Replace Alternator to fix SRS light problem? Did I get took by the dealer??

Greetings,

Thanks for everyone's help on my past few topics. Your advice is
AWESOME!

New problem...

Last week, I had my civic steam cleaned. They guy pulled the seats out
and cleaned the entire car. Its looks MINT now. HOWEVER, when he put
the car seats back in my SRS light came on. After checking on Google,
it seemed like a simple fix. $80 bucks to reset the SRS system. So I
took it to Dow Honda here in Ottawa and the mechanic phoned me back and
said that MY ALTERNATOR was not working correctly and needs to be
replaced. He hooked up his computer diagnostic thingy to my car and
noticed that the alternator (electrical) was not working correctly.
Anyhow, I told him to fix it. ugg. $600 bucks later everything is cool
now (SRS light is off), but I am worried that I got screwed. A couple
of points:

1) I drove the car FOR A WEEK, with the SRS light on and NOT ONCE did
the Alternator light go on. Under what circumstances could the above
SRS thing happen and no alternator light goes on?
2) Wouldn't the car has massively lost power with a faulty alternator
(lights flickering, electrical systems getting weird)

I know it's after the fact, but I am worried that I got took by the
Dealer. At least I can go there and raise some hell (maybe get some
credit towards future repairs)

Help?
Derek

 

I don't see why the SRS would do any damage the alternator. Denso makes
good alternator. Mine is still going at 270k miles on a second set of brushes.
Get your old alternator back and take to a place that run free tests.

 

I don't know of a link between the two, but alternators can die without
warning lights, so it could be that the alternator was dying and the SRS had
a separate issue.

Many alternator systems with internal voltage regulators are self-exciting
and use the current drawn by the regulator to operate the warning lamp.
Dunno about the Civic in particular. Anyway, in cars that are set up that
way, if the brushes wear out the regulator has no load so the warning light
never comes on although the alternator is putting out nothing. The brush
wear can be marginal for weeks or even months, causing the alternator to
charge for progressively less time until the battery finally gets starved.
Both our '85 Volvo and the '84 Nissan I had were equipped with both lights
and voltmeters, so I saw the failures in time to do something about it. In
each case the voltmeter would spend more and more time in the "non-charging"
range and then come back to charging while the warning light ignored the
problem. The failures occurred around the 150K mile point.

Mike