Hi, advise, suggestions please.
I am considering the removal of my passenger airbag, in favour of fitting the original cubby box. My questions are, how do I fool/ tell the airbag ecu I no longer have a passenger airbag?
Also would I be breaking the law?
Thanks in advance Dave M

Pretty sure you wouldn't be breaking the law as it wasn't mandatory for cars of this age to have passenger airbags (in fact there are still new cars without them, like Caterham's etc). But as regards electrics I'm afraid I'm fairly clueless. The other half's Yaris has a switch in the glovebox which you can use to turn the passenger airbag off in case you want to fit a child seat in the vicinity, I take it our cars don't have anything like that ? My B has the two airbags but I don't remember seeing a switch...

just unplug the airbag and use a simulation resistor on the car plug ! there is a resistors kit from fiat itself , they even recomend to use simulation sensors (resistors) found in the kit wen diagnosing the airbag ecu ...they claim thath :

"by using these simulation sensors on the explosive charge detonation lines accidental explosion of the charges are prevented, as the charges are physically disconected from the wiring"

i'm not shure of the exact value of the resistor but i remember to watch a video where the guy was reseting the ecu in a table with a laptop and he was using resistors to simulate the airbags , he claimed that they work ok with a value betwen 1.5 and 3 ohm that we buy in any electronic shop
hope it helps !

p.s. don't forget to disconect battery before start the work and just conect it after conclusion !!

Hi Dave M. Great question. I proposed that same scenario to my wife who complained of a lack of storage space to which in fact I received a deep and lingering scowl. But really, I think the resistors are the best way to go. As far as being law abiding I doubt that would ever be a problem with the authorities. However the insurance people might not be so forgiving.

Success,success,finally after months of staring at a red light on my dash it's finally out. Thanks to the guys Multieuscan and Gendan, my 98 B has both airbags operating correctly. And it only took about five minutes.I down loaded the new 3.2 version from Multieuscan and it worked perfectly,I can't tell you how happy I am. BTW, on a different topic,I realized that if the cable to the rear trunk should ever break I'm shafted. No way to get in. So I drilled a very small hole(one eighth inch) from inside the trunk into the rear fog light cavity, left side, after removing the light of course, and attached a waxed line, to the trunk lock release.Voila, a great backup to opening the trunk

Finally got around to replacing the passenger air bag for the earlier option of a glovebox, not particularly difficult to do, just need to be mindful that you are dealing with a dangerous component. For the moment I have disconnected the main plug from my airbag ECU, as I haven't as yet determined the resistor value to plug into the redundant airbag wire.

JMSG said:

http://info.autometric.se/images/stories/FileLib/fiat_srs.pdf

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link JMSG. I have seen this and called my local Fiat dealership, to ask if they had this part. Simple answer was no, to buy it would cost £130 +vat, it's classed as a tool for checking the system. I was hoping that they might be able to either put a meter on them to give me a value or loan them to me.

If you don't want to be bothered that your airbag light is on, take out the speedo, and take out the bulb for the airbag light, 5minute job and costs nothing

itaa5x said:

If you don't want to be bothered that your airbag light is on, take out the speedo, and take out the bulb for the airbag light, 5minute job and costs nothing

Click to expand...

i'm not fan of that trick except for a urry pass in MOT ...
another way is , if you have the diagnostic tool to reset the error you can just try to put a 3ohm resistance ( that i'm almost shure) and see if it works , if not...you can allways reset the error from ECU conecting the airbag in the plug !
time and passience are the key , the value of the resistance is in the net for shure ...« google is your friend »

Any decent MOT tester will know exactly how to check airbag system integrity.

1) Ignition On - Air bag light will illuminate and then extinguish
2) Air bag light will remain off

Anything else is a fail!

On the Fiat Coupe (for example) if the main airbag light is not functioning due to a failed bulb the passenger airbag disabled light flashes rapidly and continuously.

These Italians aren't daft you know

And to be a sour puss physical removal of an air bag could result in one having to pick up the medical costs for any passenger in the event of a crash. You can be pretty sure the insurance company will wash their hands unless you have prior approval to remove any air bag or seat belt pre-tensioner. Even if no air bags would have been deployed your insurance could still be invalid should they so wish.

s130 said:

Any decent MOT tester will know exactly how to check airbag system integrity.

1) Ignition On - Air bag light will illuminate and then extinguish
2) Air bag light will remain off

Anything else is a fail!

On the Fiat Coupe (for example) if the main airbag light is not functioning due to a failed bulb the passenger airbag disabled light flashes rapidly and continuously.

These Italians aren't daft you know

And to be a sour puss physical removal of an air bag could result in one having to pick up the medical costs for any passenger in the event of a crash. You can be pretty sure the insurance company will wash their hands unless you have prior approval to remove any air bag or seat belt pre-tensioner. Even if no air bags would have been deployed your insurance could still be invalid should they so wish.

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Agree !
But you would be surprised for the major lack of "decent" mot inspectors at least here , not talking about the other ones ... corrupt ones
About insurance i also agree , but there are models of the same car without passenger airbag

Changing the subject a little but still to do with airbags. There is a sticker stating the date when the airbag should be replaced ( I only have a drivers airbag) and that date passed ages ago. My airbag has not been replaced. In the event of an accident and the airbag not working would that cause problems with an insurance company? Because the airbag has past it's "best before" date could it detonate unexpectedly?

Richpea said:

Changing the subject a little but still to do with airbags. There is a sticker stating the date when the airbag should be replaced ( I only have a drivers airbag) and that date passed ages ago. My airbag has not been replaced. In the event of an accident and the airbag not working would that cause problems with an insurance company? Because the airbag has past it's "best before" date could it detonate unexpectedly?

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good question,
I've NEVER seen anything about the actual service life..

remember seeing the sticker in my new '99 marea - with a 10 year life ticket.

out of date still passes UK MOT's.

Interesting one this for a number of reasons.

o I've only really seen air bag date stickers on old vehicles.
o However on later ones I've only seen "clock spring" replace dates.
o On my 500X (2015) I have no labels at all
o Replacement dates have never been mentioned in any handbooks
o Most of Joe public never ever look at labels inside door jambs
o I've never seen check airbag and clock spring dates on *any* official Fiat service schedule list
o 10 years is/was a typical "life" period. Most vehicles will be in the small independent shops by then
o Knowing Fiat the airbags will no longer be available anyway

One of the reasons I removed was because the passenger side airbag cannot be deactivated, should I need to for example carrying a child in a safety seat. Later models had this facility, mine does not.
Regards Dave M

Quick update,
After a lot of looking on the internet, and generally asking around, Brianpoole sent me a link advising a 3.2 ohms resistor would be the one to use.
Finally got around to fitting yesterday, just soldered onto the existing connection, insulated with shrink wrap. And the best part no red warning light.
Before doing all this the battery is disconnected as is the usual thing to do when playing with the wiring, particularly if its the airbag system.