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Hi everyone!

Well today when I was driving home the "air-bag faulty" alarm went off!

On my display it said "air-bag faulty" & the dash light now stays on!

Been in touch with my dealer & he said "pop it in when you can & we will check for you"

Have any of you on the forum had any problems with your air-bags?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Never had this yet. Not sure of the age of your car, but I know there was a recall on earlier models; I think because of water in the airbag ECU or something.

Let us know how the dealers resolves it.

Stuart

Hi,

I think that somebody else on this forum had this problem, but I am not sure when it was.

I actually bought Top Gear magazine today for the 1st time in ages and they have a Ulysse on long term trial. It has just reached twelve months and is due to be returned. They said is was full of electrical problems, but this only affected early cars. I think not, it affects all of them regardless of age it seems.

Poggy

Hi Paul,

I've had an intermittent problem with my airbags for nearly six months now. They've replaced the ECU and a seat belt pretensioner but still no luck. It's currently in awaiting a new wiring loom although they tell me there's a few other things they want to try.

Hopefully if your warning light is on constantly it will be easier to find the fault, mine only comes on preiodically.

Keep us posted on the outcome.

Keggers

Hi,

Keggers be very careful if they want to replace the wiring loom as this means stripping the car completely of pretty much all it's trim.

We had a brand new Punto for about 2 months with a fault and they wanted to replace the wiring loom after trying everything else. In the end I rejected the car as it would have never gone back together again without lot's of ratttles and panels not fitting correctly. Anyway I got a brand new replacement car after 3 months (I got a loan car in the meantime). I saw our old car in the garage and EVERYTHING had been pulled out including seats, the entire dashboard, carpets, gearstick, steering wheel etc. It was at the garage for about 9 months before they got it back together to sell again. Fiat UK paid the garage for the work and also a contribution to the depreciation on the original car.

Not tyring to scare you, but just let you know it might be better to reject it. I think you have a lot of grounds to as it is a real safety issue.

Poggy

Hi Stuart

My car is only 3 mths old! I only got it the last week of november but have had lots of problems have you & this forun knows

Paul

Just to let you all know on here, Went to see my dealer about the airbags, got told that as soon as the "airbags faulty" shows on the dispay the airbags are switched off so dont worry about them going off by error BUT if you do have a crash they wont work then anyway!

Now for the really weird thing they are going to ask pugeuot about this as on average it takes 3 weeks for fiat(uk) to answer any dealer requests!

If any of you out there know any fixes please let me know!

They did put the daig 2000 on & found an open connection in a seat belt pre tensioner. but that was nothing!

Thanks in hope some one knows something

Paul

Well apart from a niggly mechanical issue (which has yet to be worked on because I have to keep re-scheduling the work at the last minute because of my job - should be dealt with the end of next week), I've had none of the electrical issues experienced by other forum members. My car was delivered early in September 2003 (built after the cut-off date for all the recall notices).

I do agree however that Fiat UK do seem somewhat slow to respond, and when things go to Italy, the delays seem to get even longer.

John

Got a call today from my dealers about this problem

They have ordered a new seat belt clip & pre-tensioner for my car & even more it should be in stock on Tuesday!!!!!!!!

Keggers my problem is the same as yours only now & then it happends for about 2 or 3 days then nothing for a few days

If that does not work they said maybe a new chip for the computer

Paul

Paul don't want to be the bearer of bad news but that's the first thing they changed on my car and it didn't fix it. Hope this isn't the case with yours and it gets sorted.

Keggers

Well got my car back on Thursday & was told that the airbag problem has been fixed!

Well there was right for 3 days anyway, This morning I was driving along & the airbag warning light came on bright as ever & the message came on "Air bag Faulty" so it`s seems they were wrong again!

I know it only comes on & off but it still something that in my mind should not be happening!

How are you getting on with your car Keggers?

Paul, it's still in the garage, week 5! This time they have changed the ECU for the parking sensors, two more seat belt pre-tensioners - one front, one rear and, as of last Wed, were checking what they thought was a dodgy connector. I have now told them that I don't want the wiring loom replaced instead I want a replacement vehicle. I'll let you know what happens.

