Air bag light....the final attempt

[bimmerrder]

I just dropped my BMW off to have the air bag computer replaced like $600 for the computer plus labour:shifty....my car has been in around 10 times in the last 2 years to have the air bag light looked at and they have replaced tons of seat belt sensors and such but neer found the problem so now there replaceing the Brain of the whole thing....

their reasoning is when they scan for codes they get almost every code possible....

so my question to the great people here on Bimmerforums, is if this doesnt fix the problem what do i look at next?:confused

Im just not very optimistic that this is going to change anything....

[langley]

I dont know much about the non M3 E36's but I just bought a Peake SRS tool for 125 and reset the damn thing.

Some people will bitch at you for that but the seatbelt will still work and the airbag will go off.

[RNeil]

if this doesnt fix the problem what do i look at next?
Buy the Peake tool, diagnose the problem yourself and never take your car back to that shop.

[328iJunkie]

If alot of codes are coming up then its possible the computer was the problem the entire time. Buy a used one and replace. They rarely go bad.

And langley if the SRS system faults, depending on what the fault is, it most likely wont fire the airbags. Safety issue.

[shoman24v]

Odds are the airbag sensor mat in the passenger seat is torn. Did anyone dig their knee in it at one point?

That's what's wrong with mine ATM...

[flyfishvt]

There is a lot of discussion and controversy over whether the airbags will go off if the light is on. The only thing Ive been able to decipher out of all of it is that it depends on the reason it came on. Apparently if its just something as simple as removing the instrument cluster without disconecting the battery eveything is ok. Other causes for the light will definately prevent them from going off.

My line of reasoning on most of these things is the bigger the problem the more basic and simpler the solution. Like was mentioned earlier, my first thought when you said they were getting tons of codes was the computer itself was to blame. Individual problems usually show only one code at a time. Not multiple ones. The more codes you get at one time the more it points to a system type failure and not an individual component failure.