2006 BMW 3 Series passenger air bag light issue

IrishHomer · 11-06-2014 11:32am #1

Over the past few weeks i tried to resolve a passenger airbag light issue on my 2006 BMW 3 series but its still not sorted.

I want to share my story with you Boardsies and see poiisbly if any of you know of a cheaper fix?

Three weeks ago i was advised by someone to buy a bypass gadget that plugs in under the faulty seat and knocks off the light on the dash that is highlighting a fault in the air bag.

I did so and unfortunately i ordered the older one for €7 and so i had to then order a more modern correct one that cost me over €65. The bypass did not fix the issue so i then had a pre nct service and the local garage man who is highly regarded and who has the BMW computers checks facility spent over a day and a half trying to fix it and he gave up and he advised me to take it to a local BMW dealer Colm Quinn. The local garage pre NCT service cost me almost a further €180

I booked the repair for yesterday morning 9am as this was their last available slot prior to todays NCT. I decided to wait at the garage as i understood it would be a quick repair. I wnet out to the Colm Quinn yard to look around at almost 11am and my car was not even taken in for inspection! Anyway shortly after 11am the car went in and a person form the office desk offered me a lift into Athlone as the car was going to take a further two hours if i agree to them investigating further which would entail stripping down the cables to the air bag and i said i would stay at the garage and that i wanted to see it resolved once and for all.

I waited until 4pm and i noticed that my car had been taken out of the workshop for over an hour or possible two hours so i enquired. I was then told by the girl at the desk that the car was finished and a man was making up my bill and would call me soon.

Approximately 40 minutes later i was called and told the car was not fixed as a part (new wire) was needed and the part would have to be ordered in and total cost for that part is over €850!!!!!!!!!!

I was furious after giving up a whole day off work to get the issue sorted and after all this nothing was done! I was also billed €79 for running the BMW diagnostic computer on the bloody car.

During the morning while i had been bored i asked a salesman to give me a valuation for my car against a new BMW and the valued my car at €3000.

I pointed out that i am aware of several people who owns BMWs having the same problem with airbag lights and i was told no that they only ever saw one relatively new car that had same issue. He also told me that as my car is old the regular moving of the seat up and down to suit different leg lengths in the car causes the wires and the sensor mat to deteriorate.

If anyone has any knowledge about this issue to share i would love to hear opinions etc.

By the way the car filed on the air bag issue and now i have one month to have it repaired. I asked the NCT tester for advice on a repair and he would not offer any.

nostrils · 11-06-2014 11:39am

Take the dash off and cover the airbag lights with black tape until it passes then you can take the tape back off.

IrishHomer · 11-06-2014 12:03pm

nostrils wrote: »

Take the dash off and cover the airbag lights with black tape until it passes then you can take the tape back off.

The tester said this morning he needs to see it turn on and off

Idbatterim · 11-06-2014 2:24pm

my first bit of advice would be, dont take a 2006 3 series to a main dealer! Did the diagnostic bring up exactly what the fault was? If the E65 item from ebay did nothing, I would return it if you havent already done so... Oh also forget the Pre NCT checks, they are a waste of time, put it through the nct and take it from there...

zwind · 11-06-2014 6:53pm

changing the entire passenger seat and sensors seat will cost only 200-300. do not go to dealer. I believe the garage near Ericsson in Athlone will do the job.

If you just want to pass nct, ask the local garage to clear the fault light for about 40euro. warning light will come back after 30 miles. My friend actually did that and passed NCT...

Gumbo · 11-06-2014 9:51pm

Very common problem on all BMW's. Your problem is that somebody has been kneeling on the passenger seat (kids, wife etc). The sensor ribbon/has broken.

To fix it properly, you have to strip down the seat, and fit a new mat sensor and rebuild the seat.

To get it to go away, talk to kick in Germanicks.com
Basically you disconnect the airbag, then you code the error out of the system.

So on start up the lights come on as normal, and go out as normal.

The down side is that in the event of a crash the car will think somebody is in the passenger seat and deploy the airbag even if nobody is in the seat. But in fairness, if your in a smack hard enough to be setting off airbags then one more deploying won't make a difference IMHO.

The good side, it's fixed, no errors, no annoying chimes etc and it will cost about €30 with Mick. (He is a regular poster on here btw)

dudara · 11-06-2014 11:49pm

nostrils wrote: »

Take the dash off and cover the airbag lights with black tape until it passes then you can take the tape back off.

