Hi,

I really hope someone can help me. I've a 2007 R56 Cooper - he's my first car, the apple of my eye, and the last gift my dad gave me before he passed away. I desperately want/need to keep him going, until I am out of university at least.

My airbag light came on at the back end of 2020 & I've had an airbag specialist come out today. The error code read "driver's side airbag stage 1 high resistance", and he informed me that the fault was within the SZL steering column unit (?! apologies if i'm butchering this) - not an error code he could just reset to get it through its MOT, and unfortunately not just a faulty code caused by loose wiring under the passenger seat (a common thread I'm reading). As expected, MINI quoted me £600 for the part plus labour (I'm a student, it's post xmas, and with covid financial uncertainty....that's not feasible right now), but my airbag specialist said if I could source a secondhand squib/clockspring unit, he would fit it for me.

I've ordered one (yikes), and am praying it's the right fit for my R56. I just wondered - what's the relation here between this squib switch unit and the airbag? it seems, from what I'm reading, that this is evidently and overwhelmingly related to the indicators/horn above all else, both of which I do not have a problem with. What is the technical relationship between the two, and will installing this new squib unit, like airbag man suggests, resolve the airbag light error code? Moreover, fitting a secondhand one on a MINI seems awfully technical, and I'm....apprehensive that my airbag guy might not know the technicalities involved with individual car models (that worry may be unfounded and naive of me, though).

Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'm absolutely green to this, it's the first time I've had to do anything related to car servicing/MOTs (my dad used to handle it), so my apologies if the details are wrong.

 

The clockspring - or squib as you call it - is a ribbon of wires wound up directly behind the steering wheel. It allows for an electrical connection to everything on the steering wheel (including the airbag) while allowing the wheel to rotate and not break the wires.
If your airbag specialist is really a specialist then he/she should have no problem replacing it. It's a straightforward procedure and there's nothing special about Minis that will throw him off.