Traction Control Reflashed?

[livefor3]

I purchased a 2007 Saturn Aura XR a month ago that has 60,000 miles on it and in the last 2 weeks the Service Traction light and Service airbag light was on in addition to the Check Engine light. The place that I purchased it from replaced the mass air flow sensor and said I would have to take it to a dealer to have the traction control reflashed. Why would this need to be done and is it costly to do? They have said nothing about the service air bag light.

[carriedi]

if there is an update for a problem that could cause the warning light to come on necessarily, that would be a reason for a reflash. More important would be what are all the codes that were causing the lights to come on? They should have given you a list of the codes that were stored.

[LWelch]

I went to smog my Saturn SL2 today and the tech can't smog it because the Trac button is stuck on (he tried to disable it by pulling the ABS fuse and Trac stays on). I need to get into the panel that has the Trac button in it to see if it's just dirty or if it's broken. I've tried to pry that panel open with a flathead and it won't budge. I have looked in my Chilton Saturn book, on Youtube ( richpin) and various forums for the info. as to how I get into this part of the dash. Has anyone else had this problem with the Trac staying on and how the heck does that panel containing the Trac button come off? Any advice is so appreciated as I need to get my car smogged. Thanks in advance!

[carriedi]

Maybe because I live in a different area... why does the trac button make it so you can't pass a smog inspection? you can still look at emission monitors and see if there are any emission related codes.

or can't you?

[LWelch]

Hi carriedi,

Thanks for your response! I guess with traction control active the wheels spin differently. Or not spin whatever the case. Anyway when the tech put it on the rollers to smog test the car the trac prevented the wheels from spinning correctly for the test. The Trac is not something I've ever needed in California. I didn't even know the dang button was stuck on! I took the to car to be scanned today and no codes came up. I felt like it was the switch containing the button. So I took the switch out of the car, went to pick n pull and found my swtch! I've put the new/used/pulled switch in the car and it works! In fact I keep turning it off and on cuz I can't beleive I'm so lucky! I'm stoked!

Not bad for a girl!

Thanks again for your response!

[carriedi]

oh, okay. In Oregon you just have to pass with the OBD2 scan. If all the monitors show as passed and there are no codes stored, you pass. We got rid of the dyno-testing years ago. I think one of the reasons was because so many cars and trucks have all wheel drive, automatic 4 wheel drive and traction control that made it so they couldn't go on the dyno.