A common cause of this fault is failure of what’s known as the clock-spring which lives inside the steering column. But it’s not a spring at all, it’s actually the electrical connector that joins the air-bag (and steering wheel controls if your car has them) to the rest of the car’s electrical systems. It’s called a clock-spring because it’s wound in a spiral shape to allow the steering wheel to turn from lock to lock without the connecting wiring binding or bunching up. Eventually, fatigue gets the better of a clock-spring and it snaps, allowing the connection to fail. And that’s very probably what’s causing the air-bag light on your dashboard.

But don’t ignore it, as the clock-spring is also responsible for sending the correct signal to the air-bag in the case of a crash where the bag needs to deploy. And driving with an air-bag that may not go off when it should is a terrible idea.

Yes, it is.