For a few days now, my airbag indicator light has stayed on instead of
extinguishing after starting. My local Audi dealer says it will need a full
diagnostic session to determine the problem.

However, after that my wallet and heart are likely to need a full diagnostic
session at the thought of the likely bill heading my way. Does anyway have
any experience of the likely causes and costs of remedy?

I'm guessing that wiring to the seat belt pretensioners or the bags
themselves might be the cause. Is there anything I can diagnose myself?

All ideas welcome!

 

On 17-Dec-2003, "Graeme" <g.southwood@btopenworld.com> wrote:

> I'm guessing that wiring to the seat belt pretensioners or the bags
> themselves might be the cause. Is there anything I can diagnose myself?

Hi

It could be any number of things - this happened to me a while back and it
was just one of the connectors under the seat had come slightly loose.
However fixing the problem may not even make the light go out. I highly
recommend you find someone with VAG-COM and get them to read the faults for
you, and if necessarily, clear the code.

Where abouts do you live? I'm sure a VAG-COM owner will pipe up if they are
near you.

Cheers!

James

 

"Graeme" <g.southwood@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:brpnu7$g36$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> For a few days now, my airbag indicator light has stayed on instead of
> extinguishing after starting. My local Audi dealer says it will need a
full
> diagnostic session to determine the problem.
>
> However, after that my wallet and heart are likely to need a full
diagnostic
> session at the thought of the likely bill heading my way. Does anyway have
> any experience of the likely causes and costs of remedy?
>
> I'm guessing that wiring to the seat belt pretensioners or the bags
> themselves might be the cause. Is there anything I can diagnose myself?
>
> All ideas welcome!
>
>

It sometimes happens. It happened four or five times with my Audi and has
stayed away for at least three or four years now. It never costed me
anything to have the comp. hooked up and reset the airbag warning light.
They have small portable diagnostic tools and it takes a few seconds all in
all.

Ronald

 

R@L wrote:
> "Graeme" <g.southwood@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
> news:brpnu7$g36$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
>
>>For a few days now, my airbag indicator light has stayed on instead of
>>extinguishing after starting. My local Audi dealer says it will need a
>
> full
>
>>diagnostic session to determine the problem.
>>
>>However, after that my wallet and heart are likely to need a full
>
> diagnostic
>
>>session at the thought of the likely bill heading my way. Does anyway have
>>any experience of the likely causes and costs of remedy?
>>
>>I'm guessing that wiring to the seat belt pretensioners or the bags
>>themselves might be the cause. Is there anything I can diagnose myself?
>>
>>All ideas welcome!
>>
>>
>
>
> It sometimes happens. It happened four or five times with my Audi and has
> stayed away for at least three or four years now. It never costed me
> anything to have the comp. hooked up and reset the airbag warning light.
> They have small portable diagnostic tools and it takes a few seconds all in
> all.

Sure, you can reset the indicator with a VAGcom, but that light is
coming on for a reason. If you are comfortable with resetting the light
and taking a "wait til it breaks" approach, you can buy your own vag
tool for about US$300 and do it yourself if you have an aversion to
walking into the dealer's shop. I got mine at APR.

http://www.goapr.com/Audi/products/vagcom.html

Cheers,

C

 

Here is a link to the VAG-COM folks that could offer to read the codes in
your car. Deciding to 'clear the code(s)' without fixing the cause usually
will not last long. Reading the codes will at least give you an idea of
what is going on and you can go from there.

Hope it helps, Skippy

http://www.steve-hall.com/cgi-bin/VAG-Locator.pl


"James" <jamesp@hisser.org> wrote in message
news:brppne$mff$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk...
>
> On 17-Dec-2003, "Graeme" <g.southwood@btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm guessing that wiring to the seat belt pretensioners or the bags
> > themselves might be the cause. Is there anything I can diagnose myself?
>
> Hi
>
> It could be any number of things - this happened to me a while back and it
> was just one of the connectors under the seat had come slightly loose.
> However fixing the problem may not even make the light go out. I highly
> recommend you find someone with VAG-COM and get them to read the faults
for
> you, and if necessarily, clear the code.
>
> Where abouts do you live? I'm sure a VAG-COM owner will pipe up if they
are
> near you.
>
> Cheers!
>
> James

 

"Graeme" <g.southwood@btopenworld.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:brpnu7$g36$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> For a few days now, my airbag indicator light has stayed on instead of
> extinguishing after starting. My local Audi dealer says it will need a
full
> diagnostic session to determine the problem.
>
> However, after that my wallet and heart are likely to need a full
diagnostic
> session at the thought of the likely bill heading my way. Does anyway have
> any experience of the likely causes and costs of remedy?

I had a similar problem and Audi replaced one airbag for free, although the
car was already 3 years old (the warranty was only 1 year at that time).

--
Best regards.
Giovanni Tarantino
Bevaix (NE)
Switzerland
1997 BMW 535i 210,000 km (130,000 miles)
1997 Audi A4 2.8 Q 213,000 km (132,000 miles)