Airbag light on

[sparkie]

The airbag light has come on on my Tdi 1995, what does it mean and what do I do about it?

[ScienceVR6]

head to your local VW dealer, OR, i belive there are some members with the required equipment to find out what the issue is. The light usualy indicates a fault, and the airbag may or may not work in the event of an accident.

[h100vw]

Some kind of fault, maybe just a cable come undone. Easy to clear with VAG-COM assuming there isn't actually a fault there now.

Sometimes happens when folk remove seats or disturb airbag computers with the battery connected. The airbag computer registers a fault which has to be cleared.
Gavin

[Bora Sport]

It could be the slip ring under the air bag on the steering wheel. Some people call it a clock spring. We had one fail on the Vento after the guys who installed the cruise control took the steeting wheel off.

[WA Euro]

some cars can get a poor connection in the seatbelt pretensioner circuits under the seats. This would be my first point of call personally.
Get your hands under the front seats and wiggle about at the wiring (ignition off of course!).
If that is your problem, then the next time you turn on your ignition, your airbag light should go off.
Also worth a try is to disconnect the battery negative lead for a couple of hours to let the airbag computer power down. Reconnect it and see if the light is off.
If neither of these work, then it will require a scan to diagnose which airbag/circuit is at fault. It may just be a case of erasing the faults.
My MKIII GTI had the airbag light on when i bought it, erased the faults on 5051 (or whatever its called) at work and it never came back.
And as for the functionality of the SRS system whilst the light is on - When a fault is detected in the system it disarms itself and illuminates the light. No airbags will deploy in the event of a collision.

Hope this helps

Steve-o

[aprr32]

Its always the clockspring on the steering wheel,Golf,Polo,T4,Passat and Audi all the same.

[Bora Sport]

Its always the clockspring on the steering wheel,Golf,Polo,T4,Passat and Audi all the same.

That makes 2 votes for the clock spring lol. Not that it is a laughing matter.

[sparkie]

OK clockspring ir airbag light, whichever it is. Someone has already had the steering wheel cowling off recently which means someone has been tampering maybe to get the pink sli. Is this a DIY, auto-electrician ir dealer job

Thanks you guys are so helpful

[sparkie]

Went to the dealer on Tuesday, very wierd experience, they spent a lot of time cosseting me with courtesy bus, coffee, etc, very smart. Anyway it cost me $55 to get hooked up and they cleared the code (said it being an old car, 1995!!, there were a few old uncancelled codes) and to monitor the airbag light and to go back if it comes on. Funny thing is that the car has been serviced by the VW dealer in Wagga for all its life so I think the ldea it had a few codes uncancelled is unlikely. Still light is still off, fingers crossed

[Bora Sport]

I hope you are lucky. Ours came back on within a day.

[sparkie]

It came back on again after 5 days! So is this something I can fix myself or not, the dealer mechanic is suggesting a clock spring is a bit expensive and it may not be the problem.

[Tim]

i wouldnt replace it blindly.
did they give u the printout from the code scan they did? that code can sometimes be an indication of where the problem lies.

[Golf Loon]

I reckon It`ll be the clockspring.
$100 for a secondhand one, how much for a new one?

[frank_grimes]

where is the clock spring?