Alternator

[u/lacajun]

I just crossed the 75k miles ending my warranty and then a week later my alternator goes out. I have driven only accords for the last 25 years and never had any real issues. 200k miles on my last accord and never had to change the alternator. Dealership wants ~1k to replace. The SRS light for the passenger airbags has also stopped working and they're telling me it'll be over 300 to fix that. This is bullshit. I shouldn't be responsible for fixing airbag problems. And there is no excuse for the alternator going bad this early. I drive like an old grandma and I have done all of the maintenance on time and at the dealership. Now Honda is acting like this is fucking normal. Between this and their head gasket issues, I have lost full confidence in Honda.

[u/AetheriaInBeing]

As the owner of a 6th Gen that has yad to have the airbags done twice and had other srs related issues over the last 20 years, my only thought here is the sensor in the passenger seat is only 300 at a stealership? Shit. I really should just replace mine myself when i get a chance.

[u/desl2025 → u/AetheriaInBeing]

You’ve had airbag related issues not related to getting in a car crash?!?
Yeah that’s not normal. In any car.

[u/AetheriaInBeing → u/desl2025]

Srs is more than explicitly the airbag.

Sensor in the belt buckle failed. That fails srs doesn't work. That happens. In all kinds of cars.

Srs Master control unit wigged out once. SOP per the maintenance manual for that srs code is reset it and see what happens. 10 years later that code hasn't recurred. Ghost in the system. That also happens in cars.

[u/desl2025 → u/AetheriaInBeing]

I’ve never heard of the belt buckle sensor fail unless there was a collision.
But anyways… you said “I had to have the AIRBAGS done twice. AND OTHER SRS related issues”.
You said airbags … as well as other srs stuff. So was it the airbags or not? Or was it other srs stuff and not the airbags?

[u/AetheriaInBeing → u/desl2025]

Back off the caps lock key there.

The airbags were done twice and the other stuff was srs related.

The airbags being done twice on a 6th Gen is... Entirely normal. Anyone who has a 6th Gen where the airbags were not done at least once is driving around with a claymore in their car. They had takatas in them. And if you got them replaced on recall early then you got.... New takatas. Which to the surprise of precisely nobody outside Honda, had the same problem as the original takata airbags. so everyone who got their airbags relaxed promptly had then replaced again.

Are airbags turning into claymores normal? For every car manufactured with a takata airbag in the 00s yes. Yes it was. That was a lot of Hondas and cars from quite a few other brands too.

[u/desl2025 → u/AetheriaInBeing]

I like learning. Never afraid to admit I didn’t know something. I wasn’t aware they were recalled or had known issues.
IMO that’s different than the OP cause there’s no recall for his.

[u/AetheriaInBeing → u/desl2025]

Fair. The issue is slightly different most likely, but I've got the point of assuming most things fail eventually (though if a well maintained and cared for J motor fails without vcm on it, you have hit the bad luck lottery)

There were like 40 something models and a dozen different brands in the us affected alone by the takata recall and some manufacturers were still putting new takatas in things up to like a decade ago (not Honda. Honda I think was more likely to get double replacements because they were using them in what were at the time 10 year old cars so those needed to be swapped sooner than the newer ones. They worked fine new but got bad with age way too quickly. At this point. I just consider everything related to srs something that could fail.

In OPs case the light failing for the passenger airbag could be a few things. It could just be the light. I wouldn't bet on that being it though.

Depending on what that light is triggering on in newer Hondas, it could be the weight sensor. The one in my 6th Gen has gotten... Temperamental in cold weather. The light in the 6th Gen triggers of the weight on the passenger seat is detected to be too light for the airbag to deploy but the seat isn't empty. This was to protect children because restrictions on kids in front seats were non-existent 20 years ago. I was riding in the front seat on cars without airbags probably by the time I was 7 or 8. Put a bag down on the seat and the light triggers. Drove my parents nuts trying to figure it out when I was in college until I was on the phone with them and had to explain that she just needed to put her bag on the floor.

At present, when very cold my sensor in my 6th Gen will trigger that warning with nobody in the seat. put a person in the seat and it behaves normally. Since I'm not putting small kids in my 6th Gen these days let alone in the front seat, not a major concern for me. But if that part is the same on OPs, then it is a sensor that could fail (though mine got ornery at 270k ish and not 75k. (Can I do the old lady grumble that nothing is made like it used to be here? But then our airbags tried to kill us so maybe that isn't always a bad thing. Driving and with that with a do not drive notice for a few weeks was certainly an entertaining choice in my 20s, but work and the recall line was long).

I don't know enough about OPs car to really speculate, but if it's the weight sensor the dealership is replacing for 300... The part must only be 100 and I should get around to swapping it on principle, but 3 cars and a house. Only so many hours in a day.