Airbag light on after moving seat

[GreenFish]

Hi everyone,

Since getting the car recently, I've just managed to cover over 200 miles this week using the Z3 for work, which has been great. Problem, is the airbag light has just come on. This seemed to happen straight after I restarted the car after moving the drivers seat position (it's set at lowest and far back as it will go).

I've read a few posts on here and that got me looking under the seat for any loose connectors. All seems intact from what I can see (including the yellow connector)......however, there is a black 4 pin multiplug connector (female?) that is not connected to anything - should it be? I tried to take a photo but I could't get in the right position. The car doesn't have heated seats so not sure if it's for that?

I have the car booked in at my local garage for them to take a look but they can't do this until next Thursday and I need the car before that as I'm using it as a daily driver.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Stevo7682]

It will need reset.
If you were to say remove the seat then turn on ignition air bag light will come on but even if you refit everything light not go off on own .
You will have a similar issue probably connection under seat but even if now OK light won't go out .
You will also need a round 20 pin obd adapter as even if you have the obd port under steering no access to airbag from that.
Stephen.

 

[bertiejaffa]

If the light came on after moving the seat then it’s probable that the runner has run over the wire at the back of the seat and cut/shorted the wires. The seat will need to be removed (4 bolts) and the wires fixed before you can reset it

 

[mwpe]

I have the car booked in at my local garage for them to take a look but they can't do this until next Thursday and I need the car before that as I'm using it as a daily driver.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

It obviously needs to be fixed but the fact that the light is on doesn't mean you can't use the car. Until the MOT.

 

[GreenFish]

It obviously needs to be fixed but the fact that the light is on doesn't mean you can't use the car. Until the MOT.

Ah...I thought I'd read that the warning light means that the airbags and seat belt tensioners are deactivated.

 

[mwpe]

Ah...I thought I'd read that the warning light means that the airbags and seat belt tensioners are deactivated.

The seat belt will still work and you don't need an airbag to drive. The Z3 is the first car I have ever had with an airbag and I would be quite happy without it.

 

[DrWong]

Has happened to me with passenger seat. Airbag light turned itself off after I moved the seat a bit and restarted the car. So suspect it was the runner nipping a wire in my case.

Could try moving the seat back to where it was and restarting if you just want the light off. Obvs a more permanent solution involves taking it off and investigating further etc.

 

[DrWong]

Also, I think it’ll be the wire for the occupancy sensor in the seat. The sensor is connected to the airbag and tells it whether to fire or not (in a worst case scenario etc) depending on whether it thinks the seat is occupied.

 

[GreenFish]

Also, I think it’ll be the wire for the occupancy sensor in the seat. The sensor is connected to the airbag and tells it whether to fire or not (in a worst case scenario etc) depending on whether it thinks the seat is occupied.

Thanks. I'll have a look again tomorrow to see where it should go. Wasn't sure if it was a "spare" connection for optional heated seats. Watched a few seat removal video on YT and none of them appear to show this connector

 

[DrWong]

Just to say, I was referring to the wire that I think was nipped by the seat runner.

Don’t know about the rogue connector.!

 

[GreenFish]

Just to say, I was referring to the wire that I think was nipped by the seat runner.

Don’t know about the rogue connector.!

Thanks for clarifying. TBH, I don't think the seat moved that much, I'm 6'4" so seat adjustment when I'm sat in it is "minimal", shall we say

 

[Natrolite55]

Hi, did you get any further with this? I also have the warning light on. I reset with my handset and connector for the engine bay plug in (if you don’t own these two things they are worth every penny). Stayed off for a few hours but has come back. Possibly related to removing the seats to do the bushes on the runners (another must). Any thoughts anyone, or is it a case of remove seats and check wires first? It’s not difficult but just a faff. Could it also be related to the seatbelt?

 

[Pingu]

It could be a trapped wire or it could just have been a momentary (milli-second) disturbance in the connector. I tape my connectors very tightly with electrical tape, then reset the lights using a B800 reset tool.

There are many reset tools available and this is probably not the best now, as there are others that do more functions for the same money, but it does the job.

 

[GreenFish]

Hi, did you get any further with this? I also have the warning light on. I reset with my handset and connector for the engine bay plug in (if you don’t own these two things they are worth every penny). Stayed off for a few hours but has come back. Possibly related to removing the seats to do the bushes on the runners (another must). Any thoughts anyone, or is it a case of remove seats and check wires first? It’s not difficult but just a faff. Could it also be related to the seatbelt?

Hi. Yes, I got this fixed at a local garage. It sounded like the yellow seatbelt pretension connector/wires had come loose.

They reconnected and I think heat sleeved the wires to hold them in place, or a least make them more secure when the seat is moved.

They mentioned that they could not resolder to make a better connection as this was illegal.

 

[t-tony]

They mentioned that they could not resolder to make a better connection as this was illegal.

I wonder where they got this idea from ?

Tony.

 

[Natrolite55]

This is the fault code I’m getting. I clear it but it now comes straight back. Guessing it’s the same issue with the connector or wires which means taking the seat out again At least it tells me which one is faulting out!

 

[Red 2.5]

Greetings all, new owner here fixing several issues on this 2000 Z3 2.5, one of which is the air bag warning light. I just did the seat bushing repair on both seats, and started the car with the seats out for my wife to see it run (new car for her after her previous '98 was totaled). However, I think the light was on before that.
Obviously I'm going to have to diagnose the fault first. I see mention of scan and reset tools, and see some on ebay etc. I can go to my local parts supply and use their scanners to pull codes. It appears that some scanners out there will also scan for airbag defaults, and some won't (?). Will some do Resets? If not, what scanners do you all suggest for this car? I am an experienced car guy but most of this is with classics (no computers, brake wear sensors, airbags, etc), and any time I've needed to pull codes from my newer vehicles I've just used local autoparts store scanners. Other modern cars I've owned have provisions for resetting things (like oil change or maintenance lights) on the car without any special tool. I hope this Z3 will be as reliable as the others we have had, but given all the more complicated technology in modern cars I'm wondering if I should invest in a scanner for this one? What I don't want is a scanner that's expensive and is used once and sits in my tool box. Suggestions?

 

[colb]

You definately need a scanner, very useful to have to hand when you get a dash light pop up. I would reccomend a Creator 310+ which will read all the modules fitted to your car. I found it was able to sort an airbag light I had which was self inflicted when I switched on ignition with a seat removed in order to test some after market heated seat pad wiring I was fitting. BMW INPA and BMW Scanner which I run on a laptop would not clear the code and put the light out. Invested in a Creator 310+ and that sorted the code and light out first go. For the money its a very good tool to have in your toolbox, nice and portable. You will need the 20pin to 16pin cable changer to plug it in to the engine bay obd2 socket to use it on the Z3.

Amazon.com : Creator 310+

 

[Red 2.5]

Thank you Colb for the reply and suggestion. The scanner is very reasonably priced and I appreciate the note for the additional connector. Its always good to hear from users like you what has worked well... Ordered!

 

[Red 2.5]

So the Creator 310 scanner came yesterday and I was able to hook up (with the adaptor, thank you colb) and check all my codes for the SRS, one issue left with that (tensioner). There were no engine trouble codes. But, I was not able to clear or reset the service codes... it would simply say "information" when I told it to reset any of them. I'll do some research, but if there is a proper procedure anyone knows, please pass it on!