Passenger Airbag Light - Faulty Control Module?

[james_gray]

Hi guys,

My passenger airbag light came on about 6 months ago for no apparent reason. Reading online I read it could have been a faulty connection underneath the passenger seat. I've had two garages look at the issue, the first found a fault code and cleared it but the light came straight back on. There was a code saying something about the passenger side connection being faulty and hence why I thought it wasnt such an issue and easily fixed. They had asked if I had been in an accident, I hadnt but the car tends to get small bumps and scrapes due to living in Bristol where the roads are all narrow! I hadn't managed to get the work done before I had the car serviced recently at another garage who looked into the issue in more detail. They found no fault codes despite the airbag light still being on......then they checked the connection from the airbag control module and they said they weren't receiving any sort of signal and have suggested that it may need replacing. The quote was over £600 inc. fitting +£80 if it needed re-coding by Audi. What seemed to be a common easily fixed issue has seemed to escalated to requiring a whole new unit! I think I'll get another garage to give me their opinion before forking out the money to get it fixed - problem being is that its an MOT failure!

What are other peoples experience with this? I've had a scan through the forum but cannot find something which sounds similar to mine - clearing the code and now it appears to be much worse!

Thanks

[Alan02]

Usually its fixed (so to speak) by un pligging the seat side airbag plug under the base, and plugging back together. Its usually a high resistance fault, basically your re-making the contact. Clear the fault code and all is well..... for a year or so!

[zollaf]

you need someone who can actually work a computer. if the light is on then there is a code. work with that code, or just clear it for now.

[Flash2]

What tool did the 2nd garage use to scan the SRS is the first question? Did they use VCDS or some other VAG tool that is able to read SRS codes? Seems a little odd that the first guy got a code and managed to erase it yet the second guy can't even access the SRS module.

[james_gray]

So the cars been to 3 separate indy's and all have come to the same conclusion - they can't figure out whats going on as no fault code is being displayed. MOT is due in a couple of months so going to try my luck with Audi themselves.

Anyone come across this issue before (airbag light on but no fault code can be identified)?

[Flash2]

You wont get a trouble code if the SRS ECU is faulty or it's power supply/earth is open circuit. In that event, the ECU wouldn't be able to communicate with the diagnostic scan tool. Did they check for trouble codes in the other vehicle systems to see if there are any "SRS Missing Message" type codes logged?