Air bag light and BMWScan1.4

[marlin758]

Hi
My passenger seat occupancy mat is starting to go faulty (I think)

I go into bmwscan and I get errors as below

Seat occupancy detector , status implausible
Passenger's seat belt buckle switch , status implausible

I clear errors and it goes to green - no errors! and the airbag light goes off.

In BMWScan I have unticked :-
Passenger's seat belt buckle switch
Seat occupancy recognitiion and
Occupancy classification system (OC3)

I turn off the ignition , turn it on and immediately the air bag light comes on and if I go into BMWScan the errors are back !

Anyone any ideas what I am doing wrong ?

[X5Sport]

Just a suggestion, but as the airbags are part of the SRS system is there an option in the scanner options covering the SRS system?  You might have to deactivate the passenger airbag instead in order to shut the light off perhaps?  You may not want to switch the airbag off, but it might allow you to test the possibility.

I've not used a scanner so this was only me thinking as to how the systems might work.  I.e. the seatbelt system also puts a flag into the SRS controller.

Richard

[marlin758]

Thanks for the idea Richard - I will have a look at that

I am fairly sure that you can disable individual airbags

Terry

[Horizon]

90% of the airbag light problems I have had or seen are due to the connectors under the seat that connect the seatbelt tensioner wiring to the cars loom, pull the connectors apart and spray with a solvent contact cleaner, alow to evaporate then re connect, reset and try

[marlin758]

You could well  be right - it seems to change code every time I scan it !
High resistance connections ?

I am away for the next week and a half - will have to have a go at it when I return .

[marlin758]

Are the connectors accessible by raising the seat ?

I have had a quick feel around under there but I'm not sure where they are.

[Horizon]

It's sometimes easier to unbolt the seat from the floor than try to access the plugs underneath. I will have a look to morrow. It's usually only 4 bolts, but they maybe torq bolts, so may need torq bits to undo them.
Try access from the rear footwell if access from the front is tight.

[Sanj]

[quote="marlin758"]
Are the connectors accessible by raising the seat ?

I have had a quick feel around under there but I'm not sure where they are.
[/quote]

Yes.

[marlin758]

Thanks guys 

[Horizon]

Just had a look under my seat, there is a big yellow multiplug straight in front of you, you will probably have to move a bar or switch at the side of the moulding to separate the two halves, make sure the car is off with the keys out.
Seperate the plug, spray with solvent contact cleaner, not WD 40, allow to dry/ evaporate for 5 mins. Re assemble and try, as you have a scanner, re scan to test.

Hope this cures the problem, as I've had it on several cars, the daughter had a Clio, and in the end I did away with the plug and hard wired the connections, it never  happened again, my e 46 325 used to need doing every 2 years, the 840 did it too, my mates Octavian used to ding all the time thinking someone was sat in the passenger seat when it was empty, a quick spray sorted them all. Good luck.

[marlin758]

Thanks very much for the info

Just had a look myself and before I started pulling things apart I logged in to ask if it was the big yellow plug 


Terry

[lezmtaylor]

Yes, it is the big yellow plug, to pull apart slide locking bar to one side and hey presto

lez

[marlin758]

I don't believe it !   

Followed the above instructions ( thanks guys ) replaced plugs etc. Plug the laptop in and turn it on , wait ages for laptop to run up - nothing !

Take it back in the house and try 'repair windows'  -  ERROR !

Try to format and reinstall everything  - I only have Windows XP ,  BMW Scan and MS Publisher  ( so I can save/print a screenshot of BMW Scan ) on it  -  ' ERROR !  Hard drive faulty !

So I may have solved the problem on the car but am now waiting for a new hard drive for the laptop so that I can reset it !  :noexpression:

[marlin758]

Thanks guys - I got there in the end !

Changed the laptop hard drive and reset the airbag light.

I turned the ignition off and back on and the airbag light stayed on again.  >:(

It turned out that in my efforts to localise the problem with BMW Scan that I had ticked the box for battery safety switch 2 !  I don't think I have 2 so I unticked it and all is well !