I had the infamous seat occupancy fault about a year and a half ago, discovered the ridiculous price for replacement so bought an emulator off ebay. It worked great, and has done until last week when the dreaded bleeping started again. Without really thinking about it I went straight back to the same ebay seller and bought a new emulator. Fitted it and still the airbag warning beeps.

Has anyone experienced these emulators just stopping fooling the car so no emulator is gonna work? Or do you think I've just got unlucky and been sent a duffer (seller is offering to replace). Have cleaned the OCS connector and all the usual orange airbag connectors all round the car.

And if worst comes to the worst, anyone able to give me a current price on an actual sensor mat?

How do you know it's the OCS causing the problem again? There's numerous other airbags, seat belt pretensioners, connectors and wiring that could be causing the fault.

It would be best to get the fault codes read before wasting money diagnosing by substitution.
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Davren said:

How do you know it's the OCS causing the problem again?

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Well I thought it was fairly likely (though not certain, I agree) given I know the OCS is faulty to start with

Davren said:

It would be best to get the fault codes read before wasting money diagnosing by substitution.

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Which will involve putting it into the garage, so my question regarding a current OCS price still stands as I highly doubt they will be happy to fix one fault in the system and leave the OCS faulty (or leave an emulator in place in the airbag circuit), so would like to be prepared for the price shock in advance.

Many people on the forum have the equipment to read Fiat fault codes. If you add your location to your profile, you may get an offer of help.

Latest parts catalogue I have is November 2012. Price in that for the OCS is £334.88 for cloth seats or £394.18 for leather seats.
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Its gone up... used to be £280 for leather OCS!

Davren said:

Many people on the forum have the equipment to read Fiat fault codes. If you add your location to your profile, you may get an offer of help.

Latest parts catalogue I have is November 2012. Price in that for the OCS is £334.88 for cloth seats or £394.18 for leather seats.
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Thanks. Was kinda hoping for sub £300 but should have known better Nearly as much as the car's worth by the time labour and VAT get chucked on top lol. Knew I shoulda flogged it while the emulator was working

JDPower said:

Thanks. Was kinda hoping for sub £300 but should have known better Nearly as much as the car's worth by the time labour and VAT get chucked on top lol. Knew I shoulda flogged it while the emulator was working

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So have you actually got the code now to confirm its the emulator or are we still working on an assumption

Most Easterly Pandas said:

So have you actually got the code now to confirm its the emulator or are we still working on an assumption

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Funnily enough I've not had the code read between last night and this morning . So yes still an assumption. But the way I look at it, if the emulators stop working after a short time I'll have to get the seat sensor replaced at some point (even if it's just to flog the car). If the emulator isn't faulty and there's an additional fault, then the garage will insist on fixing the known fault, the seat sensor, along with any additional fault rather than fixing one fault in the airbag system in isolation and knowingly leaving one present.

So short of paying to get the fault codes read, I can either get a replacement emulator and rule that in or out, or bite the bullet and get the seat sensor (and any potential additional fault) fixed.

JDPower said:

Funnily enough I've not had the code read between last night and this morning . So yes still an assumption. But the way I look at it, if the emulators stop working after a short time I'll have to get the seat sensor replaced at some point (even if it's just to flog the car). If the emulator isn't faulty and there's an additional fault, then the garage will insist on fixing the known fault, the seat sensor, along with any additional fault rather than fixing one fault in the airbag system in isolation and knowingly leaving one present.

So short of paying to get the fault codes read, I can either get a replacement emulator and rule that in or out, or bite the bullet and get the seat sensor (and any potential additional fault) fixed.

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Can't say I'm following your logic.

Unless its been a massive coinsodense then there will only be one fault. If the emulator has failed (which I doubt as its basically a set of resistors in a box) then you'll need to replace that. If its not and it's something else then what ever the something else is gets fixed and the emulator doesn't get touched.

I'm not sure why your thinking you'll have to replace the OCS

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Can't say I'm following your logic.

Unless its been a massive coinsodense then there will only be one fault. If the emulator has failed (which I doubt as its basically a set of resistors in a box) then you'll need to replace that. If its not and it's something else then what ever the something else is gets fixed and the emulator doesn't get touched.

I'm not sure why your thinking you'll have to replace the OCS

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I never claimed my logic made sense lol (incidentally there are more than resistors in the emulator, I opened up the first one I had out of curiosity). Like I said, I have replaced the emulator already. What has me thinking the emulator will be an issue when putting it into the garage is assuming they will notice it (eg cleaning connectors or looking for loose connections if that is a potential cause of any fault code that is thrown up) and maybe refuse to touch any other area of the airbag system with a dodgy emulator box in there (plus fears that the OCS is still responsible).

I guess the only sensible approach is to book it in and find out one way or the other, and hope they don't notice/care about the emulator if it's not the OCS causing the fault.

I do appreciate you guys trying to make sense of my illogical logic though

EDIT: The ebay seller just got back to me and says in his ten years selling emulators he has had "less than 1%" come back as faulty. So all pointing towards a separate fault I guess.

Interesting about the emulator inners.

Garage shouldn't be interfering with the emulator if it's not causing the fault tbh.
Using one isn't illegal.

Will be interesting to find out what the fault is now lol.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Interesting about the emulator inners.

