Location of Airbag Connector

[gavinsky23]

Just a quick Q, got the fault from Vagcom for the connector under the driver's seat for the Airbag fault. Was going to have a look and try giving it a clean before I do anything else.

I've had a quick look and jacked up the seat as high as it'll go but don't see the connector. Can it be accessed in this way and do I have to remove any trim from the seat?

If anyone can give a rough location for it it would be much appreciated so that I can find it and fix it and then clear the fault.

Thanks

 

[Blue_Thunder]

It should be very obvious to see. It's a bright yellow plastic connector. The wiring goes into the carpet near the heater vent if memory serves me right. You can't normally 'jack the seat up' because the airbag connector prevents you from doing so.

Has the light just come on, or has it always been on in your ownership?

 

[gavinsky23]

Thanks. the light has always been on since I've had it. I got Vagcom and it said the fault was the driver's side igniter which I reset but it came back on again.

When I say jack up I just meant using the height adjuster. Do I need to remove any bits off the bottom of the seat?

Also is it best to access from the front of the seat or the rear?

 

[moschino]

There should be 2 connecters
1 for teh Airbag and 1 for the Seatbelt retracter.
1 connecter only has one wire - Seatbelt retracter
The other has 2 wires - Side Airbag.

Did you get an Intermittant High Resistance error?

If so then this is the most common fault. Due to pre 2000 cars not having gold plated connecters.

You could try cleaning, however the light will come back on again after a few weeks/Months.

The only way around this is to cut out the connecter and directly solder the wires. No resistance this way.

Easy job to do. You will have to disconnect the seat runner so you can lift the whole seat up to give yourself room to work. Should take no longer that 30 Mins to do the whole job.

Just make sure you are touching the chassis before you touch the connecters incase you have a lot of static charge in your body - could set the Airbag off.

Regards,
Jim.

 

[gavinsky23]

Thanks I was planning on just trying to clean it first and see how it goes. I presume to do this I don't have to remove the seat. Can I access it from the front of the seat?

 

[aragorn]

what year is the car, and what is the exact fault code?

 

[gavinsky23]

The car is a '97 1.8T. I can't remember what the exact fault code but it was 'intermittent - driver's side air bag igniter' or similar. From searching I reckon it is the connector under the seat but I was just wanting to double check where it is and if it is easy to get to to try cleaning it firstly

 

[aragorn]

The reason i ask early cars dont have side airbags, so if thats the case it could be the main airbag, and will explain why you cant see the wires

 

[gavinsky23]

That's true, I only had a quick look, will hopefully have a better look tomorrow

 

[moschino]

You can tell if your car has side Airbags in the seat by -

Feel the side of the back of the seat, if you can feel a hard plastic lump about half way up then you have Side Airbags.
Sometimes there will be a little tag sstitched into the seat fabric warning of an Airbag.

My 1998 TDi has the Airbags in the seat.

 

[jcb]

undo the front bolt/clip on teh centre runner and tilt the seat up/back, don't slide it or it will come off the runners at the back and break the plastic cover at the rear end of the runner (I know becuase I did it!)
you can then look under properly without the need for a childs arm.
I slightly bent the metal internal connector to put more pressure through the connection which seemed to do the trick.

 

[ado66]

i'm fairly sure a4's didn't have side airbags before 1998. the code is to do with the airbag in the steering wheel.

 

[gavinsky23]

If this is the case and it doesn't have side airbags then is there a easy solution or does it require a few parts?

The code did relate to airbag ignitor - driver's side and was intermittent. I'll run vagcom again and post up the exact fault.

 

[aragorn]

If those were the exact words its probably the main airbag.

if its a side airbag it would say "side airbag ignitor..."

Chances are if its the main airbag, its probably the contact ring that sits between the airbag and the steering column.

 

[gavinsky23]

If this is the case is it possible to just clean it or is a replacement normally required?

 

[gavinsky23]

Sorry I never got the chance to check it for a few days. I checked the codes again and got the following:

00588 - Airbag Igniter - driver's side (N95)
32 - 10 Resistance too high - Intermittent

Unfortunately I can't search the forum just now but from the rosstech wiki I think it is definitely the slip/contact ring.

Is it likely to just be dirt? I presume I'll need to take the wheel of anyway and see if it looks OK?

 

[aragorn]

You cant really "see" the slip ring, its a ribbon coil inside a plastic housing.

Might be worth trying to get another one, but you need to ensure the coil is at the midpoint and stays there when swapping it over.

 

[OllyS4]

Sorry to high jack but it is relivant.
I've got 2 codes for my airbag light. I've soldred both seat plugs and cleared the codes but they came back the next day.
My car has had a bump in the past but i don't know if the airbags went off or not. any ideas?

2 Faults Found:
00588 - Airbag Igniter: Driver Side (N95)
32-00 - Resistance too High
00589 - Airbag Igniter 1: Passenger Side (N131)
32-00 - Resistance too High

 

[aragorn]

Those codes are nothing to do with the seats.

Seats come up as "Side Airbag Igniter"

In both cases its the main airbags its talking about.

 

[gavinsky23]

You cant really "see" the slip ring, its a ribbon coil inside a plastic housing.

Might be worth trying to get another one, but you need to ensure the coil is at the midpoint and stays there when swapping it over.

Ok Thanks for that. I presume then that there is not much you can do to repair it? I assume that this is the plastic housing which sits immediately behind the steering wheel which has the small wire coming off the top of it?

 

[aragorn]

Aye. Thats the most likely cause.

It could be the ignitor itself (ie the airbag itself) but the ring is more likely i think.

Find an A4 in a breakers, remove the ring ensuring its removed in the "dead ahead" position and make sure it goes back on like that.

 

[gavinsky23]

If it is located within the housing, is there not a locator tab n the back of in anyway, therefore it will only come off in the one position?

Also I don't suppose you'd know if it is the same part on a '97 A6, as I know my local scrappy has one of them in just now.

 

[aragorn]

Its designed to rotate. But it will only rotate so far before you pull the coil tight and snap it...

As such when you remove it, you need to make sure its in the middle of its rotation, and stays there when transferring it to the new wheel.

The A6 unit might work, but there was a changeover around then.

 

[gavinsky23]

it is defo the older shape A6 which changed just after that.

Just to clarify, when you remove the 'wheel is the contact ring still on the car or attached to the wheel? I presume it is still on the car, in the black housing and once the wheel is off it is just a small electrical connector to disconnect?

 

[aragorn]

hmm from memory it stays on the car, but then i think early and late cars are different.

And by the looks of it, that A6 is the same as yours.

 

[gavinsky23]

That's great thanks. If it makes any difference mine is the same year, model and Eng code as in your sig.

So to summarise, make sure wheels are straight, take the airbag off, then wheel off. Then disconnect the connector going to the small black housing and remove it.

I also presume they are not specific to the steering wheel as mine is a sport and I think the one in the scrappy may be an SE.