[Disaster]

My '98 had the airbag warning. Autel MaxiDiag Elite identified "passenger buckle."

1. I decided to try DeoxIT on both driver and passenger seats. Sprayed into buckle and plug connectors. Reset code with MaxiDiag. 1st time passenger buckle was used it came right back.

2. Pulled seats back off and removed ground wires. Wire brushed them and applied conductive paste. Same error code.

3. Pried open passenger buckle cover and took a closer look at switch mechanism (this breaks pins in cover.) It uses an enclosed switch with plunger and two exposed resistors that are used for the resistance ladder. Could only see one spot where one might be able to get DeoxIT to penetrate inside; the plunger that is actuated when the buckle goes in. Doused it good and cycled buckle a few times. That didn't do it so I soaked it more and rotated the buckle into different orientations to allow the liquid to circulate inside the switch. That did the trick! Superglued cover back together.

Hope this fix is good for a few years. If it comes back I'm going to just buy the $80 buckle fix kit.

P.S. As a hilarious and somewhat sad aside, when removing the driver seat I found the cigarette lighter plug the P.O. lost....then another one under the passenger seat. Then a plastic lighter plug cover that he must have bought after losing both lighters.