Airbag light stays on car

Carstuck

Hi all,

Have a 00 Fiesta zetec and over Christmas the airbag light came on and has remained on. After going to a garage yesterday they said the fault might be on the main computer or the ECU. Anyone know if this is a costly job if the main computer has to be replaced?

Thanks in advance

voxpop

sometime the cable under the passenger seat gets disconnected with moving the seat backwards and forwards. It will put on the light. Worth checking.

Best to get the car scanned and see what errors are being thrown up - any decent garage should be able to do this.


Btw : the garage you went to sound like clowns

coylemj

By any chance did you disconnect the battery or give someone a jumpstart over the Christmas?

I had this problem when getting a car kit installed by a total chancer, the company chose the supplier, not me so it wasn't my fault that I let a clown near my brand new motor. Anyway while messing around looking for a switched 12V source he succeeded in shutting down my car's electronic system and when it came back the airbag light was on and stayed on. I had to go back to the VW dealer where I bought it and they fixed it for no charge, the car was only a month old at the time so I was lucky, it required a restart of the ECU.

I think the garage you went to is probably right and I'd suggest that you'll need to go to a Ford dealer or an indy with Ford diagnostic kit to fix it, assuming it's not a hardware fault.

Carstuck

Thanks all - I checked the belts and no difference and the battery wasn't disconnected. It came on over the cold spell but the garage said that had nothing to do with it. Will try another garage if I don't hear back from the garage I went!

gar32

I am sorry to jump on the band wagon. I have issue with airbag light in my VW golf MK4 TDi. It seems in a past life someone tried to repair cables under passenger seat. They put connectors on it. I had garage look at it & they tried soldering it. Error was still on diagnostic resistance from airbag cable to high.

I would be looking at a few hundred if I go to VW which I would like to avoid. As my NCT is due next month I need help please 

Many thanks in advance

CabanasBoy

gar32 wrote: »

I am sorry to jump on the band wagon. I have issue with airbag light in my VW golf MK4 TDi. It seems in a past life someone tried to repair cables under passenger seat. They put connectors on it. I had garage look at it & they tried soldering it. Error was still on diagnostic resistance from airbag cable to high.

I would be looking at a few hundred if I go to VW which I would like to avoid. As my NCT is due next month I need help please 

Many thanks in advance

It's usually the original VW connectors under the seat which are the problem!
Get a competent auto electrician to bypass them or remake them, critically important that the right wires are rejoined though.

listermint

Generally though it may need to be reset after the repair. Depends on the car.

You can get a premade bypass connector for some makes on the likes of Ebay. Had to pick up one for me E46 and it worked a charm.

gar32

listermint wrote: »

Generally though it may need to be reset after the repair. Depends on the car.

You can get a premade bypass connector for some makes on the likes of Ebay. Had to pick up one for me E46 and it worked a charm.

Just wondering would that be ok with insurance company? Does the airbag work with this warning light on?

Thanks I will give it a try

CabanasBoy

gar32 wrote: »

Just wondering would that be ok with insurance company? Does the airbag work with this warning light on?

Thanks I will give it a try

DISCONNECT CAR BATTERY FIRST!!!!!!!!!!

unless you are very sure about what you're doing I'd leave it to an auto electrician. airbags are explosive devices and should not be tampered with (or their wiring as this may give the airbag a false "GO")

listermint

CabanasBoy wrote: »

DISCONNECT CAR BATTERY FIRST!!!!!!!!!!

unless you are very sure about what you're doing I'd leave it to an auto electrician. airbags are explosive devices and should not be tampered with (or their wiring as this may give the airbag a false "GO")

No need to shout, Calm down. We can read normal font.


Yes OP , DO disconnect the battery and also leave it disconnected for 20 minutes at least before working as there may be some residual in the system.

Effectively what these bypass devices will do is tell the Airbag system that there is always someone sitting in that seat. So its like a permanent bum sitting down. That means the airbag will fire in event of an accident passenger or no passenger. So for you it means a wasted airbag - but the car will probably not be repairable if it came to that.


The large caveat here is that you cannot but a child seat in the passenger seat as the airbag is set to permanent deploy.

Personally i believe children should be in the back regardless. but just a word of note.

gar32

I am starting to understand issue now. Many thanks I will leave it in to be repaired. Problem could be expensive if done right. Maybe way to go. If I fail NCT with light on do I have to get it fix with 1 month? Many thanks again people

slimjimmc

Assuming no other failures which require a test lane, an airbag warning light would only require a visual check and is free if you book within 21 days and test within 30 days total. After 30 days you'd have to undergo a full test again which will check everything and be charged at the full rate.
http://nct.ie/faq.html#14

pedantic.pat

Hey lads not sure if ye got your problem sorted but i had the same problem in my bmw e46. Came across an occupancy sensor by-pass module from reading up on other forums. Bacisally what it does it tells the airbag module that theres someone in the passenger seat all the time. So in the event of a crash, the passenger side airbags will fire regardless of whether someone's sitting in the seat or not.
Normally if the passenger seat is empty then those airbags don't fire. So it's a bit of a trade-off risk, but will pass the NCT as the airbag light will reset.

You will find the occupancy sensor by-pass module here: http://cgi.ebay.ie/BMW-E46-E36-E39-AIRBAG-OCCUPANCY-SENSOR-BYPASS-UNIT-/180610266459?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2a0d35f55b

Found a useful link for anyone who is a handy man. you can make your own picture of circuit attached. Instructions can be found here:
http://www.4shared.com/dir/7137899/6e9cd794/sharing.html
Password is "help"

It is very simple to install takes about 15minutes. Easy to follow Instructions found here with photos:

http://www.e46zone.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14782

A simple cheap fix to a potentially expensive problem.

Best of luck,

Regards
Pat