Following a small knock with a concrete bollard in a car park, both of my front airbags deployed! Gives you quite a shock I can tell you! I had my arms crossed on the wheel turning into the parking place, trust me, you don't want to try that! I was in and out of hospital for 3 weeks after that.

I have already replaced the dashboard and will shortly be doing the airbags, but before I do that I need to locate the airbag module so that I can get it sent off for resetting. Can anyone tell me exactly where I can find this module?

I'm driving a 2001 Octavia Estate 4x4 Elegance 1.9 TDi.

Two other points I'd like to ask about are:

1. how do I know if I need to replace the seat belts?

2. are there any collision sensors behind the front bumper that I need to fix? note, the knock was right on the end of the main strut which supports the bumper, and I noticed that the end of this strut was quite damaged. I'm worried that there is some sensor inside. if there is, will the airbags still work after I refit new ones and reset the module?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Edited 17 May, 201115 yr by furryboffin

The airbag controller is located behind the central console, on the floor

Surprised it needs to be removed to be reset tbh.

I would imagine the pin that fired the airbags would need to be changed, and that VAGCOM would be able to identify the pin that triggered deployment.

Whilst you can reset module fault codes, you cannot reset the module after a crash via the OBD port. They are designed that way to protect the permanent crash data from overwriting. They are designed to be replaced.

Some contain electro-mechanical trip switches. In many cases the unit will have to be opened to get around this design feature.

Thanks for the reply! I need to take it out to send it off to be cleared. I bought a replacement airbag kit which comes with clearing of the fault codes, but you have to send them the box for them to do it. I have already replaced the dashboard and the two airbags now. took me about 8 hours to do everything. not knowing what I was doing at the start didn't help much!

I would like to know what the "pins" are that you refer to. Where are they located and what do they do? if it's fired, do I need to replace it? Also does anyone know if I should replace the seat belts too? or if there is a way to determine if I need to, using VAGCOM?

Thanks again for your help.

BTW... the local dealer where I live quoted me 7000 Swiss Francs to fix the car up after the airbags deployed. I bought the replacement dash and airbag kit for 800 quid, which seemed pretty dear at the time, but after I looked for a replacement dashboard over here, they were asking for 1500 CHF! So I think I made a reasonable saving doing it myself.

I assume that the front airbags are triggered in the same way as the side airbags, which is via a simple device whereby on impact a pin is pushed into what is basically a circuit breaker, triggering the airbags.

I'd guess you'd be able to locate the 'pin' under where the impact was (underneath the bumper)

Switzerland isn't a cheap place for cars, particularly now the exchange rate has gone fubar

There are no pins to worry about.

On your car, the only sensors external to the airbag controller are the side-impact sensors. The sensor for frontal impacts is in the airbag control module itself.

I hope you are right RW! How does one go about learning such obscure facts? So the only last remaining points is whether or not I should change the seat belts? Once I get the airbag module back, I will VAGCOM the car for faults again and see if something comes up about the seat belts. Does anyone know what happens in a frontal impact to the seat belts? I hear somewhere that they have pretensioners which fire and you have to replace them. Does that make sense. note that the auto lock mechanism still works just fine on my existing belts. So they do work, presumably they would just not have pretensioners for another impact. If nothing comes up on VAGCOM, how would I go about figuring out if they have fired or not?

Thanks again for all your input guys.

Just because the front airbags deployed, does not mean that the pretensioners fired.

Usually, the belts lock and cannot be withdrawn, but you need to do a visual inpection of the belt all the way back to the belt reel. Some belts have a load limiter, which is actually just an area of weakened stitching that rips out at very high load.

If you were in the car, then you would know if the pretensioners fired. The belt is pulled extremely tight.

VCDS (new name for VAGCOM) will show a fault if the pretensioners have fired and have not been replaced.

You would replace both the belt and tensioner if the tensioner has fired.

hi RW, thanks again... in that case I would guess they didn't fire, I don't remember the belts tightening. I was in the car when the airbags fired, it was all quite a shock, so hard to say for sure. but the belts seem just fine right now. I will wait for the airbag module to come back, then I will check with VAGCOM.

Now on to the next problem. I have another fault code telling me I have a problem with the injector on cylinder 1. Also, the car often loses power and judders as if I'm losing cylinders while running. turning off and on the engine seems to clear it most of the time, but not all the time.

doing a search for the error code brings this:

18074/P1666 - Valve for Pump - Jet: Cylinder 1 (N240): Electrical Malfunction

Possible Symptoms

* Irregular rpm

Possible Causes

* Wiring and/or connections to/from the Valve for Pump Jet

* Valve for Pump Jet

Possible Solutions

* Check wiring and Check / Clean all connections

* Replace the cable-tree to/from all the Valves for Pump Jet

* Replace Valve for Pump Jet (replace them all !)

Does anyone know how to go about this? where to buy one? etc

Edited 18 May, 201115 yr by furryboffin

...18074/P1666 - Valve for Pump - Jet: Cylinder 1 (N240): Electrical Malfunction...

The most likely cause for this is the injector loom failing. This is a common fault and the loom is easy to replace. You can get the loom from the dealer, but given you are in Switzerland, you may do better looking online.

The most likely cause for this is the injector loom failing. This is a common fault and the loom is easy to replace. You can get the loom from the dealer, but given you are in Switzerland, you may do better looking online.

ok cool thanks... does this look like the right part?

ebay Skoda 1.9 TDi Injector Loom

... any suggestions for a good supplier online?

Edited 20 May, 201115 yr by furryboffin