So I bought a ranger with a bad transmission low miles and got a great deal on it. At some point it had a light front end accident that deployed both driver and passenger air bags. The damage has since been fixed. Of course I have a air bag light blinking in the dash. I am getting the air bags out of a junk yard. What's the chances of when I plug them in that they suddenly deploy? Also what will it take to get that air bag light to go out? The seat belts are not locked up and function as they should.

 

If you have the battery disconnected then airbag can't deploy until it has charged up again, airbags have capacitors that store a charge for 5min or so, after that its safe to work with them

If airbags were deployed then the SRS module will need to be reset after all parts of the system have been replaced, this reset is different based on the year of the Ranger and the SRS module it's using
And in some years the SRS module has to be replaced

 

is it possible to just replace the module out of another truck that hasn't had the airbags deployed? The system module is under the cup holders, correct?

 

SRS is in different places in different years
Yes, get the model/part number off yours and it can be replace with same model

Disconnect battery when working on SRS module or airbags, wait 5min then do the work

 

will. 2002 work on a 2000?

 

That would be a Ford specific question

Check resellers to see what parts work on what years, they are not always right but have a look, lol
Ford dealer could probably tell you what years of SRS modules can be swapped