SEAT TOLEDO AIRBAG PROBLEM

kincaid

OK sister has got 2005 new model 1.9tdi toledo and airbag light is on.. went to the main dealer who put it on pc - said its the yellow type plugs under the seat that are causing the problem and are known to give bother on these and other VW too.. he talked about removing the plugs completely and rejoining the wires directly and says it could take 5-6 hrs as seat needs to removed etc...

GTE

Happened to my Golf.

If you are in any way DIYish you can do it yourself very easily.

Taking out the front seats is quite easy and all it is after that is a bit of soldering.

I would not like it as a main dealer jobby. Could be expensive and sounds like its a very long time for a dealer to do it. I did one seat and Id say I was done in an hour.

kincaid

Hi, might give it a go myself at weekend

How do you do it.. so you can not just cut out off the plugs and peel back the wires and join up that way then

Thanks

GTE

There may be details on how to take the seat out here.
http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/253514.aspx

I chopped the plug out and soldered them back together. I did use some other way which I can never remember the name of but soldering is the way to do it.

You will have to get the car re-diagnosed and then get the code cleared.

The light will not switch off until it gets scanned and cleared.

langdang

Disconnect battery 15mins beforehand.
Be VERY careful (apparently static can be enough to trigger these*)
Insulate the solder job properly and support it or stress relieve it so that it won't flex as seats go back and forth**

*got this from gofaster_s13 when I came on with a similar query back along.
** this was obvious from the fixes I had to make to a piss-poor job done before we got the car

If you want to keep the connectors you may be able to brace the cables and connectors so that they don't give bad contact when flexed. (Make an S with the cables and connectors and tape them -if you have enough cable to do this for extremes of seat movement)
Her car (Mini Cooper, same connectors as BMW use on other models) has soldering and bracing done - I wouldn't have had to do any soldering only for the job attempted by some ape before we got it.
5 airbag warnings in 12 months before the jobs, 0 in 12months + since..


edit - in fact... I didn't solder, I crimped the cables

stevenmu

Did they try just unplugging and replugging the connectors? I've heard of this working on a lot of Seats, as above the warning light would need to be reset. I think there's some way of doing this with the diagnostic machine so you could try googling that.

langdang

stevenmu wrote: »

Did they try just unplugging and replugging the connectors? I've heard of this working on a lot of Seats, as above the warning light would need to be reset.

The light will probably stay off for a while, but it will be back if the car is prone to it at all.

tossy

Personally i would try unplugging and cleaning plug contacts with electrical contact cleaner first i've seen this work umpteen times.

Even if it works the light will remain on as a fault has been logged,so you will need to get the light reset afterwards and see if it stays off.

Disconnecting the battery is a bit of an old wives tail i've personally unplugged loads of seats and removed steering wheel airbags with the battery connected,just make sure the key is not in the ignition,but disconnect if you wish.

kincaid

thanks guys will try it at weekend..

will an airbag light on pass the MOT test in northern Ireland ? (its a uk car) Its for test on wednesday

C4Kid

Personally i would try unplugging and cleaning plug contacts with electrical contact cleaner first i've seen this work umpteen times.

Totally agree, While driving the Golf on a rough road the Airbag light came on, did the above and no problem with it since:)

kincaid

Ok guys I got a guy to put his code reader on in tonite and came up with fault
“01221 crash sensor side airbag: drivers side(G179) Sporadic 010 – open or short to plus”..
He erased it and stayed off till i switched the car off and started it again

tossy

kincaid wrote: »

Ok guys I got a guy to put his code reader on in tonite and came up with fault
“01221 crash sensor side airbag: drivers side(G179) Sporadic 010 – open or short to plus”..
He erased it and stayed off till i switched the car off and started it again

Get some electrical contact cleaner and clean the contacts on plugs,allow to dry off and re connect then clear the code - i'd be surprised if it comes back.

crosshair1

kincaid wrote: »

“01221 crash sensor side airbag: drivers side(G179) Sporadic 010 – open or short to plus”..

This fault has nothing to do with the connections under the seat, it usually requires a replacement sensor and they have a code so must be ordered to chassis no.

kincaid

what does sensor look like and where is it located as one from a golf may suit

tossy

true i missed that,crash sensor is at bottom of B pillar.

kincaid

i spoke to the main dealer today and he still maintained its the plugs under the seat thats causing this problem and says theres a kit you buy to join the wires ,,,,

biko

You don't have to solder to join electrical wires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxYKb6D8eds

kincaid

Thanks for that video, just didnt want to start into this job and then finding out when this is done that the problem is indeed a faulty sensor...
another service girl told me yesterday the sensor is in the door and refusing to tell me anymore or put me through to the workshop to speak to a tech and insisting i bring it in to them (seems to want to rob me as they are doing nothing in the present climate)

sean1141

ring them and say that you are from some independant garage a good bit away and that its a customers car. tell them the fault code and see what they say! usually work for me!

GTE

kincaid wrote: »

i spoke to the main dealer today and he still maintained its the plugs under the seat thats causing this problem and says theres a kit you buy to join the wires ,,,,

Yeah, I got a code saying it was a sensor but it was just the plug under the seat losing connection for an instant.

I do some DIY so I didn't mind doing this myself so my advice is fix the plug under the seat, which will fail if it hasn't already and take that out of the equation before you commit to anything else.

crosshair1

Have your guy with vcds check the measuring blocks for igniter resistances,
this will confirm that there is no problem with the wiring under the seat.
You will end up replacing the crash sensor!

GTE

Possibly but not definitely. This problem can very much indeed have a cause rooted in the poorly designed airbag plugs under the seats of VAG's of the era. The 01221 fault code includes wiring problems between air bag components.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01221

The plugs under the seats is such a common problem across VAGs of that type and era that it can not be discounted, especially since it is such a comparatively easy and cheap thing to fix. Even if this did not clear the code the OP will be eliminating a problem that will probably happen at some point in the future.

kincaid

thanks.......ok I done the wires under the seat today(took couple of hours) and got guy to reset the airbag light but came on again 5 min later:mad:

GTE

kincaid wrote: »

thanks.......ok I done the wires under the seat today(took couple of hours) and got guy to reset the airbag light but came on again 5 min later:mad:

A fair bit quicker then the main dealer so thats good.

Pity it wasn't the cause for the airbag light this time but at least it won't give you trouble and you know the story now!

crosshair1

bbk wrote: »

Possibly but not definitely. This problem can very much indeed have a cause rooted in the poorly designed airbag plugs under the seats of VAG's of the era. The 01221 fault code includes wiring problems between air bag components.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01221

Just to clarify, the code the op posted concerns a side impact crash sensor, this sensor is connected to the airbag ecu without any joint in the wiring, there is only a plug to the sensor and the multiplug at the airbag ecu.
This wiring is under the carpets.

The common fault with most Vag (most other makes too) is the wiring to the side airbag igniters, this wiring connects to the underside of the seat.
This has one connection under the seat that gives trouble and on some a second connection where the wiring enters the floor. Problems with these connections will give fault codes 01217 or 01218 with subcode describing the fault type (usually high resistance). Eleminating these connections by soldering in a section is a permanent fix.
However it is impossible for the under seat wiring connections to have any bearing on the original fault code as it is not on the same circuit.