Hi Scotty,
I bought a certified used 2021 Honda HR-V from a Honda dealer in October of 23 -- about 3 months ago. It had 6,000 miles on it. The salesman told me it had come off of a lease from one of his customers.
Last week I bought one of those bluetooth scanners you recommended. I scan the Honda and got a Supplemental Restraint (Airbag) System code.
It reads: "B00C0-4A Passenger Seat Weight Sensor - Front/Inner: Incorrect Component Installed."
I called the dealer and they said they don't scan their certified cars unless there is a warning light on the dashboard. Carfax said there are no collision reports. I cannot see any evidence of an accident, but I am not an expert. The car is still under warranty.
What if the car was in an accident and they replaced the seat weight sensor with the wrong part? What would you advise?
Thank you!
John
PS
Feel free to reword this for your videos to make it shorter and clearer.
If your scanner is able to clear that code then do it and see if the code gets set again.
If it doesn't set again then great.
If it does set again, and since the dealer is being useless, then maybe there's a couple of things you can do to set your mind at ease and to figure out what's causing this.
First, let's look at that code description. "Passenger Seat Weight Sensor - Front/Inner: Incorrect Component Installed".
The code implies (by designating Front/Inner) that there are more than 1 Passenger Seat Weight Sensors. And that the problem is with the Front/Inner weight sensor.
Let's refer to the system description to see if it helps to figure out this code.
It appears there are 4 passenger seat weight sensors. A front and rear weight sensor on each of the inner and outer seat rails.
And if we address the code: Passenger Seat Weight Sensor - Front/Inner: Incorrect Component Installed, we're looking at this guy
But it seems these weight sensors (a front and a rear) are built into each inner and outer seat rail. I don't think you can replace only one of the front or rear passenger seat rail weight sensors without replacing that inner or outer seat rail.
So if it's necessary to replace the inner seat rail for either a bad front or rear seat weight sensor and there's a code saying "Incorrect Component Installed" on the front inner passenger weight sensor and NOT on the rear inner passenger weight sensor you may suspect either a problem with the wiring connector to that inner front sensor or a faulty inner front sensor
WOW! That is a terrific explanation and way above and beyond what I expected! I will re-read your posts, follow your advice, and let you know what happens. Thank you!
The salesman told me it had come off of a lease from one of his customers.
Never believe what a salesman tells you. Most of them would lie to their own grandmothers to make a sale. 6K miles is suspiciously low for a 3-year-old vehicle.
I called the dealer and they said they don't scan their certified cars unless there is a warning light on the dashboard.
That just goes to show that "certified" used cars are a scam. On any vehicle you'd want to scan for stored codes that have not triggered the money light yet as well as anything bad going on in live data as a standard part of use car reconditioning.
Carfax said there are no collision reports.
You can't rely on that. It could have been in an accident and "repaired" in someone's back yard with nothing reported to Carfax. Didn't you have a mechanic give that car a thorough inspection before buying it?
What if the car was in an accident and they replaced the seat weight sensor with the wrong part? What would you advise?
You'd have to have an expert examine the car for repaired collision damage. It's always possible of course that the code is due to a failed part rather than the wrong part. One way to determine this would be to check the part number on the weight sensor in the car with what's actually called for.
You could contact Honda corporate. Being a "certified" used car perhaps they'd be able to do something for you.
Thank you for the quick reply. I should have had a mechanic check it out, but I didn't. The car and engine are very clean. My sister-in-law is an auto insurance claims adjuster. She said it looked good to her. She didn't see anything suspecious -- like re-painted fenders or doors. Good suggestion about contacting corporate. I will try that.
Is there any way to tell if the mileage is legitimate or if it has been turned back?
Service records or other documents showing higher mileage would be the only way to know for certain.
Thank you.