I'm assuming this is an airbag ECU failure

stevec

stevec

Joined
Sep 24, 2013
Posts
1,351
Likes collected
792
Location
Norwich
Funster No
28,255
MH
Carthago A class
Exp
Since 2014
I've been diligently making sure that the cab battery has been kept topped up, at least at the point of starting the engine. No problems in 7 1/2 years (2015 x290). I've recently had the van on charge for a couple of days as not much sun over Christmas to keep things topped up. I was clearing out the scuttle drainage pipes and decided to move the van to rotate the tyres. Lo and behold, flashing mileage value and airbag icon lit. A brief message to check airbag. I'm assuming this is indicative of the dreaded airbag ECU fault. I can only assume that with the van still being on mains that the battery voltage was seen as too high. Anyway, regardless of the fault looks like a new ECU is needed. I'll get the fault codes checked (a friend has Multiecuscan). Thats another expense that our delayed delivery of a new van has caused (all new tyres last summer). Anyone bought a new one and is it a DIY install or will I have to go to a FIAT professional garage (how much?). I've read mixed reviews of Crashdata so a bit nervous.
 
Search 'airbag' on Fun and you will get plenty of advice. Or to put it in a short answer, my sender fitted by Fiat Professional cost over £400 just before Christmas and I had already fitted a new battery; the old one was partly to blame.

Fiat Prof told me you have to know how to fit the sender/ECU whatever and connections.
 
Its easy to take-out and replace but if you buy a new one it has to be " proxy aligned" to your system..if you have your existing one "repaired" there is no requirement to do this.
There are other companies besides the one you mention that has only had bashings from one funster.
To remove you need to disconnect the cab battery negative and then make sure there are no other connections in the circuit like a battery master.,there are 4 bolts plus 2 multi connections.its in the footwell behind the battery ,bolted to the floor. Awkward to reach Best check out previous posts on this.
 
Aspenshaw said:
Fiat Prof told me you have to know how to fit the sender/ECU whatever and connections.
Click to expand...

Its bolted to the floor just in front of the start battery.
Its simle to remove and replace. Only two clip connections and three screws.

WP_20171020_16_07_08_Pro.jpg
 
I DIY fitted a Crashdata recon unit when ours went several years ago (2018). I found Crashdata to be very good and it’s been fine since.
Ours went just as we were leaving Peterborough Show after four nights off grid.

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I only need it to last until April when we take delivery of our new Carthago. Can get a few Crashdata repairs for the £500 it will cost to have a new one fitted. I'll phone around during the week to see about new replacements. Will have confirmation of ECU failure next weekend when I can get a Multiecuscan plugged in.
 
i have no knowledge of this company but it may be worth checking them out eBay item number:265214513031
 
I bought a new one off eBay for £100 but had to send the old one and the new one to Crashdata to be paired up which cost I think another £100
 
pagey said:
i have no knowledge of this company but it may be worth checking them out eBay item number:265214513031
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Thanks for that. I'll give them a call next week.
 
Aspenshaw said:
Search 'airbag' on Fun and you will get plenty of advice. Or to put it in a short answer, my sender fitted by Fiat Professional cost over £400 just before Christmas and I had already fitted a new battery; the old one was partly to blame.

Fiat Prof told me you have to know how to fit the sender/ECU whatever and connections.
Click to expand...
Get in touch with good independent auto electrician. Mine was diagnosed, sent off for repairs and refitted in 2 weeks for about £160. Dealers wanted £120 just to check it!!
 
Simbathecat9 said:
Get in touch with good independent auto electrician. Mine was diagnosed, sent off for repairs and refitted in 2 weeks for about £160. Dealers wanted £120 just to check it!!
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My fiat dealer charged nothing to check the faults and only £85 to program the new one!
 
Guest Truck and Van, Fiat Professional, Wolverhampton, have quoted us £767 to diagnose and replace 😵.
Needless to say, we won't be using their services.
 
