Airbag malfunction contact service

[Mac2509]

Have this warning come up on SiD. Started as a intermittent fault but now on all the time. Plugged in to Tech2, and the passenger seat belt is registering as being clicked in when its not. Multi plug under seat checked and all wires appear fine. Any ideas would be helpful.

[sgould]

Welcome!

The passenger seat has a passenger presence sensor. Has that come detached, or broken?  It might cause a fault, but Tech 2 suggests that the seatbelt is at fault.  The seatbelt emergency tensioner in the 9-3 SS is in the door pillar, though.

Might be a case of trial and error, but try checking the cabling under the seat.  The ignition needs to be off if you play with the airbag circuits.

[sgould]

I've had a look at the airbag circuit.  The passenger presence sensor is connected to the Body Control Module, part of the fusebox.  The seat belt latch is connected to the airbag control module, so if that switch is broken, I suspect that it will trigger the light because the airbag control module will sense a discrepancy between the seat belt being fastened and no one being sensed in the seat.

I can't tell if the belt latch switch is open or closed when the buckle is in place, but if it's opened by the buckle, you would get the same result on Tech2 if a wire in the loom was broken.  The seat buckle switch wires one is blue and the other is green. If your car is a convertible the two wires are yellow and white.

Wires run to the airbag control module under the centre console under the cubby.

[Mac2509]

Thanks for the reply. All wiring checked and fine so everything is pointing to shot control module. So need to find a replacement >:(l

[Audax]

Unless things have changed the only option for an airbag control module is a brand new one, they can only be programmed once and there was no way to reprogram them, you could get crash data removed but could only refit the module in the same car it came from.

[TomPaine]

I was googling for the names of those airbag specialists whom HonestJohn in the DT recommends for these sorts of (very common) problems and came across someone (albeit in a BMW) with a similar cause, ie the passenger seat sensor:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/9167118/Do-I-need-to-fix-airbag-warning-light.html

Not sure if you're close to any of those mobile guys.

[Mac2509]

The guy I have looking at it was a Saab Tech for 15 years. He seems confident that a second hand unit is fine as long as the part code matches. At £40 its worth a go. Although I will post results just to clarify.

[Audax]

The guy I have looking at it was a Saab Tech for 15 years. He seems confident that a second hand unit is fine as long as the part code matches. At £40 its worth a go. Although I will post results just to clarify.

It won't be possible to add the unit with Tech-2 if it's second hand, I've tried this before and it won't work. Unless a service now exists to reset the units so they can be reprogrammed or change the programming...

[Mac2509]

Second hand unit arrived today. Fitted to car and airbag light on dash has gone out, and system all working fine. Result. It seems that if the replacement needs to be from a vehicle of the same year and model. If not then it can be reprogramed using the Saab TIS software.

[Audax]

Second hand unit arrived today. Fitted to car and airbag light on dash has gone out, and system all working fine. Result. It seems that if the replacement needs to be from a vehicle of the same year and model. If not then it can be reprogramed using the Saab TIS software.

Can I just check what year/model your car is? Given that Saab say it's not possible and I've got personal experience of what happens with second-hand units and with using TIS with Tech-2 I'd like to know what the workaround actually is!

[Mac2509]

2003 9-3 Vector. 2.2 TiD

[hunter88]

Hi I have a 2003 1.8t saab 9-3, my airbag light came on when my wife sat on the. Plugged it in with snap on machine and got passenger seatbelt high low resistance, checked live data and It showed passenger front pretensioner 0 as all other pretensioners read 4 (I presume this is ohms). Anyway got a second hand pretensioner..no joy..same thing. Checked continuity between tensioner and module (all good). Read about modules being faulty so got a 2nd hand module (same part number but from a 2.2tdi) sent them both away to get repaired and coded...now neither will show fault codes with snap on machine??? And the f#$kin light is still on?!? Any help guys?? Thanks. Chris

[sgould]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think that the light goes off if you repair the fault.  I think that it needs to be reset using a Saab "Tech2" diagnostic computer.

But wait for a reply from someone who knows for sure.

[hunter88]

Oo and it flashed up srs module not programmed (thats what made me send the unit away for repair....ended up gettin another module and getting it coded. Absoultely doing my head in, im a mechanic by trade and pretty switched on with electrics and diagnostics but I am genuinely stuck!? Cant get my hands on tech 2 software, even phoned vauxhall several times...still waiting on a call back. Tech 2 software would be handy because my egt (exhaust temp sensor) light is on and saab were originally updating the ecu to remove the sensor under recall....(good luck with that now).

[hunter88]

I had the passenger seat out and checked the presence sensor first when the light came on as I heard they were troublesome but im afraid the snap on machine has led me in the wrong direction. Never checked the anchor, will check it later.