Fiat Airbag warning light (1 Viewer)

[Saltings]

Cheers Berni
I have the wires that you mention that terminate in a yellow plug that appears from beneath the floor. The part that clips into this is attached to the seat beneath the seat belt tensioner (leading to a compressed air cylinder that is in the side of the chair beneath the arm rest.)

The wire that I cannot find a home for is just a single wire that I remember screwed into the base of the part U sit on and is earthed on the seat framework next to the hand brake.

I have added a couple of pics below. No problem with the twin wires attached to the seat base, problem is where does the earth wire attach to the seat?

They both then drop through the large hole in the base plate! That bit I remember...!!

 

[TheBig1]

Stating the obvious, have you looked at the other seat?

 

[Saltings]

Cheers
My son suggested that too (!) but it will not slide very far forward. Saying that I have turned into a contortionist and managed to get my head behind it. Looking from the side with the aid of a torch I can also see where it is attached (?). The earth is fed out through a hole in the seat frame behind the side panel. It seems it is then screwed to the seat frame behind the panel.

I have yet to take the offside passenger seat panel off to see what it is screwed to, but I think you are right - that will hold the answer to the puzzle.

Thanks for the tip.

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[Deneb]

I have the wires that you mention that terminate in a yellow plug that appears from beneath the floor. The part that clips into this is attached to the seat beneath the seat belt tensioner (leading to a compressed air cylinder that is in the side of the chair beneath the arm rest.)

Did you disconnect both vehicle battery terminals and wait 30 minutes before disconnecting this?

What you refer to as a compressed air cylinder is actually an electrically activated explosive charge which can be set off by residual current or static if you haven't taken the correct precautions.

Whilst the possibility is fairly remote and you may have been lucky so far, you won't need a motorhome should the worse happen!

 

[Saltings]

Good Heavens (perhaps literally), never heard of this before.

I was replacing the habitation battery which I put in three days ago and connected up to the charger. However I didn't add the seat until this afternoon and connected the earth (finally!) at 17.00.

So in essence the seat was not connected to either the habitation or motor battery via the wires for the airbag or earth for three days.

Does this make sense?! I am still on Planet Earth so guess it must.

If I have to do this again is it both motor and habitation battery that must be disconnected for 30 mins.?

 

[tonyidle]

If you managed to set off a seatbelt pretensioner (and it wouldn't be easy) it would simply do its job and pull the belt buckle down a small amount. The noise would certainly startle but is not life (or limb) threatening.

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[Deneb]

Well, I would add the proviso to that Tony, that it depends where your hands are at the time. A hand or fingers in the wrong place whilst removing the seat for instance could suffer severe injury from the rod that ejects from the end of the pretensioner casing or the tightening of the steel cable that pulls the belt buckle down.

All vehicle manufacturers state that the SRS system should always be powered down by disconnecting both terminals of the vehicle battery, removing the battery or taping and isolating the battery cables and terminals so that they cannot accidentally reconnect or spark, and waiting 30 minutes to allow any residual current in the SRS system to dissipate to avoid any risk of accidental activation before disconnecting or reconnecting any part of the system wiring or components.

99% of the time you will probably get away with it, but I would not take the risk. I have met people who have come unstuck by taking short cuts. The risk of injury from the pretensioner may be remote, but it would certainly be one hell of a shock!

The other risk is damage to the system ECU, which the Sevel vans seem particularly prone to.

 

[berni109]

It's just the vehicle battery u should disconnect

 

[Burgo]

Haven't read the whole thread, but I know that similar error codes can be thrown by the "clock spring" or "spiral" harness in the steering wheel. This is the wiring ribbon that connects everything that rotates with the steering wheel, into the rest of the vehicle wiring. Reason for it throwing an airbag error is that the drivers Air bag and detonator is usually in the middle of the steering wheel - and if that cable assembly fails then it shows an open circuit error.

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[tonyidle]

Well, I would add the proviso to that Tony, that it depends where your hands are at the time. A hand or fingers in the wrong place whilst removing the seat for instance could suffer severe injury from the rod that ejects from the end of the pretensioner casing or the tightening of the steel cable that pulls the belt buckle down.

All vehicle manufacturers state that the SRS system should always be powered down by disconnecting both terminals of the vehicle battery, removing the battery or taping and isolating the battery cables and terminals so that they cannot accidentally reconnect or spark, and waiting 30 minutes to allow any residual current in the SRS system to dissipate to avoid any risk of accidental activation before disconnecting or reconnecting any part of the system wiring or components.

99% of the time you will probably get away with it, but I would not take the risk. I have met people who have come unstuck by taking short cuts. The risk of injury from the pretensioner may be remote, but it would certainly be one hell of a shock!

The other risk is damage to the system ECU, which the Sevel vans seem particularly prone to.

I wasn't suggesting that precautions shouldn't be taken just that the risks are those you outline. The Fiat pre-tensioner l have lying about (not off a Ducato AFAIK) is sealed and appears to comprise a diaphragm moved by an explosive charge to tension the belt.