P reg 55 S 5SX, airbag warning light stays on.
Does this mean; bags will not work, bags may go off unexpectedly, or other? If cause is bad contact, any advice on where to look. Any info on bag technology? All donations welcome.

Hi Eldib
If the warning light is on the airbag will not go off.
The cause will most likely be a faulty clock spring which is just behind the steering wheel.

I started my car one day and it just came on.

Quick trip to the local Fiat lot (very good. (Goddards in Salisbury). and they sorted it. Mind you, its in warranty.

That was on a 53Reg MK2 Punto.

Hello David 75, thanks for the tip, but what clock spring are we talking about? I have been told that in all probability the bag ECU will need to be 'reset' using a FIAT computer. Still working on it - any further info gratefully received.
Hello James Bone, must be nice to have the reassurance of warranty. It did happen before with this vehicle while it was under warranty. Happy days. Good luck.

a guy has just put a post up in the general chat section, he went to an independent garage with ecu diag' equipment and they fixed the airbag light in 5 minuets for no money. its a place in hull don't know if thats near teeside.

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Hello,
I worked on airbag electronics for a while and my advice is to get to a FIAT equipped garage ASAP.
It is possible that something wont go off in the event of an impact.
This can be worse than having no airbags at all (e.g. on some cars the seat belt pretensioners go off before the frontal bags to 'position' you to take the frontal bags.

Often the problem is backed out wires or dirty connectors and is probably a cheap job. The ECU & the airbags themselves (the expensive bits) are usually pretty good, its the interconections that let the system down.
If you've run your battery flat or low recently that can sometimes mess with the ECU and a garage reset will sort it out.

And don't work on it yourself unless you REALLY know what you're doing because they can be set off if you knock the ECU or short the wiring out or something.

I'm sure a garage will check it out for you on diagnostics for free - that really is a quick job and the ECU will say exactly what is wrong and where - then the garage can price it up.

That's just my advice, perhaps a bit paranoid but but be safe and good luck.

Thanyou Goldfish, it was a only bad contact on the 'clock spring' and a reset sorted it. I understand the clock spring is a misnomer for the indicator return mechanism on the steering wheel which the air bag monitoring circuit utilises.
Thanks to all who responded.