I've been having this problem on and off lately with my 97 bird. The air bag light will go on and off occasionally. Start it up sometimes, it'll be on. Start it up others, it'll be off. I've even seen it turn on and off once or twice while I was driving.

This sounds suspiciously like a ground fault to me. I searched the forums and saw a post recommending to clean and tighten the ground next to the driver's side strut tower (right behind the airbox) but it didn't seem to solve the issue. The fuse is fine, swapped it with a known good one and it still does it.

Is it possible that I didn't clean the ground correclty? I took it off, cleaned the connector with a wire brush and reconnected it. Is there something else I should look at?

Note that I have not spun the steering column while it was disconnected, nor have I been in an accident that deployed it.

 

The air bag light on my '96 Z28 is on at all times, and I have cleaned the ground terminal connections to no avail. Bummer. If you ever do figure it out post the results.