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Quatrelle
15-01-2008, 08:10 PM
....has just reappeared on my dash - it has already been 'fixed' twice. The problem, I was told the last time, was a problem with the front passenger seat. The light reappeared the minute my wife got out of the car this afternoon..... :(

A friend's 5-year-old BMW 330ci has had this problem recurring from new - the problem with that is also, apparently, something to do with the front passenger seat.

Anyone else had this?

orangezorki
15-01-2008, 08:50 PM
Sorry if this isn't relevant, but I've heard of a few cars getting warning lights because the spring/sensor in the passenger seat to detect if someone is sitting there is faulty. Maybe this is linked?

David.

Quatrelle
15-01-2008, 09:37 PM
Thanks David, yes it wouldn't surprise me, and it's tempting to have a rummage around under the seat. Unfortunately there's probably more involved in resetting the light, even if I did find something. The car's under guarantee, but it's still a pain in the bot.

Rumour has it it's the seatbelt tensioner that causes the problem....

John

iaint
16-01-2008, 09:48 AM
Again, this might not be relevant but I'll throw the idea in anyway.

A common fault on my last make of car (MG ZT) and something which crops up on the MG Rover forums quite regular, are airbag warning lights caused by a faulty connector. As you may recall the MG ZT and the Rover 75 were developed while under BMW ownership and share many parts so this may also be the problem with your friends 5 year old car.

The connector at fault is the one under either the driver or passenger seat which connects all the features of the seat (airbag, electric motors, the sensor mentioned above etc) to the rest of the car.

It may be worth sliding the seat either forwards or back and seeing if you can see any evidence of damage or a loose connection with that connector.

The cure with the MG Rovers is to simply cut out the connector and either replace it with something more substantial or simply solder the wires together, however I should point out that these are all cars which are out of warranty so may not be something you should do yourself. If you find a fault though you can always bring it to the attention of the garage.

Just a thought, if it doesn't help you it could help your friend.
Iain

Quatrelle
16-01-2008, 10:39 PM
Thanks for that Iain - I have a feeling that my friend's has been hard-wired already, so you were spot on there. I think he's decided to live with it, he feels that he's just throwing good money after bad at BMW dealers.

Mine's booked in for about 10 days' time, and I'm told it will be about an hour's work. The last time it was '1 hour' which turned out to be an hour and a half, but that's par for the course for the French. At least I get a decent cup of coffee!

Thanks again
John

kenney
16-01-2008, 10:45 PM
Hi This has been a problem for several years,with the connecters under the seats and the solution is to remove the contacts and solder the wires,and innsulate them,all work has to be done with the battery terminal removed.

Quatrelle
16-01-2008, 10:57 PM
I'll have a look before and after I take it in. I can't believe they'll admit to anything as 'crude' as hard-wiring it...

jewjew24
17-01-2008, 07:26 AM
Hi,
I had the exact same problem but with drivers side and always seemed to be when my wife had been in the car, my local VW garage changed the airbag sensor, the airbag and the ECU for the airbag all to no avail. They then changed the wiring loom (they say with a "hard wired" one) to the seat which did cure the problem. This made sense in the end as my wife always raises the seat to max height and I have it at the lowest height thus causing the wiring loom to move, luckily for me all this was done under warranty!!!

kenney
17-01-2008, 01:32 PM
I'll have a look before and after I take it in. I can't believe they'll admit to anything as 'crude' as hard-wiring it...
Were do you get the crude from,beleive or not, this is a technical solution from the factory

Quatrelle
17-01-2008, 05:34 PM
Were do you get the crude from,beleive or not, this is a technical solution from the factoryI was being facetious ;)

claranet
21-01-2008, 01:03 AM
I had exactly the same problem on my wife's old 2004 Focus Estate. After it went back to the dealer several times and the ECU was reset several times, I suggested that they swap bits with ones from another car until the problem surfaced as the problem was intermittent. This they did - eventually, and it turned out to be the connection module where all the airbag data is connected to BEFORE it sends the signals through to the ECU. If the ECU says that the fault is say the drivers side airbag unit, then that does not necessarily mean it IS faulty.

I don't know if VW have a similar module but on the Ford Focus it resides just behind the Handbrake lever, which of course the B6 doesn't have ! I would suggest to your dealer that they check this module out ,if it has one.

I know Haynes haven't got a Manual out on the B6 yet, even the Haynes Ford Focus circuit diagram didn't show the offending module !

The Focus was a real pain generally so we parted company and we now have my old B5 100ps TDi estate which my wife - and occasionally me, drives and my 2007(2008 spec) B6 170ps Sport manual estate which is my new car - I should have had the DSG though !

I hope this helps you and your dealer to sort your problem.

Regards
Claranet

Quatrelle
21-01-2008, 12:49 PM
Thanks Claranet. It's going in on the 31st. The girl in the workshop reception said that it is a common problem with a lot of cars, and I'm sure she's right. This time, the light came on the second my wife got out of her seat to open our gates.

The strange thing is that they cure it, albeit temporarily, and I'm sure they do more than just tweak it with VAGcom - I always have to wait an hour or so. We'll see this time!

Quatrelle
02-02-2008, 12:08 AM
Took the car in yesterday, they fixed the light (again). They are now saying they will get in touch with VW to see if they need to change the airbag.

A few days before it went in the MFD screen turned bright red, unreadable, and very distracting when it happened. The display continued to be jumbled for the next five minutes but it righted itself when I stopped at some lights and started off again and before I could get home and find my camera. This is the second time it has done that and, needless to say, it hasn't done it since, and probably never will when it gets anywhere near the dealer!

This again is being referred to VW (I'd already told them about the previous occurrence because it seems to coincide with the airbag light fault) before they start talking about changing that part of the dash.

At the moment it's 10/10 for their interest....

Quatrelle
04-02-2008, 02:28 PM
Bit more follow-up if anyone is still reading this:

Just had a phone call from the dealer. They have consulted 'head office' (VW France, or Germany, possibly?), and they have been told to replace a side airbag. The car will be going in on the 19th of this month.

Quatrelle
21-02-2008, 07:36 PM
The car's been into the dealer, and a new side airbag fitted. Only time will tell if that's a fix. I'm not holding my breath - a week before it went in the light had come on again when I shut the boot lid....