Dear SJP,

Good a.m. and may this find you well. It would have been good to know that work had been done on the wiring.

Might I suggest the following, to find out if the sensor is ruined? Remove the negative battery clamp from the terminal, and let the car sit for a couple of hours. Reconnect the battery clamp to the terminal, and see if the "fault" code is cleared and if the warning light is turned off.

I am not familiar with the internals of these sensors, never having had one apart. However, the voltage variance caused by thelocks might have triggered an internal "circuit breaker" in the sensor. A cut-off of power might allow that "circuit breaker" to re-set.

If that happens, you have saved yourself the time and trouble of getting a new sensor put in. If the fault remains, you can ask the shop to cover the cost of a new sensor, because it is clear that the sensor has been damaged beyond repair.

I doubt anyone will repair one of these sensors. They are the heart of the airbag system, and there is no way to know if a repaired sensor will perform in a collision.

I presume the shop that installed the keyless remote will find some other power source. Why they didn't run a wire directly from the fuse block is beyond me. That is relatively easy to do. If they don't know how to do this, consult my post of 8 January, regarding the installation of a power seat in a car that did not come so-equipped from the factory.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

spook