Who Needs Airbags Anyway? Car Repairs - Round 2

Okay, never mind the droning noise for now, I told the friendly, helpful customer service agent at Georgian Pontiac-Buick-GMC the next day. I need to get the locks and lights problem fixed before I get stranded with a dead battery again! No problem, she said, we'll get on it right away and let you know what we find.

I headed back to the nice customer lounge, found a seat near an electrical outlet, and powered up my laptop to do some work while I waited (I read all the newspapers and magazines of interest the day before). Almost two hours later, a technician came looking for me.

Well, he began, we hooked our diagnostic equipment up and took your car out on the road 3 times trying to get the "Door Ajar" light to come on and the locks to start cycling. It didn't happen. And unless it does while we've got the equipment hooked up, we can't tell what the problem is. Terrific! I replied. It does it virtually every single time I get behind the wheel! In fact, it did it while I was on my way over here to see you! (Remember I told you what a tricky beggar this car is? I rest my case.)

So what does that mean, I asked? It means you may need to just get the entire door locking mechanism replaced, probably in the driver's door, he said. It comes as all one unit, so it won't be cheap and we'll have to tear the whole door apart to install it. I could feel the credit card in my wallet begin to vibrate in anticipation...

Okay, what about the airbag warning light? Well, he said, there seems to be a problem with the airbag control module. It's access code seems to have been erased, so when the car's main computer tries to talk to it, it's not talking back. So the computer turns on the warning light to tell you there's a problem. Will the airbags work if I have an accident, I asked? No, he said, but hey, we didn't have airbags back in the 70s and we're still here! Ooookkkaaaaaayyyyy...

I thought I'd better start looking elsewhere for help to solve my problems! So I called Jim Wilson Chev-Olds in Orillia, the place where the car was originally bought, and made an appointment. Driving in, I poured out my woes to an equally friendly and helpful customer service agent, who assured me they would see what they could do and pointed me to the nearby customer lounge.

An hour later he came to see me. Your airbag control module seems to have lost it's access code, he began. What can we do about that, I asked? Oh, we just reprogrammed it, he replied. It's fixed now. Wow, I exclaimed! What about the "Door Ajar" business? Well, he went on, we couldn't get that light to come on, or the door locks to cycle like you said. But it's probably just a bit of corrosion in one of the locking mechanisms so that the lock sensor isn't making contact like it should. I looked at him nervously... Does that mean I'll need to get the mechanism replaced? Oh no, he smiled. We just applied some lubricant to them all. You shouldn't have any more problems.

And you know what? I didn't. Now why couldn't Georgian just have done all that? I'll give you three guesses as to who I got to diagnose and repair the droning noise I was still hearing from the front end. And the first two won't count :)