BTW on the Eurovan2 bulletin board someone reported that they had fixed this fault claiming that it was due to an issue with a resistor in the wiring loom connecting the front and rear seat pre-tensioners. This would tie up with the reporting of pre-tensioner faults. I've reported this to the dealer and asked them to check with Fiat but so far no joy, might be worth mentioning to your dealer.

Keggers

Hi Keggers,

I rejected a Fiat Punto about 2 years ago because the electric steering kept going wrong. When I played the safety card and asked for a declaration that the car was 100% safe to drive and they would take responsibility if it was not and was involved in an accident, I got a new car.

Andy

Keggers

Have they given you a car to use whilst yours is in the dealers? All my dealer ever gives me is a punto!

Paul

Get the dealer to tell you what the examiner is saying to them. On Airbag Systems it basically tells them which circuit or componet is faulty. E.G Drivers airbag O.C./ S.C To ground ect. Then all the have to do is check that circuit for errors, if none present repace the part, Due to being saftey related. If the dealer is replacing all sorts they clearly dont seem to know what they are doing, and i would not like them to work on it,as remember its an airbag system and its for you saftey...[?][?]

FiatExpert, I believe they are now grasping at straws and am very unhappy with this. I have already told Fiat UK that if it's not sorted in the next few days I want the car replaced, I certainly don't want the wiring loom replaced which is their next move.

Paul, they have hired a Renault Espace for me. I refused anything less stating that I bought a people carrier and expect one whilst mine is off the road. Fiat UK are paying for it, not the dealer.

regards,

Paul,

There's a difference between what you get as a courtesy car from a dealership for scheduled maintenance (mine gives me a sporty Punto - great fun for a few hours) and what the dealer arranges with Fiat UK when a car is off the road for warranty work for an extended period like with Keggers!

If the car is off the road for an extended period and replaced by a hire car, then the replacement should be as capable as the car that is off the road. I've not had to fight that battle with my Ulysse, but when my last Espace was off the road for an extended period, Renault UK got me another Espace as a hire car under that arguement.

I suspect Keggers got an Espace as they tend to be more available as hire cars than other 7-seat MPVs. It's typically a toss-up between a Galaxy and an Espace, and I know which I'd pick (and it's not the Galaxy!)! I've not seen an EV2 as a hire car!

John

Well today I went back to my dealer again about this problem, Again the "airbag faulty" light was on.

Dave the tech who is working on my cat took some readings from my car with the computer & I showed both Dave & lino (The service manager) this site on their pc!

They were both abit shocked with all the stuff on here & have faxed all this to FIAT UK we all now hope that the car will get sorted!

Also hi to Dave & lino if your reading this!

Paul

Hi Paul,

FIAT UK are well aware of this site - they actually phoned me many moons ago now, and the advisor there had reams and reams of paper printed out from this very forum - I think it stemmed back to the 'How do I Connect, etc' days. Looks like nothing has changed.

Stu

PS Hi Dave & lino!!!

Fingers crossed guys I'm due to pick up my car today apparently with the airbag problem fixed. Originally I was led to believe that a complete new wiring loom was to be fitted and this I was not happy with, however it turned out to be only a section of the loom on the passenger side and was not as big a job as thought. They've also replaced all the pre-tensioners on all three seats on the passenger side. Anyway the problem has not re-occurred for nearly a week now and since it appeared on nearly every journey this is a good sign.

I've also had lots of niggly faults fixed plus one sunblind replaced (the other is still on order)after both sliding doors mangled them. They've also told me that a lot of features were not enabled on the car when it had it's PDI, different dealer, in particular the tyre pressure sensors which I did not order! I suspect however that this feature can be enabled even if the sensors are not fitted to the wheels, I'll be checking that one out.

Even had the software upgraded and the A/V enabled.

I'll let you all know on Monday if it's still running!!!

Keggers