The NCT testers look for certain lights to come on with ignition and then go off. This won't fool them.

I have a 2000 E46 318 and this has been a recurring issue with it. In typical sods law, it only ever seems to happen at NCT time.

I had the wiring loom replaced several years ago which fixed it for a good while. Since then, when it recurs, my local indy cleans the connections and resets the fault. It happens once-twice a year. It doesn't cost a lot to do that.

dodzy · 12-06-2014 8:04am

nostrils wrote: »

Take the dash off and cover the airbag lights with black tape until it passes then you can take the tape back off.

As dudara has quite rightly pointed out, those days of black tape or bulb removal are long gone.

Cerco · 12-06-2014 8:21am

dudara wrote: »

The NCT testers look for certain lights to come on with ignition and then go off. This won't fool them.

I have a 2000 E46 318 and this has been a recurring issue with it. In typical sods law, it only ever seems to happen at NCT time.

I had the wiring loom replaced several years ago which fixed it for a good while. Since then, when it recurs, my local indy cleans the connections and resets the fault. It happens once-twice a year. It doesn't cost a lot to do that.

Get yourself an airbag reset tool and do it yourself.

Dangel4x4 · 12-06-2014 1:39pm

IrishHomer wrote: »

I asked the NCT tester for advice on a repair and he would not offer any.

And rightly so, for the reason of liability.

nostrils · 12-06-2014 8:25pm

dodzy wrote: »

As dudara has quite rightly pointed out, those days of black tape or bulb removal are long gone.

Done it with a 2003 330d in February passed no questions asked.

dodzy · 12-06-2014 9:56pm

nostrils wrote: »

Done it with a 2003 330d in February passed no questions asked.

You got lucky. Either no A/B light at ignition or permanently on is a fail.

I dont suppose €50 went missing from your glove compartment by any chance?:D

delly · 12-06-2014 10:31pm

I feel your pain OP. I had this on and off with my '01 318Ci and like you did a bit of research online regarding the plug in modules that are meant to fix it. Before I had decided on how to approach it, fate smiled on me.

While I had left the car in with a Dublin based indy BMW specialist to have my expansion bottle replaced, they unfortunately let something hit one of my indicators which smashed it. As I came back to pick the car up, they had just replaced it with a new one and had filled me in on what happened. No biggie as far as I was concerned, but they were keen to make sure I was happy, so I mentioned the airbag issue. Within 5 minutes he had his high end diagnostics system hooked up to the car and had told the system to not look for the seat sensor. He then removed the sensor to prove it was no longer needed. Happy days.

As mentioned above, the only issue with this is if you have a frontal impact, the passenger airbag will go off regardless of someone sitting in it or not. Not something I am too concerned about on a car that any frontal impact could nearly leave it written off. My advise would be to get a good BMW indy and query if they can do this sequence. With there being 5 years difference in our respective cars, I can only hope that it can also be coded out on a newer variant.

Cerco · 12-06-2014 10:40pm

delly wrote: »

I feel your pain OP. I had this on and off with my '01 318Ci and like you did a bit of research online regarding the plug in modules that are meant to fix it. Before I had decided on how to approach it, fate smiled on me.

While I had left the car in with a Dublin based indy BMW specialist to have my expansion bottle replaced, they unfortunately let something hit one of my indicators which smashed it. As I came back to pick the car up, they had just replaced it with a new one and had filled me in on what happened. No biggie as far as I was concerned, but they were keen to make sure I was happy, so I mentioned the airbag issue. Within 5 minutes he had his high end diagnostics system hooked up to the car and had told the system to not look for the seat sensor. He then removed the sensor to prove it was no longer needed. Happy days.

As mentioned above, the only issue with this is if you have a frontal impact, the passenger airbag will go off regardless of someone sitting in it or not. Not something I am too concerned about on a car that any frontal impact could nearly leave it written off. My advise would be to get a good BMW indy and query if they can do this sequence. With there being 5 years difference in our respective cars, I can only hope that it can also be coded out on a newer variant.

If you plan on selling your car at some later stage then do not have the airbag alarm coded out. Someone could use a child seat with catastrophic result if they had a collision. If you have a problem get it sorted. Do not mask it.

delly · 12-06-2014 10:49pm

Cerco wrote: »

If you plan on selling your car at some later stage then do not have the airbag alarm coded out. Someone could use a child seat with catastrophic result if they had a collision. If you have a problem get it sorted. Do not mask it.

