Hello all, I recently bought an Octavia sedan MPI 1.6 -06 that had some scratches and bruises after a crash from behind.

Non of the airbags had been inflated but the back and passenger seat belts are locked and the airbag light is on!

I manually got the seat belts to unlock by opening them up and removing those metal balls, but the airbag light is still on. 

 

I went to a local auto shop where they tried to clear the crash code data but it didn't help.

So now my question is this:

- Can the airbag sensor module be reprogrammed to shut the light or do I have to buy a new one?

- Do I have to replace the seat belts or can the old ones be used after they have been locked?

 

 

I would appreciate some input on this subject,

thank you and greetings from Finland!

Speaking as someone who once rolled a car, I'd certainly want to replace any seatbelts that were in use at the time of the crash (so certainly the driver's belt), and it used to be that you could only buy front belts in pairs.

 

Next, your car doesn't just have airbags, but also seatbelt tensioners. Are you 100% certain that none of those (again, most likely the driver's) have activated? That could throw an airbag warning light. So could electronics faults with the airbag system even though the bags haven't deployed.

All those parts are single use and destruct after a crash. it sounds like the pretensioners in the belts fired and that is why they were locked, they should never be re-used. If the airbag ECU is reporting that something has fired then it must be replaced since the codes are permanent and cannot be cleared.

Airbag sensor probably has crash signal on it.  There are companies who can remove them but can often be cheaper to buy 2nd hand from a breakers yard.  I would also physically change the seatbelts as it sounds like the pre tensioners have done their job - one time use only.