Hello. Long time reader, first time poster.
I have a 1.6 FSI MK2 Octavia Estate (1Z5) and the airbag warning light on the dash has come on. A check of the fault codes shows a fault of ‘01221 - Side airbag crash sensor: Driver side'.
This happened about 12 months ago and was caused by the (yellow) airbag wire within the door bellows having snapped. Soldering in a repair section and a clear of the fault code saw the airbag warning light go (and stay) off.
Fast forwards 12 months to a few weeks before this years MOT (why do these things always occur before the MOT!) and when the airbag warning light came on I expected to find that the other (brown) airbag wire in the door bellows to be broken. However it isn’t and section of the loom inside the door and crash sensor itself is showing a resistance of 26.41k ohms (passenger side is 26.46k ohms) which proves the wiring is fine and the sensor isn’t dead.
The next logical thing to do is to replace the sensor as whilst it isn’t dead it might be defective but as this involves drilling out the rivets to remove the inner skin of the door (due to Skoda’s design choices!) so before doing several hours work I wanted to ask:
Are there any other possible causes?
Is it possible for the crash sensor to show a resistance but still be the cause of the fault?
From the boards I take that this fault code can’t be caused by the connector under the seat and in the floor but I’ve open these up, checked and cleaned them and rejoined them to no avail.
Thanks in advance,
D