Air Bag Light on??

[shadyy510]

My Air Bag Light is on for some reason and it won't go away! What u guys think that I need to do to make that light go away I didn't goto the dealer, they f'ing charge alot.... Any help would be appreatiated!! Thx in advance!!!

[DanH]

Thats crazy, mine just started doing the same damn thing 2 days ago, I would like to know as well what I need to do. Thanks

[LinearX]

Mileage?

I guess a common failure part is the seatbelt tensioner sensor, but I'm replacing my clock spring first. Unfortunately, the clock spring is built into the steering wheel itself on E36s (according to the catalog I looked in) so you'll need a whole new wheel. I snagged one off eBay for about 65 bucks. You should get the code read first before you just start replacing random stuff, though.

[my328itoo]

i have the same problem...the dealer told me i had some carbon build up in some sensor. they wanted $450 to correct this light. lmao

[robisconfusedd]

true it was my seatbelt tensioner on the side of the passenger, also known as passenger side...... i mean..... yeah

this is from experience with racerhoze's 330.... wee

[Mase075]

my airbag light is on now too, not a hot item on my to do list either since i just got raped on brakes and tires

[Racerhoze]

Yes, as rob said, my airbag light came on... fixed under warrantee. Passenger seatbelt tensioner was the fault.

[Broken325is]

Today I noticed that my airbag light is staying on. After about 5 minutes of driving it turns off. Any ideas??

[Nics]

Go get it checked out by the dealership. It's said if the airbag fault light is lit up in the dash, the airbags become nonfunctional. I don't think it's been tested out, but I don't think I'd want to take the chances of finding out they don't work in an accident either.

[bluskye]

I had that issue when it was under warranty, passenger side wiring harness to the side air bag was bad. Im assuming it was a sensor that could have been cleaned, or the harness was loose. The entire harness was replaced though. I would have the dealer do the read out for $40 first, and if they are nice, will tell you which part needs to be replaced.

[Winter]

Bought the car (97 328i) on Friday, by Sunday the airbag light was on. Suspiciously appears that the dealer most likely just reset the light without fixing the problem and sold it to me. PRICK! Anyway, nice to see Im not alone in this. After scoping out the many threads about this issue, Im not seeing many people saying they actually FIXED the problem. Most seem to be saying, heck with it. Any more people out there actually repaired the problem behind the symptoms? I'd like to see more things that have been dealt with concerning air bag lights

[umermariner]

Same here. I bought this car, its air bag was popped. I replaced it, but the air bag light is still on. How can I get rid of it? Going to the dealer hastle is pretty bad. I do not get a check engine light on it, how will I get the code?

[BMWBurnout875]

Check the fuse i can almost garentee thats what it is....

[umermariner]

Where is the fuse for this one (the driver side one), is it in the hood, of in the driving compartment somewhere?
Thanks

[White94RX]

Go get it checked out by the dealership. It's said if the airbag fault light is lit up in the dash, the airbags become nonfunctional. I don't think it's been tested out, but I don't think I'd want to take the chances of finding out they don't work in an accident either.

Not true. if the airbag light is on, they will still function. Can you imagine the lawsuit if they didn't go off?

The light is there to inform you of a problem with the system. either a connector got disconnected, or high resistance in the circuit, bad module or sensor, etc.

[djmcmath]

Not true. if the airbag light is on, they will still function. Can you imagine the lawsuit if they didn't go off?

The Bentley's agrees with him -- if the airbag system has an error stored, it will not deploy under any circumstances. While the lawsuit for an airbag not going off in an accident might be bad, can you imagine the lawsuit for an airbag that went off WITHOUT an accident?


The question remains -- what do you do about a potentially bad seatbelt tensioner? The search function shows a lot of threads that say "Replace it with a known good tensioner to determine if the fault is in the wiring, SRS module, or the tensioner." However, I can't seem to find any place that sells seat belt tensioners. Am I looking under the wrong name, or does anyone know of someplace that carries this part?

Thanks in advance.

Dan

[katboy600]

Mine had the airbag light on when I test drove it before I bought it, so the dealer had to fix it before they could sell it to me. They stated it was the weight sensor in the passenger seat.

[BMMan]

I have the same problem on my 328i i cant be brothered to get it fix. it needs a new sensor i have but you have to take off the seat it happends by a break in the wireing loom under the seat it happends by moving the passanger seat to hard.

[DNL65]

I have this same proplem. The light came one shortly after I bought the car. That was 5 months ago. Like maybe a few others, I don't want to take it to the dealer for fear of all the other problems they may try to hit me with. I have already sunk about $2,500 in repairs in short period of time. I wonder how many people in this forum have the airbag light on at this moment?

[Daler69]

my light came on after i brought the car, had it reset, then it came on again but after my warranty was up so rather than get raped by my dealer i just took my dash to bits and taped over the light

[Daler69]

Same here. I bought this car, its air bag was popped. I replaced it, but the air bag light is still on. How can I get rid of it? Going to the dealer hastle is pretty bad. I do not get a check engine light on it, how will I get the code?

I spoke to my friend who owns a garage and he says that when an airbag goes off (i dont know if this is just BMW related) it blows something in the airbag ecu which leaves the light on all the time and you cant turn it off without replacing the ecu which can be very expensive.. as far as i am aware the airbag will still go off, so do as i did, take the dash to bits and tape over it out of sight, out of mind

[edhchoe]

My wife's 325i's airbag light came on about a month ago. BMW's are notorious for airbag lights coming on for no good reason.

[nathancarter]

Mine came on because, while replacing the window regulator, I turned on the key to adjust the window while the airbag was disconnected. Stupid, stupid. Indy shop wants $45 to reset it. Haven't tried the dealer yet. Sigh.

[Daler69]

i had mine reset under warranty first time but by the time it happened again my warranty had run out so i just taped over it lol.

[RIXI]

had this problem with three BMW 318ci and all the time the problem was coming from the sensor in the seat/belt.i got the light cut out in one of them as it has been to the auto spark seeral time and still none the wiser...