I have recently done an engine conversion into a skoda Octavia elegance, the 4x4 model.  The seats were a horrid yellow fabric.  So I swapped them all out for my leather VRS seats.  However.. my VRS ones do not have airbags..  the yellow fabric ones did.  Which means there is a connector under each seat I was unable to connect to anything.  This of course is causing the airbag failure light to show on the dash..  How can I trick or switch off these two connectors so that they no longer show as an error to the ECU?  I obviously still want to keep the driver and passenger airbags active.  Just switch off the seat airbags, which no longer exist!

 

It's due for it's MOT soon and I am concerned it will fail unless I find a way to turn this error off.

 

Cheers,

Samuel

Edited 5 September, 20187 yr by sammyhale30

I believe you can either get them coded out or fit resistors into the connectors to fool the system into thinking there's an airbag connected.

Recode the airbag control unit with VCDS to remove the side airbags.

Can you recode them using the light version of VCDS?  I have this.   I would need to know the adaptation codes too? 

Never tried with LITE. The adaptation channels should be in the file in the control unit.

 

Depending on the control unit it may be able to do via coding rather than adaptation.

You cant just code them out, the light will come back up immediately. 

 

You will have to solder the correct resistors into the floor plug but I cant remember off the top of my head what ohmage they are.

 

I did it years ago to my Passat B5 when I fitted RS6 seats but the plugs were totally different

 

You may even be able to by blanking plugs off ebay, I know you can for most BMW's. They plug straight in with the resistor in but you'll still need VAGcom to turn it off 

8 minutes ago, fwdnewbie said:

You cant just code them out, the light will come back up immediately. 

 

You will have to solder the correct resistors into the floor plug but I cant remember off the top of my head what ohmage they are.

 

I did it years ago to my Passat B5 when I fitted RS6 seats but the plugs were totally different

 

You may even be able to by blanking plugs off ebay, I know you can for most BMW's. They plug straight in with the resistor in but you'll still need VAGcom to turn it off 

 

Coded plenty of them out before.

 

Stands to reason not all Octavias have side airbags but the control units arent all different. The coding allows you to change its configuration, so some can be configured for a vehicle that didnt have them in the first place.

In the depth of the ecu yes it can if you know correctly how to use VAGcom but the majority or people dont have a clue hence the reason about LITE.

 

It would help if the system wasnt so over complicated, rather than values it should just be a case of YES/NO or OFF/ON

 

If you solder the resistor in you can then just delete the code with a cheap code scanner which will ultimately cost a lot less

9 hours ago, fwdnewbie said:

It would help if the system wasnt so over complicated, rather than values it should just be a case of YES/NO or OFF/ON

 

VCDS is based structually on a very old version of the dealer diagnostic equipment. They have included many options to assist, just about every box will have a pop up balloon to explain options. Thats a hell of a lot more than we did back in the day. Techs these days get a nice fuzzy idiot proof guided fult finding program (I know, I author them for a living lol) which literally has a plain text mask in front of the coding that goes on behind.

 

Ultimately, personally I think if you dont know enough about diagnostics to alter an adaptation or coding (or find someone that does) then its probably not good idea to be soldering things into a still active airbag system. But thats just my take on things, its easy for me though as I know both methods inside and out.

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by Tech1e

But thats my argument, you dont need any knowledge of coding if you use resistors.

 

Find out the resistors needed and with a £20 ebay scanner scan the airbag system then just clear the code, easy.

 

I've got VCDS and have had so many VAG cars over the past 15yrs that I'm quite compatent with it but I only use it if completely necessary (admittedly its an old and confusing version) to recode.

 

In this scenario I dont think its worth coding out

On 07/09/2018 at 18:26, Tech1e said:

 

VCDS is based structually on a very old version of the dealer diagnostic equipment. They have included many options to assist, just about every box will have a pop up balloon to explain options. Thats a hell of a lot more than we did back in the day. Techs these days get a nice fuzzy idiot proof guided fult finding program (I know, I author them for a living lol) which literally has a plain text mask in front of the coding that goes on behind.

 

Ultimately, personally I think if you dont know enough about diagnostics to alter an adaptation or coding (or find someone that does) then its probably not good idea to be soldering things into a still active airbag system. But thats just my take on things, its easy for me though as I know both methods inside and out.

 

Thanks for the insight Tech1e. After using VCDS-Lite myself and working in the software industry I did wonder if dealers were still using such clunky systems. Out of interest do you author the manuals or the actual software?

(Sorry for the off-topic!)

15 hours ago, petrolbloke said:

 

Out of interest do you author the manuals or the actual software?

(Sorry for the off-topic!)

 

I currently author the content of the dealer diagnostic system (ODIS) for Lamborghini, same system as the rest of group use.