The Mégane II Owners' Club

Hello there!

I have a Megane 1.6 16v VVT, 3 door on an 04 plate. Currently done only 36,000 miles.

About 2 weeks ago, suddenly my Service light and air-bag light lit up on the dashboard whilst i was driving.

Not knowing the exact problem, i booked my car in to my local Renault dealer for them to have a look and advise accordingly.

When i went to collect the car they said that sometimes the air-bag wiring loom which is located under the drivers seat can come loose or at worse the wires can cut themselves due the seat being being moved backwards and forwards. They checked this and there wasn't any damage nor had they come loose.

They carried on to say that after plugging the car into there diagnostics machine it showed that the wiring loom itself was faulty and whilst the lights are lit up on the dash, ALL airbags become innoperative! They then said that this was a manufacturers defect as they have had to replace these before. Electrics is not there strongest point!

So i'm thinking that if this is a manufacturers fault they will replace it for free!! Wrong, they still want £275.00 + VAT to carry this out.

Has anyone else had this problem and surely this should have been a recall issue!

Regards

Tom.

Hi i had the same problem until last night.

Have you any water under the sound deadening under drivers seat?

i had due to ac drainage pipe bloked. Dried this out with air line and dehumidifier, used contact spary on the conector and the lights went out.

Might be worth a try Renault wanted £60 just to find the problem, this site helpped me greatly

Chris

You could try Renault customer services to see if they will contribute to solving a known problem even though you are out of the warranty period.

Thanks guys, i will certainly check for water under my seat, need to rule that one out!

However failing that, i will get in contact with Renault customer services and see what suggestions they have.

Turby,

had a similar problem with Nov 03 1.6. Was advised my dealer that I'd moved the seat with engine on - a common Megane problem.

Its happened again - local Arnold Shark wants £ 300 to fix, but their investigation actually fixed the problem - see if you can tape up the wires under the seat.

As it seems to be a manufacturing problem (there are so many on these piles of junk) under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the manufacturer is responsible..............not a word I could ever associate with Reggie.

My problem was the same as Chevin.
Randomly the air bag light would flash on for a couple of seconds, then go back off.
Took it into Renault to be checked. They hooked it up, and came back to me with a prive of £289 to fix because the loom was damaged, i explained kindly to the guy that if it was damaged surely the light would always be on, and for that reason i won't pay to have it done.
That was over 3 months ago (ish) and light hasn't come on since, if it does, i will just pull the wire under the seat out and plug it back in again, as has been said on this site before.
Alex

I had the same problem on my 06 1.6, i would come on showing the service symbol and message "check airbag" got it checked by arnold clark about 2 months ago its never come back on. They said it was a lose wire and fixed it under warranty.

Mike

Could it be some kind of contact problem. I have read about Fiat Stilo having the same problem. Most often nothing was wrong with the wires, but there could be some corrosion/oxide on the contacts under the seat. Could it be the same for Megane? For the Stilo it was enough to clean the contacts or use contact spray. If there is a fault with the wires themselves, then the error message should show all the time, but being a contact problem, it shows only for short periods and can then dissappear. Might be worth a check.

The issue with the seat airbag looms is due to "micro cuts" in the underseat connectors.. This is a very well know and documented problem within the dealer network..

I have replaced loads of them under warranty. Which is fine till you have to pay.. It takes approx 45 minutes to replace each loom and requires the seat to be removed..

Of course disconnecting the connector and re-seating it may very well cure the problem, for weeks or forever. Its worth a try before commiting to new ones..

I HAD EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, AND IT WAS A BAD CONNECTION OF THE WIRES UNDER THE PASSENGER SEAT, THE WIRES ON MINE WERE CABLE TIED TOGETHER AND THE CABLE TIE HAD MADE ONE OF THE WIRES LOSE CONNECITION.
I TOOK THE CABLE TIE OFF MESSED AROUND WITH THE WIRES AND REPLACED THE CABLE TIE WITH A SAMALLER ONE.
HOPE THIS HELPS