Air Bag and Service light on together!

[balazs]

After reading all the other posts about this problem, It put a massive smile on my face as I thought this would be my cheap get out claus! I tried the following;

I disconnected and reconnected both wiring looms under the drivers and passenger seats to with no avail!
Then, I dusted and lubricated the seat belt tensioner wires and The lights are still on.
I went even further and took the steering wheel cowling apart and checked all wiring was present and correct which they were.
I checked all the fuses in the glovebox and under the bonnet and again, all fine.

Any sugestions?

This all started when I had the indicator stalk replaced at the garage. the garage looked for the fault in the wiring and could not find anything! Also they could not find anything on the computer as the car was not recording any other fault! When the lights were reset, they would come straight back on 5 minutes down the road and have stayed on since!

Please please someone must be in the know?

James

[Toodeep]

Do you also get "Steering Not Locked" as this is the other symptom of the wiring/plugs under the seat needing to be moved around. If so, I'd still persevere with the under-seat wiring. Even though I know where the problem is I can't reliably get rid of it at will. It kind of has a mind of its own and will allow me to fiddle with it for fifteen minutes with no response only for the fault to disappear the following afternoon. The only reason I bother with it at all is I don't know whether it's a false alarm or the airbags would genuinely fail to deploy if needed.

The consensus seems to be that the poor quality plugs are the culprit. At least one member went to the drastic step of removing the plugs under the seats and splicing the wires together. Alternatively they could be replaced by better quality plugs from an electrical supplier, I suppose.

If an airbag or part of the system were truly faulty, which might be the reason for your warning, I'm sure your dealer would confirm that this would show up on diagnostics.

[balazs]

Cheers toodeep, I have never had the steering lock message come up and the steering lock itself has never been a problem.

I'm pretty sure the airbags are fine because the dealer didn't pick any problems on the diagnostics machine.

What have you done with yours? I think I'll try splicing the wires together and missing out the connecters all together? See how that goes? I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks mate

[steeley52]

Hi on my last megane 55reg this happened to me, it was a £200 fix, complete new indicator and lighting stalk.The Airbag tape behind the steering wheel had broke.

[Toodeep]

What have you done with yours? I think I'll try splicing the wires together and missing out the connecters all together? See how that goes? I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks mate

I haven't done anything. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't. Since I had the combination of service light, airbag light and 'steering not locked' message I followed the advice on the forum and tracked it down to the wiring under the driver's seat. After moving it around a bit the warnings disappeared but had returned within days. The car belongs to my goddaughter who is not bothered by the warning lights but, as I said, our only concern is that the seat airbags are indeed disabled by the faulty connection. If it's only a false warning, it can wait until service time.

Since you don't get the 'steering not locked' message this could rule out the under seat wiring so splicing the wires might not help. A solution closer to steeley52's might be nearer the mark. Get someone to observe the warning lights for any flickering while you are fiddling around under the seat. One warning . . . . Don't interfere with any airbag wiring immediately after switching off the ignition. The system apparently retains its charge for some minutes after switch-off and could deploy if the wrong wires are connected/disconnected during this period.

[balazs]

Thanks steely and toodeep for your advice.

Do either of you know if the steering wheel airbag tape is an easy fix or even a fix you can do yourself or is it a dealer job? I really don't fancy shelling out 200 notes but I want my big bumed beauty spot on!

[Toodeep]

You can find the procedure in the Electrical Systems service document here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6783

Click on the first "here" of the second sentence to download the pdf file. The Airbag section is towards the end from memory and refers to locking the system via the car's diagnostics port which needs specialist equipment. Most people who would tackle the airbag system on a DIY basis (I am not one of them) seem to make do with disconnecting the battery.

I can't say I'm sure what the airbag 'tape' is. If it breaking gave rise to a warning coming on in steeley52's car then I assume he is referring to a flat ribbon cable such as one might find in a camcorder or mobile phone. Perhaps he could clear this up as I wouldn't advocate trying to repair one of those.

[MEGANE_JAMES]

sounds like the rotary switch behind the steering wheel and the white tape is broken behind steering wheel, got same prob myself