I started the engine with the drivers door open. The Airbag fault light and warning came on.

Everything else works fine.

Garage put the tester on and the readout was "Side Airbag Intermittant" fault.

Not sure if it was reset , but it displayed and went out as normal for the next 50 or so times the engine was started using the car normally. 

 

Then, talking to a neighbour, I had the door open, and inadvertantly started the engine. Bang, Airbag light came on again.

 

I believe that the fault trigger is based upon the sequence of events - like the open door and starting the engine.

 

So, is it possible to reset the light remotely? I am aware of the consequences if there really is an airbag failure, but if it onl;y comes on after a sequence of events and after a garage reset, works as intended - the light comes on and stays on after starting the engine for a couple of seconds before going out. No error message on the display so I presume the initial start up test is ok.

1 minute ago, Arcadash said:

Then, talking to a neighbour, I had the door open, and inadvertantly started the engine. Bang, Airbag light came on again.

For clarity, I guess this is just an expression right!?! 🤪

 

You may have a broken wire in the door loom causing you trouble, cannot say for certain, but seems a likely suspect given the sequence you mentioned.

Yep, bad choice of words.

Thanks for the quick reply, I will get it checked out.

But,

Is it possible to reset the warning using a hand held tester?

Not unless its a high level one that can interrogate the individual control modules, in this case the airbag control module.

 

Most claim to be able to do everything but in reality will only report generic OBDII fault codes and not be able to reset safety critical ones.

Thanks, appreciate the input.

I am good friends with the owner of the garage I use, so I will see what type of gizmo he uses.

Oddly, the code would not reset while the drivers door was open so I suspect a bug in the software.

 

So, if I disconnect the battery, wait for say 5 mins and reconnect, will that reset the ECU?

Or cause me more grief!

Most likely the fault is a broken wire in the drivers door loom and not a software bug.

 

Yes I know the side airbag is in the seat and nothing to do with the drivers door but try telling VCDS that!

 

There is a sensor in the door, if the circuit is broken it brings up a fault code which like many in VCDS (probably the VAG code as well) bears little relation to the actual fault, possibly translation errors.

41 minutes ago, Arcadash said:

So, if I disconnect the battery, wait for say 5 mins and reconnect, will that reset the ECU?

 

No!

Impact sensor in door 

As above broken wire in door harness

lots of info on here for fixing

Finally got it fixed. A replacement door loom was the answer. The old one was broken in many places so I got a new one. I will be repairing the old one as a backup with earphone wire which is a LOT more bendy. Looks like the original was old Post Office Telephone wire!