Airbag warning light back on

[Richster]

I picked up my Octavia 1.9TD Elegance just over a week ago now. It's a lovely drive and I'm hugely impressed with it, but I have me a small issue with the airbag warning light. When I purchased it, the light was on during the test drive so I had the fault cleared by the dealer. The car went fine for about 700 miles or so. Now the light has come back on again. From memory I think the fault code on their computer was along the lines of:

Seat Belt Tensioner Igniter: Driver Side

Resistance too High - Intermittent

Their reasoning was that a flat battery could have caused that, but I'm not sure I buy this now with the information I've read since.

Does this sound like the notorious under-seat connector issue which seems to pop up all over the Internet? Although I have a 3 month warranty, the garage I bought it from is about 300 miles away (yes, I know...). There's no point in just getting it reset again, since the fault will more than likely reappear.

Thanks - Rich

[Plantman]

Guess you have been through all the wiring and checked nothing is getting snagged?

With ignition off try unplugging and plugging back in the connectiors...perhasp one isn't making good contact.

I had the same issue, went fine after I'd had the seats out for 500 miles+ but it came on....purchased VAG COM to clear it so now it's the waiting game.

[GAFF]

There was an issue with mine due to connector blocks under the seat needing replacing (I think it's a known issue). Make sure you get BOTH sides replaced.

[Richster]

Thanks - yes the under seat connector is my suspicion, had read about this in other posts. I guess this is the wiring to the igniter on the belt tensioner, so that would tie in with the fault code. Anyway, the garage I bought it from are willing to pay for me to get it done locally - Phew!

Re the suggestion of re-plugging, while I could do this I believe that wouldn't clear the fault since I think airbag faults are retained in memory and not reset unless done via software.

I don't own vag-com yet - give it a year or two!

Thanks for advice anyway

[Plantman]

Thanks - yes the under seat connector is my suspicion, had read about this in other posts. I guess this is the wiring to the igniter on the belt tensioner, so that would tie in with the fault code. Anyway, the garage I bought it from are willing to pay for me to get it done locally - Phew!

Re the suggestion of re-plugging, while I could do this I believe that wouldn't clear the fault since I think airbag faults are retained in memory and not reset unless done via software.

I don't own vag-com yet - give it a year or two!

Thanks for advice anyway

That is correct, the light will stay on regardless, I was meaning that it could stop it happening again if one of the connectors was making a bad contact for example, or had dirt on one pin for instance.

Best of luck!

[dar]

I had this problem with my previous octavia, it went back to the dealer so many times i lost count. The problem was only resolved when the drivers side airbag in the seat was replaced.

[octojoe]

Me too, the problem was the connector under driver seat became disturbed when a mechanic moved my seat (he was a short chap) too far forward. Took it back to garage and they just push the connect back into place and re-set the VAG-COM setting. Been perfect every since.

I hadn't realised it was the wiring for the seatbelt tensioner. Thanks.