I have used northern auto tech quick service and so far seems an effective repair.
Only thing I will say is that my ecu had 1 fault ( fee £55 ) ( I have multiecuscan so can sort most myself), they told me it had 2 faults and charged double.
I have read on feedback that they have done this before.

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I’ve had my unit fail a few months ago and repaired by crashdata twice only to fail again last week. My battery is apparently ok. Not sure what to do next. I’m reluctant to buy a brand new one for that to fail. Might need to go down the auto electrician to try and locate the root cause.
 
My electrical installation and use has been fairly unchanged over the years. The only change this time was I had the mains connected when I started the van. Never done that before. So I’m assuming this was the cause. I’m hoping that if I get the fault cleared by Crashdata or similar then I won’t leave it plugged in again. It’s only got to last four months until I trade it in!
 
stevec said:
I've been diligently making sure that the cab battery has been kept topped up, at least at the point of starting the engine. No problems in 7 1/2 years (2015 x290). I've recently had the van on charge for a couple of days as not much sun over Christmas to keep things topped up. I was clearing out the scuttle drainage pipes and decided to move the van to rotate the tyres. Lo and behold, flashing mileage value and airbag icon lit. A brief message to check airbag. I'm assuming this is indicative of the dreaded airbag ECU fault. I can only assume that with the van still being on mains that the battery voltage was seen as too high. Anyway, regardless of the fault looks like a new ECU is needed. I'll get the fault codes checked (a friend has Multiecuscan). Thats another expense that our delayed delivery of a new van has caused (all new tyres last summer). Anyone bought a new one and is it a DIY install or will I have to go to a FIAT professional garage (how much?). I've read mixed reviews of Crashdata so a bit nervous.
Click to expand...
Hi. On our 2020 chausson 627, our warranty expired on 22/12/2022 yet 2 days later an airbag warning light came up on dashboard with message to refer to handbook which did not explain much and to take it to a Fiat dealership which wanted £158 for an investigation, which i believe is a scanner plugged into the ECU, which i am not to happy. I got in touch with Fiat in Milan, Italy and complained and all they say is to get in touch with them when our motorhome is in the Fiat dealership. Can't understand why they want me to tell them instead of the dealership? In the meantime, i took it to my local garage which they plugged their scanner into ECU, less than 2 minutes later he said i've never seen that code before and it is a very expensive job that you will have to take it to a Fiat dealer to fix. Fiat dealer scanner = £158, local garage scanner for 2 minutes = £0:00
 
If it’s
Gerwyn195 said:
Hi. On our 2020 chausson 627, our warranty expired on 22/12/2022 yet 2 days later an airbag warning light came up on dashboard with message to refer to handbook which did not explain much and to take it to a Fiat dealership which wanted £158 for an investigation, which i believe is a scanner plugged into the ECU, which i am not to happy. I got in touch with Fiat in Milan, Italy and complained and all they say is to get in touch with them when our motorhome is in the Fiat dealership. Can't understand why they want me to tell them instead of the dealership? In the meantime, i took it to my local garage which they plugged their scanner into ECU, less than 2 minutes later he said i've never seen that code before and it is a very expensive job that you will have to take it to a Fiat dealer to fix. Fiat dealer scanner = £158, local garage scanner for 2 minutes = £0:00
Click to expand...
only 2 days v out of warranty then I would be pressing the garage to claim the costs back from fiat.
That maybe why they want the van in the dealership to deal with them direct.
I would book it in and tell the dealership that fiat have told you that they should be contacted about the fault.
 
Our airbag warning light came on in September. We found that:
"There seems to be a on going common problem with Fiat Ducato 2013 to 2018 air bag ECUs (particularly 2016?). This problem is a hard code fault B0100-49 ( Error inside of control unit ). This problem can be caused by a high / voltage into the ECU (or low?). As it is a hard code fault the ECU can not be reset as with a Multiecuscan and has to be repaired / reset by a specialist repairer or replaced with a new one."

