(T) Punto 'Blinking' Air Bag Light

Hi

Can anyone help with an airbag light fault on a 2002 1.2 8V ?

When first pressing the brake pedal, the airbag light illuminates briefly. Not every time, and only when moving. I thought that perhaps it was a bad earth and took it to an auto-electrician, he has checked various things but without any luck.

He noticed that in the fuse box under the bonnet the ABS fuse was missing, and when checking the fuses next to the steering wheel an ABS fuse was there, so he pulled it. This has resulted in the airbag light remaining on.

Surely the ABS and airbag light circuits should be seperate?

The only other strange thing is that one time when driving, two days after re-installing the original radio from an aftermarket one, the engine managment light started flashing and turning the radio off stopped it. This is what convinced me it was an earth fault.

Any ideas where I can start checking?

I would suggest the ABS fuse is missing due to the MK2 1.2 8v not having ABS?

My suggestion would be to take it to somebody who actually knows what they are talking about.

Yes I could do this, but I know that there's a chance that my local garage's scanner would read the fault, and Fiat want over £60 just to scan the car!

I thought maybe some-one else has had the same problem before. I've seen the same question asked, but never seen an answer!

The reason for that is when it comes to parts of the car such as the airbag, wheels, steering (the real important things) or the ecu, wiring etc...(the complicated electrical stuff) people would rather get it seen to properly by a garage.

If your airbag light is on and its not sorted properly its not going to pretty if you should have a crash. Atleast if it is sorted by fiat or another well reputed garage then you can put your mind at ease. Thats how most the people on here see it. Going to Fiat might be the expensive choice but when its a matter of life and death............its worth it IMHO

You will need to go to the dealership to have the light removed. They do this with a diagnostics machine. Don't do what some people suggest and remove the bulb and ignore it, it's part of safety.

Now had the car scanned, and had the light turned off. No faults logged on the airbag circuit other than a power supply from presumbly when the fuse was pulled.

Taken the car for a test drive, and the problem remains, airbag light blinks when first touching the brakes.

Without knowing where to start, the garage will work through various points methodically but of course could spend hours before finding. If I am able to find some-one who has had a similar problem and get an idea of how they fixed it, then I would have a start.

I have read that the connections to the SRS unit can become corroded but I believe this normally results in the airbag light being on continuously? Also, mine is not fitted with a passenger airbag, but I've read about an earth of the nearside A pillar giving problems, any ideas if this could be a possibility?

Just to let you know I also have this issue. Various lights blink intermittently on the dash, including the airbag, occassionally the steering and even the immobiliser key. It doesn't happen for a prolonged enough time to cause me any concern, but I often notice it flickering when I hit bumps and rail tracks. Since its not on constantly for you I cant understand why people would recommend you to have it 'reset' via a diagnostics, but i'm surprised that the dealership weren't able to locate the fault for you. My advice would be to check the circuit diagrams in the back of the Haynes manual.

Just a thought, I've recently invested in a lovely Citroen Xsara due to my Punto passing away last week. Anyway, i knocked £100 off of the asking price due to the airbag light being on as this is what the local garage had quoted them to fix the problem. However, being tight, i decided to investage myself, and underneath both the driver and passenger seat on the Xsara, there are about 4 different connectors for airbags etc. All that had happened is due to the seat being moved backwards and forwards, one of the connectors was not joined properly and was simply a case of going round each one and unplugging it and plugging it back in Problem solved. It's a possible thing to try on your Punto if there are any connectors like this, especially seeing as though its a free option too

Hope that was of some help for you

check the conenctors under the seat for the security as said above...

We have exactly the same issue with the airbag light 'blinking'. We had it checked by FIAT and had the fault codes read and nothing was found, they did however re-wire the passenger airbag which they said could have been the problem...but it still does it. The same thing happens with the yellow 'bulb' shaped warning light which tells you there's a fault with the brake lights when you touch the brakes...that 'blinks' every so often. Again no fault code was recorded and both brake lights work fine.

We've given up trying to find a solution and just ignore them both, they never actually stay on...and tbh we've not seen either for a few months.....infact they tend to be linked to the cold/damp conditions from our experience....they appear in the winter but not in the summer. (we had one cold/wet night a few weeks back and they both came on which made us think this)

Im presuming its a wiring fault or design fault as ive seen quite a few topics on here with the same issues (especially the brake light warning light blinking)

Id love to know what it is but im not prepared to take it in again to tell me there's nothing wrong.

BTW we have the same car as you 2002 8v 1.2

Is it worth changing the Brake light bulbs? It could be a dodgy bulb/connection especially as it only comes on when braking?

Its actually quite a common fault however due to the safety aspect i'd recommend taking it to a good dealership.

Just taken the car back from my usual garage, and they believe its the body control unit. Problem is, to buy this from fiat is circa £300 as it needs to be programmed to the car plus fitting. Does this seem correct as they are not 10% sure it will cure it? They also feel it could be the slip ring in the steering wheel, but again not 100%.

I had a quote to change this, the clocks, ecu and keys with 2nd hand parts (all from the say car so that they match) but again won't promise it will cure it.

If anyone knows where the problem is and can advise when I need to have changed, I am happy to put it into a garage to be fixed (I certainly won't play with airbags myself), but do object to spending hundreds and maybe the problem still exists.