air bag warning light :/

[puntoD]

fait punto mk 2. airbag light has come on. stays on permanently.

i have found a loose plug/connector under the passenger seat jsut flapping around and i have no idea where it goes.

can anyone help tar.

 

[creature]

my friends punto always had the airbag light on yet it still deployed when he was caught out on a roundabout. As for the lose plug a lot of cars seem to have the extra wireing under the seats, im guessing they are there for instances such as heated seats and are left intact when the extras are not opted for, i could be wrong.

 

[puntoD]

tar mate. im sure it will be fine but unfortunatley theres only one way to find out and im not willing to do that. i googled it and it said the wiring is a bit shabby. but the only to turn the light off is with the diagnostics. which i arent paying to have done

 

[HDi fun]

DOes the car have passenger front and side arbags?

Lots of cars use detect seat occupancy to that only the necessary 'bags are triggered in the theven of a collision. This keeps down the cost of insurance repairs. It's often the airbags that cause relatively new cars to be declared total insurance losses due to the destuction of the car's interior.

 

[obi_waynne]

I never realised airbags were so damaging! I know they generate a lot of heat.

 

[WLBjork]

Not sure on damage, but I understand they're a pain in the buttocks to replace, and thus it's expensive.

 

[stamford]

They are indeed expensive to replace, an accident that deploys most airbags will mean a heavily damaged car externally, therefore leading to expensive internal 'damage'. Depending upon the point of impact they will not all deploy, this will depend upon the age of the car and the level of smartness of the controller. Head-ons will deploy drivers and passengers and leave the thorax and curtains intact.

When I was designing the assembly and test machines for MG/Rover, Freelander, Transits, Toyota's etc a drivers unit was typically £1000! They are dangerous things when out of a car as the generator is classified as an incendiary device and needs to be housed in a certified cage until fitted.

Suggest you get someone to plug in a code reader to see which one is faulty. Are the seats fitted with thorax airbags? If not, are the seats as fitted from the factory? If someone has fitted non standard seats then the originals may have had thorax airbags and the loose plug is 'looking' for the module. You can fool this by inserting a resistor across the plug terminals.

 

[vtr chris]

if your car has seatbelt pre tensioners and there is a fault it will put the airbag light on,normally cutting of the connector and crimping a new one on your self normally cures the problem and should put the lighjt out,if not leave the battery disconnected for a while failing that it will have to be plugged in to be switched off,also if u do have a plug in and it comes up drivers side pre tensioner it could well be the passenger side as they are built lhd
hope this helps
tnx chris
(the wires are normally underneath the seat,)2 wires should be.

 

[pgarner]

They are dangerous things when out of a car as the generator is classified as an incendiary device and needs to be housed in a certified cage until fitted.

Yup and you need to have a explosives certificate to fit them supposedly. and mines doesnt cover