Ki Ora from sunny NZ!

I've just bought a 2004 Stilo for the missus and, having never owned a FIAT before, you guys have the unique opportunity of converting me to a FIAT fan - so far everything I've seen about this little beast is positive, she's packed full of features and is surprisingly roomy for a small car, not to mention the 1.6L 16v engine that's been cleverly shoe-horned in under the bonnet.

Question (I see it's a common problem but none of the other threads seem to answer my problem) - where are all the airbags located on this puppy? I've got the usual "Airbag Warning - Stop Engine or I'll start crying" yada yada on the dash, and running a diagnostic at the garage gave me a 21 error code: DRIVER HEAD AIRBAG LOAD - my question is, where is this? Is it in the seat behind the drivers head or in the steering wheel where the drivers head would hit first on impact?

Many thanks in advance peoples....

Come on, convert me!

Also, with that diagnosis, is it likely to be a sensor/connection issue or is it the airbag itself that's stuffed?

PS - we cleared the error code but it came back straight away so it's not a hangover from a previous fix...

Churr! :slayer:

Hi, Welcome to the FF.

Diagrams of airbag locations for 3 and 5 door Stilos are below.

Some diagnostic equipment refers to head airbags as those it the outer sides of the seat backrests, however, it's more likely to be a problem with the orange airbag connector under the seat. The connector(s) are on a plastic tray that swivels out for easier access. Disconnecting and cleaning the connector with electrical contact cleaner (not WD40 oil based type products) usually cures it.

Some diagnostic equipment refers to head airbags as those in the roof of the car that drop down to form a curtain over the front and rear side windows. The connectors for those are located at the back of the car in the "C" or "D" pillar depending on whether it's a 3 or 5 door car.

To make the issue even more complicated, some diagnostic equipment fault descriptions that say "driver's side", refer to a LHD car, so you may need to check both sides assuming that yours is a RHD car.

Safety advice is to disconnect the battery and wait 20 minutes before disconnecting any airbag devices.
.

Hey Davren,

Thanks for your very informative reply!

Most of the posts I've read seem to indicate the ol' passenger side orange connector which is why I thought it strange that ours was the drivers side - probably is the RHD/LHD issue as we used a pretty generic tester i.e. not Fiat specific.

Having looked under both seats, I can confirm there are only 2 connectors under the passenger seat (one grey, one white, but no orange) and a single white one under the drivers seat. There is an orange one hiding in the little cubby hole in the top of the glove box - is this the same thing just in a different location?

Many thanks again for your help

On closer inspection it would appear that both under-seat orange connectors have been chopped out and hard-wired so this looks to be an ongoing problem :bang:

I'm going to spray the remaining orange connectors (glove box and the 2 in the boot) with contact cleaner as suggested elsewhere on the forum.

I might also order a diagnostic cable to run FiatEcuScan on my laptop for this and any future issues - anybody got any opinions on the accuracy of this tool and/or which cable I'd need?

Muchas gracias amigos

So, just a quick follow up to this problem:

I disconnected, inspected and re-connected all of the orange connectors mentioned above. Switched on the ignition, no change, error still there

HOWEVER...the next morning, when my missus drove it to work, the error had cleared, and hasn't come back since, despite moving the passenger seat etc! Prior to this we contacted the previous owner to see what she'd had done and she'd been through the rigmoral of changing airbags and ocs sensors so I'm very glad to have had your advice relating to those extra orange connectors - I'm fairly sure it was one/both of the boot connectors that were at fault. Nice cheap fix making me NZ's newest Fiat fan!

Problem Solved!

Thanks Davren! :worship: