I had to take the passenger seat out of my Mini to haul some wheels and tires around this weekend. (It fit 2 full sets of 255/40/17 tires in it ) After I was done hauling stuff around, I bolted the seat back into the car and hooked it back up to the under seat connector. Everything is all connected properly as far as I can tell, but the airbag warning light is still on.

I have tried disconnecting the car battery too, thinking that would reset the ECU, like it does on most other cars. But the airbag warning light is still on...

What is the trick to resetting the airbag warning light?

 

You have to take it back to the dealer to have it reset.

All new cars are this way if any of the airbags or sensors are disturbed. And that is what you did. You disconnected the seat airbags when you took the seat out.

Oh and BTW I would suggest not doing it again. If you do it three times you will have to replace the "Air Bag Control Module" there is a three (3) error limit built into it that can not be reset.

 

I never thought it would be that much of an ordeal. I've done this same thing in several other cars I've owned many times before.

What if I wanted to replace the stock seats with aftermarket? Surely there must be a way to disable that feature more permanently...

Sounds like I'd be better off just dealing with the airbag lamp being on from now until... forever. I'd actually be fine with the warning lamp staying on forever if it were not for the fact that it consumes whole readout in the central gauge cluster, and now I have no central speedometer anymore as a result.

Source?

That part sounds really bizarre to the point of being incredible... What would be the point of that "feature" other than guaranteeing sales of (probably really expensive) OE Air Bag Modules?

 

I hadn't heard that before, but if that's the case, the point of it is that the manufacturers don't want anyone driving around with a flaky control module for something as critical as the airbag system. So after a certain number of "failures" it forces a replacement. If the error count could be reset, people would do just that and continue to drive around with a dodgy airbag module. Of course, that kind of screws people like you that trigger the airbag warning through an intentional disconnect rather than an actual failure.

And yes, you have to take the car to the dealer to clear the airbag light. You can't do it with an OBD tool the way you can with engine fault codes, because the airbag system isn't monitored by the OBD system - it has its own monitoring circuitry.

As for replacing the stock seats with aftermarket ones, you're kind of on your own to figure out a method, because if the aftermarket seats have integral airbags then you have nothing to worry about since they'll likely interface with the car's monitoring system. But if the aftermarket seats *don't* have airbags and you drive the car on the street, it's a violation of federal law. As such, no one is likely to advertise a method or device for bypassing the airbag monitor.

 

That was my point. There are no aftermarket seats that have airbags.

And I can disable all the airbags I want on my car and drive around on the street. There is nothing illegal about that. It might not always be a great idea, but it's certainly not against the law for me to do so with my own car.

 

I live in VA and you can't pass a safety inspection with the warning light on...Mine is stuck in the on position and I've been trying to buy new seats instead of replacing the passenger mat/weight sensor ($1100 replacement) that has gone bad.

 

I re-checked the NHTSA bulletin and you're correct - the federal "make inoperative" rules don't apply to individuals modifying their own cars.

 

Just to update my own thread from a few months ago...

For the benefit of anyone else with the Airbag warning light on, an Alta AccessPORT can reset the airbag warning light. So if you have access to an AccesPORT, you do not need to take it to the dealer just to reset the warning light.

 

This is from my Bentley manual.

Airbag or tensioner triggering times are recorded in control module non-volitile memory. These memories cannot be erased and are used for analysis device diagnosis by the vehicle development department. A maximum of 3 crash entries can be stored. The control module is capable of firing even after three crash entries.

It goes on to say that the MRS control module has a non volatile fault code memories. The airbag warning light indicates any entries in the fault memory.

I think that's what this means is that because you unplug the airbag you faulted the modulus but it did not record a crash incident so you should not have used 1 of these three's recorded fault.

 

Damn that sucks. I did the same thing to try out a steering wheel. Unplugged the battery and everything, once I put everything back the air bag light and seat belt light went on. I'll probably go reset it with my mechanic.

 

What a pain in the A. I pulled my seats to do a complete interior clean. I like keeping my R53 spotless. I'll do all I can to get them to reset the light for FREE when I get an alignment next month.......I hope
Hey, anyone near NH have an ALTA AccesPORT ?? Would be good excuse to visit another Miniac

 

Hi aklucsartis, have you been able to confirm that you can indeed reset the airbag light? My understanding was that you could not. If you indeed can, that would put me over the top in purchasing an AccessPort.

 

Air bag light went on in ours the other day for no apparent reason except it was cold out. I suppose only Mini can reset this? I have no reason to get the Accessport just for the light, if it even works. Besides I don't have a smartphone if that's what it takes. The wife did keep the seat belt hooked up for a long time because of groceries and dogs, etc. Could this have caused it?

Or will this work? https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-messages.html I haven't tried yet, it's so cold out I don't want to spend any time outside.

 

i have used the GT1 programmer to reset my mini airbag. The crash and deployment is in a different story. Airbag light going on for disconnect or bad sensor can be reset.

 

Does anyone know how much the dealership charges to reset the airbag warning light?

 

buy the app "Carly for BMW Pro" for android or iPhone, a cheap eBay obd and you can do it yourself! 50$ the app 6-7$ obd. plus you can do some coding to your car!!!

 

other than the app from Carly what else is needed?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ELM327-V2-1-...400095&vxp=mtr

 

Hi Everyone. I think I have read every single forum discussing this issue. I was wondering if someone can give me some guidance.

Mini Cooper S 2006, R53

A few years back I disconnected the battery to install a bluetooth module. After that day the Airbag Light has been on since.

So I took my car in to the dealer for the seat recall a while back and even when they completed the recall the light came on. Guys at the shop said they finished everything and told me that they would have to charge me to diagnose the problem. I am 100% positive that they ran a diagnostic to see what it was, but will not tell me because they are in the business of making money.

Anyway, I recently bought an Autel AL619 ABS/SRS scanner and this is what it came back with.




So I went ahead and cleared the codes. Turned off the car. Turned it back on. The Airbag light went off for a quick second and came back on.

I checked the scanner again and the Power Supply code is no longer there, but the MRS: Head Airbag, Right is still on.

With all the forums I have read I have come to the conclusion that it isn't the common seat connector issue, but rather the power squib cable issue in the battery compartment. Or I am completely missing the issue altogether.

I've read forums that say you should replace the cable or attach a resistor to it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!!

 

that's not giving you the whole error code, get a copy of ista/d it'll give you the full error code and lets you reset the code.

Head airbag is probably above the window/grab handle under the headliner, have you done any work on that side of the car? there's a bunch of wiring and a body control module on the outside footwell by passenger feet

 

Is it possible that the car was in an accident and the airbag was replaced but not actually connected? just a thought!

 

I did quite a bit of reading at the carly website, and the app does not appear to reset the airbag light. Can you cite the page at the site where it says that it does do this?

I found others which claim that they do reset the airbag light. One is the icarsoft I910, available for prices from $79 to $125 at sites I found.

 

Judging by a couple hours of reading I've done (and comments below), your answer is simply wrong for most situations other than accidents.

The airbag warning light can be reset using certain scanners with this capability. The Icarsoft I910 is one of them, according to two vendors of that product.

However, anyone who just wants to reset the light without fixing the underlying problem might consider driving the car into a tree at speed instead. It's a quicker and cheaper way to kill yourself than driving around with an inoperative airbag system.

But most of the time, the light comes on for innocuous reasons, such as disconnecting the sensors when removing a seat. I looked up and read a lot of postings all over the web about what causes the light to go on. Others are bad airbags, a short in a wire from the seat rubbing the rail on some cars, a short or loose connection from pushing stuff under the seat, loose connections from connections just coming loose under the seat, a prior accident causing the seatbelt harness plug to compress (you then have to replace that part), and others. One DIYer has a video on a bad harness he replaced on a seat he bought out of a car which had been in a crash. He hadn't noticed the compression in the seatbelt harness (which was obvious once he showed it in a closeup compared to the new one he bought) when he first installed the replacement seat. When he reinstalled and hooked everything back up, his airbag/harness light stayed off.

 

I did a couple of posts with information I found searching for a couple of hours about the airbag/harness light coming on.

The reason I did a lot of research was that (a) mine came on in a truly bizarre circumstance and went back off when same was addressed and (b) I kept finding many different reasons, mostly innocuous, for this light to come on.

Now, here's what happened with my 2009 Mini Cooper S: The airbag light came on exactly when the plastic coolant overflow reservoir failed. (Big hole at the base of the upper hose connection). That's right: light came on when coolant started to spew, and went off the next day when I replaced the plastic coolant reservoir.

How bizarre, how bizarre, how bizarre, as the song goes.

Why? No logical reason. Here is what I suspect: The front of the car has been in three relatively minor accidents (none of which was reported on that piece of ***** called Carfax, by the way, but Autocheck had two of them...the third was covered up by the dealer because it happened in their possession...such honest people, these stealerships!)

So I think either a wire from the airbag warning system and a warning wire from the coolant got crossed or fused in one of the accidents, or the stealership knows of a clever way to plug the airbag warning light into the wrong plug hole -- for the coolant pressure warning, if there is one -- and make the light go out. Or some other such dirty trick.

As a consequence, my airbag warning system AND

 

So I have been searching and this is probably the best source of info so far. I just replaced the headliner in my '07 MCS and DID NOT disconnect any of the airbags. I did disconnect the battery since I was going to be unplugging various lights in the headliner. When I went to reconnect the battery, boom, the airbag light illuminated.

It's for this reason I believe there to be an issue with the cables in the Coopers. Simply disconnecting and reconnecting the battery should not trigger this. I have been working on cars for about 20+ years and never had this happen. Mind you most have been Lexus/Toyota's, but nevertheless...I'm wondering how much this is going to cost to reset now..