1994 Mustang GT - Air Bag Code 12

This morning I got into the 94 Mustang GT and started it up.  The air bag light starts flashing and then stayed on.  I thought maybe it had something to do with replacing the 9 year old battery recently.  This started my investigation.

The light flashes to reveal a code, which repeats until the light stays on constantly.  The code it flashes is 12, which means the air bag has lost power.  A quick check of the fuse showed it was blown.  Easy fix right?  I shut off the ignition and replaced the fuse.  Turned it back on and same code.  Checked the fuse again and it was blown.    

Searching the internet showed me that if code 12 happens, its either the fuse or the diagnostic module itself.  Being that I went through 3 fuses, it was safe to assume it was the module.  I called a friend of mine who owed me a favor and in a day or two the ‘new’ air bag module arrived.  

First step in replacing it was to disconnect the battery.  Then inside the car i moved the carpet a little bit to reveal the module under the center console.  It’s blue.  There was two green 8mm screws holding the mounting plate on the drivers side.  I unplugged the two plugs and removed the screws. Then on to the passenger side where I removed those screws.  Now the module was able to come out by coercing it through to the passenger side.  

On the bench, it was clear that the module was mounted to a bracket.  I had to gently remove the cover to the module which revealed two security bit screws.  I removed these two and the module was free from the bracket.  I removed the cover to the new module and mounted it using the security bits to the bracket and put the cover back in.  Installing it back into the car was pretty straight forward.  I replaced the fuse one last time and reconnected the battery.  Started the cart and success! No more air bag light.  Note that I did not need to use the grey plug under the dash that is used to reset the air bag diagnostic module.