies there’s likely a problem with one or more airbags or the airbag system, the front passenger occupant classification system, or the seat belt pretensioner system—all of which are essential for keeping you and your passengers safe during a crash.
Additional culprits could include:
Faulty sensors: For airbags to deploy properly, crash sensors must detect a collision and send a signal to the airbag control module
. If an error has been detected with the sensors, the SRS light should turn on. Wiring problems: The SRS system relies on wiring to keep all its various components in communication and operate as intended—when there’s a wiring problem somewhere in the system, it could trigger the SRS indicator light.
Drained airbag backup battery: If the backup battery used by your SRS system is dead or low on power, it may need replacing, causing the SRS light to turn on.
Damaged airbag clock spring: The airbag clock spring located in your steering wheel maintains an essential connection between the driver’s side airbag and the rest of the SRS system, but it can be subject to a lot of wear and tear.
A previous collision: Crash sensors and airbags are only intended to be used once. If you were in a previous collision, even if it was minor, you may need to replace your crash sensors and/or your airbags if they were deployed.
Myriad other factors could cause your Toyota Corolla’s airbag light to turn on. Regardless of the reason, the possibility of your airbags not working properly is extremely dangerous, so it’s important to have a mechanic take a look as soon as possible.
What you need to know about the Toyota Corolla’s airbag recalls
A number of Toyota Corollas have actually been subject to recalls due to problems with their airbag systems in recent years.
In 2020, nearly 70 million vehicles were recalled due to an airbag sensor problem that affected the way airbags deployed in an accident. The incident we’re referring to here is the infamous Takata airbag recall, which affected vehicles from more than a dozen manufacturers, including Toyota. This recall included Toyota Corollas spanning the model years of 2011 to 2019.
2003 to 2008 Toyota Corollas were also subject to a previous recall relating to problems with the way the front passenger airbag would deploy, potentially damaging the airbag and preventing it from properly protecting the passenger.
If your Toyota Corolla has been affected by an airbag-related recall, the associated defect could potentially be a culprit behind the reason your SRS light is on. In this case, you’ll likely want to have a Toyota dealer make the necessary repair.
To check for investigations and recalls, you can visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website
. How to reset the airbag warning light on a Toyota Corolla
In some cases, it’s possible the airbag warning light on your Toyota Corolla may just need a simple reset.
How you can go about doing this may vary depending on your model year and other configurations. You may be able to reset it by using an OBD-II scanner
or disconnecting and reconnecting your battery—just be aware this may reset some of your vehicle settings. Inspecting the SRS itself is best left to the professionals. If your airbag light remains on after some troubleshooting, you’ll want to bring your Corolla to a trusted mechanic.
Is it OK to drive with the Toyota Corolla airbag light on?
Your Toyota Corolla’s airbag light won’t affect your ability to drive it—but it’s not safe to leave the issue unaddressed.
While there are some indicator lights you might be able to afford to ignore for a little while without much consequence, the airbag warning light isn’t one of them. If there’s a fault with one or all of the airbags in your Corolla, they might not deploy properly in a crash, which could seriously hurt or even kill you or your passengers.
Even if it ends up being a false alarm, with such high stakes—and especially if your Corolla has been affected by airbag recalls in the past—it’s better to be safe than sorry here.
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