Bloody air bag's. Not on my TypeR, but on the mrs' POS Fiat Punto. The Air bag light has been on since pretty much the day she bought the car back in '04 but since the new reg's it fails. I've looked at it before but never ventured that much into detail as I'd probably blow my own arm off.
I thought I'd let Fiat take a look, £495 for a new air bag ECU

Or on Ebay for £15....

Oh and my air bag light is on on my TypeR.

Just needed a rant

 

dont punto's have a thing were you can turn off the passenger air bag and it puts the light on if its been deactivated ????

 

Fit some resistors

 

pull the bulb

 

are the brakes ok

 

They do, and its been switched on and off but to no avail.

I was thinking that, a little timer switch that went off after say 3 seconds.

Yup, thought of that but it needs to be operational.

lol, funny you should say that. It failed its MOT on the air bag light, but Fiat seem to think the whole "front braking system" needs replacing. Might have something to do with my Mrs being blonde?

 

or that its a fiat.......

 

The light came on in my Citroen van. It took my garage about 30 seconds to fix it by disconnecting and reconnecting a plug in the wiring under the driver's seat.

I've no idea if yours has a similar arrangement, but if I were you, I'd ask this chap first:

www.honestjohn.co.uk

 

Wire the asb light to another light in you dash that way when you turn on ignition it comes on then goes out like it should .

 

Not a bad idea....

 

Hi mate , there is no procedure for the light like the abs sequence so if it just does not come on at all they can't fail it.
I.e. blank it out as I think it's an led on these.

I know this as I've " rectified" a few to get through the test when the repair is more than the vehicles value....lol...

 

Surely it must come on to show it works? Or are the new rules different

 

Hi mate im a mot tester and yes air bags are failing left right and centre at mo,theres no requirment that the airbag light has to illuminate so u cud remove bulb or dis arm led but i didnt tell u that lol

 

Honestly I thought this was too obvious, and that as it wouldn't light up and go out, it would just fail again. Surely everyone will do this, and loads of faulty air bags will be on the road?.

 

Wait till its the Type R's time, they will be sweeping that **** up..

 

I know mot rules are a joke heres another one since new rules u cant fail a shock absorber with neglagable damping affect so 11months ago it leaked all fluid out and now cars bouncing all over road u have to pass it!

 

if the airbag light doesn't illuminate it is a failure according to the online manual
and you can fail a shock absorber for negligible damping effect

 

Im an mot tester and not talkin ****e check new rules i do agree those were in old manual but since changes the above items arnt deamed as failure items.

 

So the air bag light will pass if its not working, but fail if it shows something's wrong with the system?

 

Lol, I won't even be risking it, and MY air bag light is on....

 

fiat lol oh well at least it isnt made of rust like your other car.

 

 

Lol thanks bud friends is on. What about abs? Cheers

 

as mentioned, the seat belt pre-tensioners wiring is a very common problem

 

so far everything i've checked says that it is a failable item, where are you getting your info from that it isn't?

 

Have you sorted it out yet kwik ?

 

No. I was meant to collect the car on Saturday and bring it back to sort out a few little bits that also failed, fog light, centre exhaust, but the mechanic that put it back together Friday apparently "forgot" a wire so isn't ready until tomorrow.
I've put it on the Fiat forum and a few of the members on there have been helpful, one with ECU's for £12 lol.

I'm not going to risk a retest with the bulb out, it will be the first thing they look for I think.

 

I bought a £10 airbag ECU from Ebay and the Punto passed the MOT Friday