Sensor for Passenger Seat Airbag

PeteK*

Hey,

Does anyone know if it's possible to get my sensor replaced from someone other than a BMW main dealer?

I'd buy the part from them.. but they're charging me quite a lot for labour. They said it could take two to three hours.

If I could, I'd just switch off the light coming up on the dash for now.. but NCT due and the light on will be a fail.

Prenderb

It must be. I've used Allens out in Straffan and found them good in the past if that's any good to you? I think these are them: http://www.countrygarage.ie/straffan-motors.php

In around Dublin AC Carsales / Bloomfield garage are also well-known and (I think) renowned independent BMW specialists. It's a while since I've used them, but likewise they were good at the time. http://www.bloomfieldgarage.ie/

V1

There is a huge amount of labor involved in dismantling the seat to replace the Passenger Seat occupancy sensor. It is possible to DIY but will probably take at least half a day and drive you nuts in the process from what I have heard.

The other solution is to pick up a bypass unit from a number of sources online. I looked into this a few years back when mine failed and by all accounts the purpose of the sensor is to signal to the SRS (airbag) system that the passenger seat is occupied or not and in the event of an accident and airbag deployment the passenger side airbags are not fired if the passenger seat is not occupied.
The bypass unit which is a small device that you connect in under the passenger seat tells the SRS system that the passenger seat is always occupied and in doing so also "looks" to the SRS system like a functioning sensor so no airbag light.
I ended up making my own bypass unit from 2 components (iirc) that I had lying around anyway using some DIY I found somewhere and haven't thought about it since.

I won't point you at any site or links - Google will do that for you and I am not recommending that you go this route as it is to do with a critical safety system which may save you or your passengers life. In the interest of arming you and anyone else with all of the information I will say that it does make the airbag light go out (no need to get the light reset either - the light goes out once the PSOS fault is no longer present)
Will the airbags deploy if required using this solution? I cant tell you absolutely but from what I have read, yes and I really hope so !

PeteK*

I would like the air bag to deploy in the event of an accident, so if I do something, having it deploy even when there is no passenger is fine.

Prenderb, thanks for those links. I'll call them in the morning.