I an in need of help and advice, I have a Swift MH based on a Ducato 2.8JTD which I LOVE BUT, the airbag warning light has come on. So I dutifully took it to the nearest dealer (Agen, France 1 1/2 hours away) who charged me 70€ and told me there is a "fault in the passenger seat belt pretensioner" and no spare parts are available as it is more than 10 years old.......

I have just spoken to a VERY helpful Fiat dealer in Exeter, who said that means that Fiat warranted parts are no longer available but others will be;

1. can anyone help me locate such a spare part?

It appears that the pretensioner is part of the seat belt reel in the wall box, presumably that means an entire belt assembly? There are no wires to the seat belt mounted buckle end..... so there cannot be a pretensioner fitted there......(in spite of the e-Bay pictures!).

2. How can I reset the warning to ensure that it is NOT just a bad conection? The "cheap" e-Bay scanners will not touch air bags (so the vendors say), so have I got to spend mega money to clear code - I am loath to go back to Agen as I am not convinced they even TRIED to clear it (customer service is non-existent in France).

I have tried Fiat UK but the "chat line" - available 24/7 no longer works and the phone number "has not been allocated" so presumably that is all closed down now.....

So can anyone help me please? Please be gentle though 'cos I'm not a mechanic but just a (re)tired teacher.....

Simple thing to test the the wiring is disconnect the battery, for safety allow 15 mins for the airbag unit capacitors to discharge the disconnect the recoil and connect a 2.2 ohm resistor in its place - you can buy fused ones on eBay if you don't have one. Reconnect the battery and cycle the power a few times to see of the error it's still there.

Thanks for that, I went back to Age n today as they told me that they had not tried to reset and clear it, "5 minute job", 2 hours later they admitted that their computer.scanner would not connect with he MH.......

in other words last week's mecahnic was being less than 100% honest......

eventually they managed to connect and tried to clear it to no avail.....
THEN they discovered that it is the DRIVER'S side not the passneger as they had "overlooked" that it is RHD (really encouraes confidence now....)

They have now discovered that they CAN get the genuine part from Fiat (nt available last week from same mechanic......) and it is ordered to be fitted next week but not cheap........

Sadly, last week's mechanic who is clearly in need of remedial training in analysis, clearing faults and basic honesty to customers, is also the boss and he is away on holiday now...... which may be a good thing.....

Hopefully next week they will sort it, by them fitting it they are responsible for the code - they have diagnosed the fault and they are suggesting how to fix it......

I will wait and see, but will keep the 2.2 ohm resistor in mind, thanks......

I would be plugging swapping the belts over temporarily to rule out the wiring before ordering an expensive new part. Wiring is much more likely. Complete belt in scrap yard shouldn't be more than €30, just make sure it comes from a van that hasn't been sitting around with no doors / windows as UV damages the webbing.