air bag light

[iamwills]

started car to day and air bag light came on , also, the clock that shows the mile flashes wot looks like IN I . CAN ANY ONE HELP THANKS

[kenney]

You need a fault code read to determine what the airbag fault is,regarding IN1,means the vehicle is due for a service

[iamwills]

ok mate thanks

[riverstyx]

Nine times out of ten the airbag fault is caused by a loose or dirty connection to one of the side airbags - the connectors are under the seats and get pulled when you adjust the seat or kicked by people sitting in the back seats.

You can take the car to a dealer to have fault code cleared from the airbag ecu but it would be cheaper to buy a diagnostics cable and download the free version of vagcom as the light has a tendancy to reappear from time to time in my experience.

Hope this helps..

[iamwills]

is ther a particular version of vagcom i need to download, just had a look and ther is loads, thanks

[riverstyx]

I just use VCDS-Lite from http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/index.html which is free to use and works fine with the cheap USB to OBDII interface I bought on ebay ( I think http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665302993 is the same interface as I have )

You can register VCDS-Lite for $99 to gain additional features but this isn't needed for reading and clearing fault codes.

[cragster]

I sprayed WD40 on the connectors under the seats, reset the controller been fine for 6 months.

Gotta be worth a try!!

[riverstyx]

I sprayed WD40 on the connectors under the seats, reset the controller been fine for 6 months.

Gotta be worth a try!!
Yeah, I previously owned an alfa romeo and that had exactly the same issue with the connectors under the front seats. I took them apart, cleaned them with WD40, smeared them with petroleum jelly, then cable tied the connectors together to help stop them moving around. The light would still come on about once a year, but before that I was having to reset it every two or three weeks.

Not sure if the Audi is the same, but with the Alfa I know the airbags would not deploy in an accident if the light was on which was why I was always keen to reset it as soon as possible.

[gjm123]

I just use VCDS-Lite from http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/index.html which is free to use and works fine with the cheap USB to OBDII interface I bought on ebay ( I think http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665302993 is the same interface as I have )

You can register VCDS-Lite for $99 to gain additional features but this isn't needed for reading and clearing fault codes.

I've no connection with riverstyx or the seller of the kit but I've just bought one of these - for under £7 delivered it has to be worth a look!

[riverstyx]

Yeah, I probably ought to have stated that I have no connection with the seller, nor can I vouch for that particular item, it was just the cheapest one I could see that looked (at least from the picture) to be the same as the one I use.

Agree regarding the price though, I think I paid over 20 quid for mine albeit with an adaptor cable so I could use it on my (now deceased) alfa romeo which had a 3 pin diagnostics connector.