Technical Red airbag warning light

[mb1357]

My wife's Panda has developed a red warning light for the disabled passenger air bag. My local garage cannot sort even though they have up to date scanning equipment and has it booked into an auto electrician in the new year.
It first happened after she picked me up and I got into the driver's seat, she started the car and drove off and the audible warning came on after a few seconds
One issue of note is that the bulkhead drains were previously blocked resulting in water entering the footwell. The garage wondered if the airbag ECU got wet as well?? They did also get a fault code relating to a accelerometric sensor possibly within the ECU??
What would you guys do??
I thought I would remove the airbag ECU and have a look and if necessary dry it and spray with contact cleaner.
Thanks in advance ; apologies total novice!!

 

[the green vanper]

Hello,

The airbag module is very sensitive to voltage fluctuations. So it is possible that it got damaged while shorted by the water coming into the cab.

Seems a good idea to check its terminals. but before you touch them disconnect the battery and try discharging all the residual voltage from the wiring system and connected modules (for example by pushing different button on the dash several times). Check in the owners' manual if there isn't a special procedure for disconnecting the battery (there is one in the Ducato!), I'm wondering if disconnecting the other end of the loom connected to the airbag module wouldn't be a good idea, too. But I have no idea where that other end is connected to.

Thy searching the Downloads section of the forum for any documentation regarding the airbag system in the appropriate Panda generation. I've found 2 eLearn modules, but not sure for which generations, as this is not mentionned in the title nor description.

 

[Panda IIs]

My wife's Panda has developed a red warning light for the disabled passenger air bag. My local garage cannot sort even though they have up to date scanning equipment and has it booked into an auto electrician in the new year.
It first happened after she picked me up and I got into the driver's seat, she started the car and drove off and the audible warning came on after a few seconds
One issue of note is that the bulkhead drains were previously blocked resulting in water entering the footwell. The garage wondered if the airbag ECU got wet as well?? They did also get a fault code relating to a accelerometric sensor possibly within the ECU??
What would you guys do??
I thought I would remove the airbag ECU and have a look and if necessary dry it and spray with contact cleaner.
Thanks in advance ; apologies total novice!!

May or may not help; I had an airbag warning due to a faulty clock spring. It would sometimes clear turning the steering wheel lock-to-lock but would come back quite quickly next drive. Required a new clockspring/stalk assembly. It's a DIY task but requires the airbag to be removed which is simple once the trick of releasing the spring clips is mastered! (there's a thread on here)

 

[mb1357]

Update: required a replacement airbag ECU

 

[Panda IIs]

Update: required a replacement airbag ECU

Thanks for the useful update!