I was browsing the forums yesterday and found a post saying that fiat's new solution to the beep beep beep airbag failure is to solder the wires together. Is this true?

I am getting tired of having to clean the connectors every few months and am considering doing this to mine.

What precautions would I need to take to carry this out?

Dave

Done it on wifeys and I shut the bugger up for good! Downside is that FIAT probably wont touch it if she gets another Airbag problem....

hmmmmmm I personally wouldnt attempt it. Is it worth the trouble if it goes wrong? Cleaning the connectors is only 5 mins and costs almost nothing, whereas if you start soldering parts it may fix it, but you also have a lot to loose all the same.

It may shut the noise up but will the airbags still work?

Just disconnect the battery before starting work. Airbags are actually quite difficult to set off.
I opened the connectors and slid the pins out, slid some heatshrink tubing over the wire, pluged the connector pin into the socket outside of the yellow plastic body, soldered it in, slid heatshrink over the joint and heated it down tight.

Most Easterly Panda's said:

It may shut the noise up but will the airbags still work?

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Why wouldnt they? They are now properly connected, they wernt before, hence the beep beep beep shi*e, so probably better and safer now TBH!

adamcot said:

hmmmmmm I personally wouldnt attempt it. Is it worth the trouble if it goes wrong? Cleaning the connectors is only 5 mins and costs almost nothing, whereas if you start soldering parts it may fix it, but you also have a lot to loose all the same.

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What "trouble"? Dont u think something will wear or break with constant cleaning etc? FIAT should have designed it right in the 1st place!

If push comes to shove I will fit some better connectors there are plenty options about!

Fiat recall Stilo's to reduce liability in the event of a spring breaking and causing injury or death.

They don't mind if you smash your face/chest in because the airbags dont work? go figure.

bozzy said:

Fiat recall Stilo's to reduce liability in the event of a spring breaking and causing injury or death.

They don't mind if you smash your face/chest in because the airbags dont work? go figure.

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I already figured... thats why I did it myself...

Ffoxy said:

Why wouldnt they? They are now properly connected, they wernt before, hence the beep beep beep shi*e, so probably better and safer now TBH!

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O, fair enough, lol.

Get the new conector done is the best way..d.e.t job only so they know what their doing when they are fitted..cleaning contacts is only a short term solution..

PNL said:

Get the new conector done is the best way..d.e.t job only so they know what their doing when they are fitted..cleaning contacts is only a short term solution..

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I havn't heard a peep out of mine for 4 months now, probably going to beep at me when I go out in a minute.....

get em soldered. Dead easy to do. Fixed once and for all. Who cares if FIAT wont touch em any more. Most independants will be happy for the business. And no more Beep BEep Beep! Had em done on all three of our stilo's in the family that had persistant Airbag Failure warnings. Since being soldered ( now over 4 months ago) never heard a peep out of em.

adamcot said:

I havn't heard a peep out of mine for 4 months now, probably going to beep at me when I go out in a minute.....

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But should anything go wrong in the future fiat dealerships will refuse to do any work on it because you have soldered them..T14 has stated this many times in the past on similar threads..

PNL said:

But should anything go wrong in the future fiat dealerships will refuse to do any work on it because you have soldered them..T14 has stated this many times in the past on similar threads..

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I agree, thats why I wont do it..... dont want to cause major problems for the sake of 5 mins every 5/6 months

what major problems could you cause by soldering some wires? just dont lick em

Youve obviously never seen me and a soldering iron But if the car does need work by Fiat, on the airbag area? Or if you need to take the OCS out of the passenger seat? That would mean you would have to undo all the connections - which if we are honest - would have to be substantial to take the strain of the front seats moving all the time. I just dont see the point for 5 mins every 6 months or so

Had the usual problem on mine...quick trip down to the motor shop, £2 on some bullet connectors then snip snip on the wires and puts the bullets in their place..job done.
Has done it once since but that has turned out to be the switch for turning the passenger side bag off!!!

rip em out, bucket seats ftw

Junglesc said:

rip em out, bucket seats ftw

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Not that easy to do tho is it ..:bang: you need to catch up on some of the posts on this subject..there hasnt been anyone yet who has done this successfully that I have seen on fiatforum..