Carl at Northern Autotech did a great job and reset and sent it back to us on the same day for £55 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/26521451...d=link&campid=5338547443&toolid=20001&mkevt=1 https://northernautotech.co.uk/airbag-ecu-repair/). Also advised fitting a new battery with higher CCAs. Refitted the ecu and new battery and airbag fault code disappeared. Was OK on first run of 120 miles. Airbag ECU fault reappeared next morning on way to Eurotunnel. When we got back sent it back to Carl and he cleared it again and sent it back for no charge. (I believe crashdata are more expensive and charge for any further resets). Refitted and the airbag warning light was out. Peugeot have recommended fitting an additional earth strap which I also did this time.

Checking other posts this seems to be a common problem and have seen a graph that shows a particular problem with ecus in 2016 - ours has a manufacture date of 05/2016. I am guessing it will go again because while the code fault can be cleared it doesn't fix the underlying manufacturing fault. Next time will probably need to fit a new one but then will need a proxy reset - perhaps keeping the old one as a spare. Some on this forum have managed to do that themselves after Fiat workshop failed to manage to proxy reset.

There are numerous helpful threads on this forum about this problem.

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stevec said:
I only need it to last until April when we take delivery of our new Carthago.
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My crash data repair lasted two weeks and they wouldn't accept any responsibility for it, crooks IMO, a few other Funsters have had problems with their repairs.
 
MICK Dickinson said:
I’ve had my unit fail a few months ago and repaired by crashdata twice only to fail again last week. My battery is apparently ok. Not sure what to do next. I’m reluctant to buy a brand new one for that to fail. Might need to go down the auto electrician to try and locate the root cause.
Click to expand...

How old is your starter battery? My 4-year-old battery seemed OK but since I fitted a new one the problem hasn't happened again (he said, touching wood, crossing fingers and offering a burnt sacrifice to the ECU gremlins).

Edit: Mine is a 2016 build Ducato although registered in 2017.
 
It is not a repair the service is simply to clear the data in the ecu. The fault is either in the ecu itself or with a voltage spike that makes the ecu to go into a 'park' mode. The service providers do something like 'flashing' the memory to clear the fault and so essentially they have done what they offer to do. I haven't seen any reports of people having failures when they fit new ecus which suggests that it is not really an issue with 'voltage spikes' but that there is a specific issue with ecus. 2016 Ducatos appear to be at higher risk which also suggests a dodgy batch of ecus.
 
Lenny HB said:
They fit an ECU with diffent part number now. Hopefully the problem is over.
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Our fiat garage said very rare on a van but MH conversions seem to do a few. Hopefully new ones are better.

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I used Crashdata a few months ago and they were great. Had the Airbag Controller error with our 2016 Ducato after the cab battery voltage fell when the van hadn't been on hook up for a while. Followed one of many guides on YouTube to take the unit out, sent it off, Crashdata re-flashed it and it was back in the van in 48 hours ready to go for its MOT - it's an automatic fail if the airbag warning light is on. I check the cab battery voltage before starting the van now.
 
DoroDormobile said:
It is not a repair the service is simply to clear the data in the ecu. The fault is either in the ecu itself or with a voltage spike that makes the ecu to go into a 'park' mode. The service providers do something like 'flashing' the memory to clear the fault and so essentially they have done what they offer to do. I haven't seen any reports of people having failures when they fit new ecus which suggests that it is not really an issue with 'voltage spikes' but that there is a specific issue with ecus. 2016 Ducatos appear to be at higher risk which also suggests a dodgy batch of ecus.
Click to expand...
Didn't know 2016 models were more at risk! Wish I'd known that earlier. 2016 Ducato / Knaus owner. :cautious:
 
Ok. Put Multiecuscan on to determine fault but it couldn't find the airbag ECU. I think I have to look for the reason for this. Is there a fuse that the ECU runs off?

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