Fig. 11: Identifying Airbag Indicator
Courtesy of CHRYSLER LLC
An airbag indicator is standard equipment on all instrument clusters. However, the instrument cluster can be
programmed to disable this indicator on vehicles that are not equipped with the airbag system, which is not
available in some markets. This indicator is located near the bottom of the speedometer dial face of the cluster
overlay, just left of center.
The airbag indicator consists of a stencil-like cutout of the International Control and Display Symbol icon for
Airbag in the opaque layer of the instrument cluster overlay. The dark outer layer of the overlay prevents the
indicator from being clearly visible when it is not illuminated. A red Light Emitting Diode (LED) behind the
cutout in the opaque layer of the overlay causes the indicator to appear in red through the translucent outer layer
of the overlay when it is illuminated from behind by the LED, which is soldered onto the instrument cluster
electronic circuit board.
The airbag indicator is serviced as a unit with the instrument cluster.
OPERATION
AIRBAG INDICATOR
The airbag indicator gives an indication to the vehicle operator when the airbag system, or a circuit or
component of the system is ineffective. The airbag indicator is controlled by a transistor on the instrument
cluster circuit board based upon cluster programming and electronic messages received by the cluster from the
Occupant Restraint Controller (ORC) over the Controller Area Network (CAN) data bus.
The airbag indicator Light Emitting Diode (LED) is completely controlled by the instrument cluster logic
circuit, and that logic will only allow this indicator to operate when the instrument cluster receives a battery
current input on the fused ignition switch output (run-start) circuit. Therefore, the LED will always be OFF
when the ignition switch is in any position except ON or START. The LED only illuminates when it is provided
a path to ground by the instrument cluster transistor. The instrument cluster will turn ON the airbag indicator for
the following reasons:
2007 Dodge Nitro R/T
2007 ACCESSORIES AND EQUIPMENT Instrument Cluster - Service Information - Nitro