Airbag warning light

[selford1]

Dash airbag light is on & code is telling me resistance is incorrect. Trying to find part no. for wire that runs for floor to seat as dealership wants to sell me whole bag assy for £400:aargh4:

[toff]

What year is your car please?

Simply due to age, it normally affects older cars like the 2001 (B6) A4's but the connection block under the front seats can get damp (due to the carpet getting wet) & the connections can oxidise, causing a high resistance reading on the airbag sensor.

Ideally, you should find somebody local with VagCom who can read which airbag sensor is throwing-up the fault code. If it turns out to be one of the airbags in the side of one of the front seats; get the error codes cleared (using VagCom) and try the following:

Making sure you you fully DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FIRST - open up the black cover under the drivers / passengers seat and disconnect the connectors within it: check to make sure there isn't any oxidisation (dull-looking metal contacts / white crud forming on the connection).

If there is oxidisation, clean with electrical contact cleaner then plug-in & unplug the connectors several times (to re-establish a bare metal contact). Allow an hour or two to ensure the contact cleaner has fully dried off and and then plug-in the connectors again and re-connect the battery.

Hope that helps
Al.

PS: If it turns out you do need a new SRS airbag controller module, don't buy a new one, it is possible to have them reset by a specialist.

[selford1]

Cheers Toff,
Car is A4 Avant on a 55 plate. Light came on when the seat was moved back.
Have a ross tech lead & vdcs software & that is telling me the following
1 Fault Found:
01217 - Side Airbag Igniter; Driver Side (N199)
001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 11100001
Fault Priority: 1
Fault Frequency: 1
Time Indication: 0

[toff]

Hmm..

Obviously it should be possible to move the seat back & forth as far as it'll go without such a problem occurring.

I can only suggest that you get on your hand & knees outside the car, look under the seat and inspect the wiring loom that goes from the seat to the floor (and the connection block if you haven't had a look already).

Al.