right, plugged my 2006 vrs into my ethos at work today to see if i can turn the airbag light off, goes off then comes straight back on.

it's given me this info:

01217, side airbag igniter driver side (N199) upper limit reached.

first off i panicked! then i got my head back on (always stress when it's my own car!) could it be the famous wiring under the seat? i'm figuring upper limit reached means there is a high resistance somewhere? anyone familiar with this fault code could help me out point me in the right direction?

i'm way too used to working on big old dirty diesels!

moved the seat, cleared the codes again and it's stayed off! think that confirms it's the wiring then!

Yep, could just have been the wiring to the unit; perhaps it's been stretched?

For others info though, you need to be careful with this type of faults, obviously because of the device in question! If the error code displays "Short to positive" or "Short to ground" DO NOT CLEAR THE FAULT CODE. This can cause the airbag to deploy....

Yeah I read that too! After the 2 going off in my mk1 in the crash I certainly wouldn't want to set one off while working in there!

Not sure if the wiring would have stretched, from what I've read there seems to be a weak point in the wiring plugs?

For the benefit of other coming across the thread, more than anything!

From what I've seen, if the seat is left in a certain position, particular if it's set quite far back and the wire is under a bit of tension, then you can sometimes see an issue flag up, such as the upper limit message you saw. Seems to be a bit hit and miss though to be honest, so could quite easily be down to wiring/plug design.

For the benefit of other coming across the thread, more than anything!

From what I've seen, if the seat is left in a certain position, particular if it's set quite far back and the wire is under a bit of tension, then you can sometimes see an issue flag up, such as the upper limit message you saw. Seems to be a bit hit and miss though to be honest, so could quite easily be down to wiring/plug design.

ah ha! well the lad i bought the car off was a pretty lanky so it could well be along those lines, ammusingly i moved the seat a click backwards this morning on my way to work and the light came back on. seat out over the weekend i think.

We have a bulletin on this fault. Repair is to remove the yellow connector under the seat and the one in the floor space and rewire with the proper crimp/heatshrink connectors. The resistance normally comes from the connector itself. If that doesn't sort it it's normally the airbag, the loom that's attached to it eventually gives up where is bends around the seat back pivot point.

However this kinda repair ain't for amateurs.

i'm a fully qualified mechanic but i don't have a lot to do with anything under 3.5t these days as i work on commercial stuff. so how many connectors need chopping and soldering? i recall a very similar thing with some renault kangoo vans at work a while back, chopped out the connector between the floor and the seat soldered them together and that sorted the job out.