Technical Ducato airbag ECU

[Bigbear52]

Hi all
I apolgise in advance if this question has been covered before, I did search but didn't find an answer
Does anyone know why an airbag ecu fails?
Ive heard over and under voltage is the problem but ths seems just a general awswer to me.
Mine has failed three time so far, I had it repaired at Crash Data it lasted a month, I sent it to ECU testing who offer lifetime warranty it failed first trip out its now gone back to them for testing.
It would appear to me these so called repairs are just rewriting the program to clear the faults.
Obviously I need to know whats causing it to fail so I can stop it happening again.
I do have a 100w solar panel connected to the vehicle battery and the battery was changed in spain last year and the ecu failed about six mounths later.
Could there be a connection with the fact its a Spannish battery and it has a solar panel cause the failure? apart from the battery change its been like that for five years with no problem.
Any advice greatly recieved
Thanks

 

[bugsymike]

I suppose if solar panel gave a high voltage spike, any way of measuring the voltage of solar panel when at max power? Only a guess, did repairer give any ides of the cause of ECU failure?

 

[theoneandonly]

Here is a thread on the subject with failure graphs (i do like a graph)

Ducato - ECU/airbag warning light?

Hi all, hope someone could give me any advice please. We have a fiat ducato based chausson motorhome 2020 year with 7500 miles and the warranty ran out last week. This week an airbag warning light has illuminated on dashboard and an initial investigation through local garage suggests it's a ECU...

www.fiatforum.com

Since 21/22 there have been new designs with new part numbers that are much more reliable.
Multiple failure s are now much grater a %age than the graphs. At least one of the companies that do "repair work" do nothing other than turn off error flag. It is my belief that the only sensible repair is a new replacement. From Fiat it would also come with a 2 year warrenty but at a price, a sensible approach is new via coastal motorhomes and a proxi align.
I'm not sure I believe that low volts causes the ECU to fail. From my analysis of the failure trends i believe it is design related as the newer replacement are not as susseptable and the voltages stated as an issue are what should be expected in a vehicle environment, if they cant cope they should have been designed with better voltage regulation (this problem has been well known since 2012. From samples that have been dismantled we can see water damage (and poor earth contacts). whether this is just damage due to short circuits or a failure mechanism analogous to popcorning i don't know. (popcorning is a failure mechanism seen during manufacture of electronic circuits and is normally a thermal process.) Peugeot reccomend an additional earth. if you wait for the warning lights to go off before cranking, you reduce the risk this I believe is due to the ECU "waking up" properly allowing the ecu to deal with normal voltage variations. is My own 2017 has not bust a ECU and earlier in year changed the battery as on two occassions it failed to start (generaly permamently charged by Votronics duo mppt).
How do i protect my new investment :
1 additional earth.
2 water protection, its stored on the floor , if drenched dry out slowly before turning on ignition
3 i've always adopted the procedure recommended that is turn ignition on, let the display complete its check sequence and then start the engine. then put the seatbelt on. Maybe I have been lucky in not having a failure. may not be rigorous in order of putting on seatbelt.

 

[growlybear]

I'm sorry to be reading this. I've just sorted mine and it was a fuse which was missing/popped out. I really don't understand. Mine was fuse 50, but removing still cause errors which will need clearing (easy if you've got Mes code reader).

When they were assessed did they tell you the error codes?

 

[CamperVanChopin]

Hi, just gonna jump onto this as I've a failure on my replacement that I bought earlier in the year. The old one couldn't be reset and I bought the following recommended part - 01371008080 - and I did the prox-alignment myself as I couldn't get 3 different garages (including a main dealer) to sort it.

However yesterday I started it up which it mains was still plugged into the EHU and the red and yellow airbags lights came on, as well as the odometer flashing.

Has this happened anyone else?

Have I fried the ECU or can I just redo the proxi-alignment?

Thanks

 

[CamperVanChopin]

I'm sorry to be reading this. I've just sorted mine and it was a fuse which was missing/popped out. I really don't understand. Mine was fuse 50, but removing still cause errors which will need clearing (easy if you've got Mes code reader).

When they were assessed did they tell you the error codes?

Where is fuse 50 located?

 

[Dorset gent]

I have a similar fault, on my 2017 2.3 130HP. And reading this thread, I am interested in how to do a proxi- alignment? (what does it mean?)

 

[CamperVanChopin]

I have a similar fault, on my 2017 2.3 130HP. And reading this thread, I am interested in how to do a proxi- alignment? (what does it mean?)

New proxi alignment with Multiecuscan

To create a new proxi file (once you have changed things that need a proxi alignment). For example changing an airbag module. Prior to any proxi alignment it is advisable to create a backup first. See guide...

www.fiatforum.com

 

[growlybear]

Where is fuse 50 located?

My fusebox is a euro 5. Can you see the missing fuse? Top row, second from the right hand side. That's F50 7.5A