Technical Panda Airbag light & Fuel Cut off unavailable

[FiatMatt94]

Hi all

Recently I had a red Airbag light & orange triangle light with an exclamation mark come up on the dash with Airbag Failure & Fuel Cut off unavailable on start up, anyway a very kind fellow forum member Steveras57 offered to plug his MultiECUscan into my Panda for me after I saw him on the forum on the MES register & contacted him, so I went to his home this afternoon & the MultiECUscan was plugged into little Luigi & the following fault codes came up on MES

UO331-81 - Body computer communication

Then into the Airbag ECU

BO11895 - incorrect configuration
BO114-1B - curtain airbag resistance above threshold
BO106-1B - driver pretensioner above threshold
BO107-1B - passenger pretensioner above threshold
BO124-1B & BO123-1B - passenger & driver abdominal above threshold
BO115-1B - curtain airbag squib above threshold
BO111-2F - side impact sensor signal erratic
B1053-87 - inertia switch command engine control node.

The instrument cluster was checked whilst MES was connected & that all came back good & also checked to see if it needed to be proxi aligned whilst MES was connected but that didn't need doing either as that too came back all good

In late spring/early summer 2023 the car had a new earth strap fitted from the gearbox to body as the original one was badly corroded & had a new earth strap fitted to the battery a few days ago, the battery was replaced in September 2021 with a Varta battery

I suspected from the beginning the airbag module to be the culprit as I'd read about it on here, as did Steve when he had the MES connected but before I send off the module to be reset does anyone here have any experience with any off these codes & did they manage to solve it, any input would be greatly appreciated as the car is up for MOT at the end of March & I know it won't pass with lights on the dash, the MOT history has been clean all the way through so far with not a single advisory & I'd rather keep it that way for as long as I can

 

[tomdee]

Had the same issue, the problem was solved with the airbag ECU, I don't recall what they did but it was a cheap intervention, less than 100€

 

[FiatMatt94]

I saw a video on YouTube with a 500 airbag module which also had the same fault codes & was sorted by being reset, will take it out of the car at the weekend & send it off first thing Monday morning as I have found what seem to be a well known company who reset Panda modules for £60

 

[FiatMatt94]

The module is now removed from the car after leaving the battery disconnected for a few hours, it wasn't difficult it was more fiddly due to lack of access & my big hands & arms , it's all booked in to be reset so will be sending it off first thing Monday morning & hopefully it comes back fully sorted then car will be going for it's MOT before anything else comes up

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Is your car 10 years old? The airbags themselves — in any make/model of car — are supposed to be changed (ie removed and replaced by new) at 10 years old (who does this?)… I wonder if thecECU is programmed to show an error when that date is reached?

 

[FiatMatt94]

Is your car 10 years old? The airbags themselves — in any make/model of car — are supposed to be changed (ie removed and replaced by new) at 10 years old (who does this?)… I wonder if thecECU is programmed to show an error when that date is reached?

No the car is only 6 years old, I've never known anyone to change them at 10 years old. My dad's Punto is 10 years old next January so it'll be interesting to see if it does show an error

 

[A3jeroen]

Is your car 10 years old? The airbags themselves — in any make/model of car — are supposed to be changed (ie removed and replaced by new) at 10 years old (who does this?)… I wonder if thecECU is programmed to show an error when that date is reached?

Off course not. My Abarth is almost 13 years old and doesn't have an airbag issue.
Actually; one of the first cars with a driversairbag (W116 Mercedes S class) was tested after 10 years by Auto Motor und Sport and the airbag worked flawless. But the urban myth seems to be very persistent.

In Holland there are 2 types of expiring dates for food. "Tenminste houdbaar tot" or good at least till xx xx xx. Products with this code can still be used without problems after this date, but things like taste MIGHT be less than when new.
The other "Niet te gebruiken na" or not to be used after xx xx xx are dangerous after this date.

Airbags are in the first category I think.

gr J

 

[The Panda Nut]

No the car is only 6 years old, I've never known anyone to change them at 10 years old. My dad's Punto is 10 years old next January so it'll be interesting to see if it does show an error

We have had many cars that have clocked over 10 years including Daffo (169) I have never had any ECU issues. Ive suggested changing airbags to dealers before and they just looked at me as if I were mad. I have heard this before and thought it correct but wonder if its true or just a long tale.

 

[jrkitching]

Mine has a factory fitted sticker in the glove compartment showing the recommended life limit; on mine, it's 15 years from the date of manufacture.

I've never heard of anyone actually changing the components; it'd cost way more than the value of the car at that point.

In the real world, on a car of that age, bodyshell corrosion is likely to affect collision performance more than airbag deterioration.

From time to time, folks have commissioned crash tests on older cars; some of the results are quite frightening to watch, especially on accident repaired vehicles.

But I don't recall seeing any where the airbags failed to deploy.

 

[FiatMatt94]

I had a phone call from the company today who are sorting the module out, It turns out it is a fault within the module itself so they asked my permission to go through with repairing the issue so it's not just a reset but thankfully it can be repaired which needs to be done before it can be reset or something like that I didn't quite get every word so will ask for a report or similar to see what has been done when I go to pay for it, so what was a £70 reset is now going to be £216 all in, as long as it works & no lights are on the dash when I plug it back in the car I'll be happy & then it's going for MOT before something else decides to pop up

 

[FiatMatt94]

Module is now all refitted & working as it should be, £227 later it could have been a lot worse though so he's now all fit & healthy & back to as he was before, if anyone ever needs their airbag module or any ECU resetting I used a company called Autotronics in Leicester who were really good, a link to their site is here https://www.autotronics.co.uk/ a standard reset is just under £90 with collection from your house & delivery back, mine was only £227 as it had to have an additional repair, they keep you up to date all the way through the process & they asked for my permission before going through with the added repair which is rare nowadays, it was a 4 day turnaround all in with the added repair, I'm yet to find out what was done to it but for now it's all working so I'm happy