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From memory there were a 5-8 resistors, a diode or two and an IC.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Garage shouldn't be interfering with the emulator if it's not causing the fault tbh.

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Couldn't they turn their nose up at touching the airbag system with an unofficial mod applied to it? (I genuinely don't know what the garage view of these things is)

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Will be interesting to find out what the fault is now lol.

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Tell me about it lol. Hoping they'll fit me in friday or monday as I'm going into hospital wednesday so the wait to find out will be even longer if they can't

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Will be interesting to find out what the fault is now lol.

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Well an overdue update (been in hospital), it actually wasn't the sensor after all. There was a bad connection somewhere in one of the wires under the seat. Am 95 quid worse off but better than 400-500 quid of seat sensor and well worth the blessed relief from that ruddy bleeping every two mins (have no idea how I put up with it for so long before discovering the emulators last year).

And my fear that the garage would take issue with the emulator - I'd forgot I'd left all the cables and emulator etc loose under the seat, well after finding and fixing the fault, they went and strapped/clipped it all back onto the plastic plate, cable tied it up, emulator and all and not a word said

PS: Anyone wanna buy a Stilo, before I get another OCS scare

JDPower said:

PS: Anyone wanna buy a Stilo, before I get another OCS scare

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Seems I spoke too soon. In the interest of anyone who searches the forum with similar persistent airbag warnings - barely a week after the garage fixing(?) the bad connection under the seat, the beeping started again. So back to the garage, hooked up and fault code read, allegedly a different fault (IIRC the fault code showed high resistance, ignition circuit passenger side air bag)

Couple of hours later a phonecall - "can we keep it in overnight, we need to strip the door surrounding to trace the wiring".

Next morning, another phone call - "The wiring goes up into the roof lining, can we go ahead and strip that back!"

Long story short, there was a connection in the roof lining(!) that was damp, so they cleaned and taped it up and fingers crossed, and so far, it is finally FIXED. Either way, only needs to stay that way for another month - MOT next month, then I think it's time to cut my losses and get rid.

Oh I give up. Had a passenger in the car today for the first time since the last repair, and whilst it's still not beeping, it seems they've f***ed up putting the door pillar trim back together as the seatbelt is jammed and won't pull back in!

JDPower said:

So back to the garage, hooked up and fault code read, allegedly a different fault (IIRC the fault code showed high resistance, ignition circuit passenger side air bag)

Couple of hours later a phonecall - "can we keep it in overnight, we need to strip the door surrounding to trace the wiring".

Next morning, another phone call - "The wiring goes up into the roof lining, can we go ahead and strip that back!"

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Think you need a new garage.

The side airbag is inside the seat backrest. The wiring for it goes through the orange connector under the seat. The wiring does not go up into the roof.

The airbags above the headlining are window (curtain) airbags. The wiring for those goes into the roof at the rear of the car by the "C" or "D" pillar.
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Davren said:

The airbags above the headlining are window (curtain) airbags. The wiring for those goes into the roof at the rear of the car by the "C" or "D" pillar.
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That's where they said they traced it - up the b pillar into the roof lining (is it perhaps different between 2 and 4 door models? Mine's a 4 door). I have no reason to disbelieve them as they're a well established and respected garage I've used for years without issue. Admittedly the hassle this fault has caused is making me re-assess whether their quality standards have dropped if they can't even put a door pillar facia back together properly

JDPower said:

That's where they said they traced it - up the b pillar into the roof lining (is it perhaps different between 2 and 4 door models? Mine's a 4 door). I have no reason to disbelieve them as they're a well established and respected garage I've used for years without issue. Admittedly the hassle this fault has caused is making me re-assess whether their quality standards have dropped if they can't even put a door pillar facia back together properly

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Davren is correct, no airbag wires running up the B pillar, all go up the roar C/D pillar for curtain airbags, regardless of the number of doors. I'd be very surprised if this isn't the same for all cars seeings as curtain bags normally run a fair length of the car.

JDPower said:

That's where they said they traced it - up the b pillar into the roof lining (is it perhaps different between 2 and 4 door models? Mine's a 4 door). I have no reason to disbelieve them as they're a well established and respected garage I've used for years without issue. Admittedly the hassle this fault has caused is making me re-assess whether their quality standards have dropped if they can't even put a door pillar facia back together properly

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The only airbag related components and wiring behind the "B" pillar plastic trim are the pyrotechnic device for the seat belt pretensioners (Q20 + Q21) and the side impact sensors (K66 + K67).

The Window (curtain) airbag wiring connectors (Q40 + Q41) are inside the rear most pillar for all models (3 door, 5 door and MW)

The side airbag connectors that your garage say the problem was with, are Q30 + Q31 on the diagram. under the front seats.

Not all Stilos have all 8 airbags.
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Well had a look today and fixed the seatbelt myself (although managed to crack the plastic cover in the process thanks to being about as gentle as an elephant lol). The sliding seatbelt height adjuster hadn't been clipped over the actual adjustment catch and nut, and was fouling the seatbelt enough to stop it retracting.

And appreciate the tech comments re wiring locations. Whilst I don't believe I was being lied to (they clearly did strip back the door pillar, albeit unnecessarily, and SO FAR the fix they claimed to have done in the roof wiring has worked), their failure to fix the fault correctly in the first place, and subsequent inability to reassemble the door pillar correctly, has got me looking elsewhere for a garage now sadly