The area that is coded out is the seat occupancy sensor, which in the event of a child seat being placed in the front would have the same potential effect of an occupied seat. There is no way to disable the airbag as standard, so in these cases the recommendation is to never use a child seat in the front. The car itself will be here until she dies, so nothing to worry about in terms of passing it on.

dudara · 12-06-2014 11:13pm

Cerco wrote: »

Get yourself an airbag reset tool and do it yourself.

In an ideal world, but it's more cost-efficient for me to pay someone to do it.

challengemaster · 12-06-2014 11:16pm

Cerco wrote: »

If you plan on selling your car at some later stage then do not have the airbag alarm coded out. Someone could use a child seat with catastrophic result if they had a collision. If you have a problem get it sorted. Do not mask it.

There's a warning in the owners manual to never put a child seat in the front seat anyway.

IrishHomer · 13-06-2014 7:19am

http://airbaglightoff.eu

Went to that guy last night, he fitted another bypass gadget for €40, light still on but he reckons it should clear after a bmw garage computer clears it

Gumbo · 13-06-2014 9:49am

challengemaster wrote: »

There's a warning in the owners manual to never put a child seat in the front seat anyway.

But its safe to do so, once the airbag is turned off.

obezyana · 13-06-2014 9:57am

IrishHomer wrote: »

http://airbaglightoff.eu

Went to that guy last night, he fitted another bypass gadget for €40, light still on but he reckons it should clear after a bmw garage computer clears it

You got stung with bypass products before why would you get another one? A BMW indie will clear the light for you without the need for those bypass products that usually don't work.

As has been said find an BMW indie have him hook up diagnostics and sort the issue for you. If you don't do that you will spend your time and money putting in bypass after bypass.

challengemaster · 13-06-2014 10:01am

kceire wrote: »

But its safe to do so, once the airbag is turned off.

Apart from there's no 'simple' way of turning off the airbag. Can only be done by dealers.

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26749

You can, we had it done on my wifes previous e46 318i. Not all dealers do this though. Once you have found a dealer willing to do this the following happens. They will either post or fax a form to you which you have to sign. This form basically absolves BMW of any blame in the event that you have an accident and there are injuries due to non deployment of airbags. When the dealership receive the signed papers they contact germany for an authorisation code that they can enter into their system which allows the computer gizmo at BMW to disable the airbag through software. They also swap out the whole seatbelt assembly (not the bit you fasten the belt into though) for one that doesn't pull you back and lock down when you have a crash (it works as a nornal inertia belt). You then have a nice sticker on both the B pillar and windscreen warning that the passenger airbags are disabled. We were charged approx £120 for this from coopers at sevenoaks.

Gumbo · 13-06-2014 12:41pm

challengemaster wrote: »

Apart from there's no 'simple' way of turning off the airbag. Can only be done by dealers.

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26749

On the OP's car, you just turn it to off with the car key. There's an on/off switch in the glove box for the passenger seat airbag.

Its on my E60, E90 and i presume most modern cars, no?

IrishHomer wrote: »

http://airbaglightoff.eu

Went to that guy last night, he fitted another bypass gadget for €40, light still on but he reckons it should clear after a bmw garage computer clears it

I told you how to fix it for €30 permantly. What you have got now is another cheap resistor that you have paid for, and will now have to pay a bmw dealer again for?

challengemaster · 13-06-2014 5:21pm

kceire wrote: »

On the OP's car, you just turn it to off with the car key. There's an on/off switch in the glove box for the passenger seat airbag.

Its on my E60, E90 and i presume most modern cars, no?

Nope. Wasn't standard on the E90 until mid 07 or march 08 (before then it was an option, which OFC no irish cars have), finding conflicting reports about that. Until then you can only have it turned off as I described above. Trip to the dealer and part with several hundred euros.

wersal gummage · 14-06-2014 2:07pm

I had the same issue on an e60. Had the warning light reset by the garage twice and on both occasions it came back after a few months. Had the passenger mat sensor coded out as mentioned above and reset the system, and light has come back on again :-(

Will have to get it properly diagnosed at this point

Cerco · 14-06-2014 5:20pm

Did you check the wiring under the seat connected to the seat belt tensioner? A common problem on the E46.

2006 BMW 3 Series passenger air bag light issue

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