Technical Seat Belts and Airbags. Help and Advice.

[northwest]

Morning,

Would love some help regarding my front nearside seat belt. Car is a 2007 Bravo 1.4

Had to remove the front passenger seat belt for webbing repair. In doing so two electrical connections were broken. One to the seat belt pretensioner and the other to a little box on the piller just above where the seat belt is bolted in place. I have no idea what the little box is, or if any wires lead from it to anywhere else. To be honest, the connection to the little box did not need to be broken, but it was.

Of course, removing the seatbelt and breaking connections has resulted in the airbag warning light to come on and stay on. The orginal seat belt was replaced, and the connections re-established. How ever, the airbag warning light and scrolling message across the dash display screen still come on and stay on.

Is there a quick fix ? can this be fixed by resetting the error code with software (either at the dealership, or by someone with the software).
Is there something else I should be looking for?? eg. might an unseen wire have been damaged or what-not.

I need to get this car through an MOT before winter sets in.
Any help is very welcome.

 

[neilshep]

from eLearn, the pdf tells you how the job should be done. Hope this helps.

 

[northwest]

Wow, thanks for that. Thats how the job should have been done.

Unfortunaltely, a second wire was disconnected. That wire goes to a little grey box. I just checked the part number and its the airbag sensor.

Even after reconnecting, the airbag failiure warning shows on dash. So now I know what has caused the fault, is this something that software can reset? either by a garage or by some one with cable and software.

Thanks again, very helpfull.

 

[s130]

The airbag ECU needs to have the fault codes reset.

ALWAYS AALWAYS disconnect the car battery when messing with any electrical connectors, especially the airbag & seat pre-tensioner connectors.

The good news is that anybody near you with MultiECUScan software should be able to reset it for you. (If you live near me - Southampton I'll let you do it yourself.) Failing that any Fiat/Alfa dealer or good local independent garage should be able to do it, however you are more than likely get billed for this.

Although is takes only about 5 to 10 minutes (get kit out, remove access panel, plug in, read & reset codes and put all back together again) you may/will find that garages will want to charge 30mins to 60mins labour. Their justification for this is that they are legally/morally obliged to check the whole system out. Seatbelts, connectors/wiring etc. so they can be sure they are returning a "safe" car to you. Just resetting a code based on a customer's word would/could be deemed negligence on their part were and accident to happen and the systems did not deploy etc. etc.

 

[northwest]

Thanks so much s130. That sounds perfect.

Thanks for all the help.