Airbag fault and loss of steering power

[Dyldo]

Hi everyone
I was following my wife when i saw her pull over. She was in the tdi golf and she said she heard three chimes and all the warning lamps came on and she lost power steering. She said the airbag light was yellow and not red. The steering appears weighty and dull but not purely mechanical but definitely lacking.
RTFM says it's an airbag and ELectro mechanical steering fault. Anyone know why? what cancause this? Can i drop it in to vw without a booking as it seems like an emergency?
Dylan

[brisgtimkv]

roadside assist might not be a bad idea. i'm assuming you're not still at the side of the road though. if you drove it home, go to bed and in the morning call a dealer/non dealer mechanic of your choice. explain to them the serious and potentially life threatening nature of your fault and ask them if they can do anything for you today. sounds like a plan.

[Dyldo]

UPDATE - called Roadside Assistance, and they said "this service is only if you are completely immobilised - please call your local vw dealer". not what i expected to be honest.

The EMS steering light has now gone off, but the yellow airbag light is still on. any thoughts?

[Dyldo]

also, how's my car is booked in for Thursday for a 60K km service and i called them just now to let them know of the faults and that it was obviously dangerous and i'd like to bring it in earlier, and get told "well, you could bring it on but we're pretty busy so we can't work on it till thursday anyway".... awesome.

The fault codes that would invariably have been logged with this problem, they'd have to be cleared by VAGcom yes? I don't know if my local grease guy could do it but keen to go to him regardless because of VW's attitude. I don't want them to drop everything to attend to me as, seriously, my car's not exactly on fire - but surely an airbag fault and loss of power stering is a serious enough fault for a emergency service slot?

Which brings up a second interesting point - i have owned 2 Mk5 Golfs in the past 3 years and my latest one is via Fleetpartners, who claim to have "priority reserved" service slots but thats not working too well either.

/rant over

[Maverick]

also, how's my car is booked in for Thursday for a 60K km service and i called them just now to let them know of the faults and that it was obviously dangerous and i'd like to bring it in earlier, and get told "well, you could bring it on but we're pretty busy so we can't work on it till thursday anyway".... awesome.

The car isn't dangerous and I don't see how you have made that determination given what you've posted here, it has a yellow air bag fault and the steering wheel angle sensor has fixed itself.

The fault codes that would invariably have been logged with this problem, they'd have to be cleared by VAGcom yes? I don't know if my local grease guy could do it but keen to go to him regardless because of VW's attitude.

Why do you want to clear the codes? Don't you want Volkswagen to fix the fault? If the steering wheel warning has cleared the power steering may now be working. Sounds like a glitch with the steering wheel controller or the clock spring.

I don't want them to drop everything to attend to me as, seriously, my car's not exactly on fire - but surely an airbag fault and loss of power stering is a serious enough fault for a emergency service slot?

Why? The car is still drivable isn't it? Wouldn't you rather they got cars back on the road quickly that were not drivable?

Which brings up a second interesting point - i have owned 2 Mk5 Golfs in the past 3 years and my latest one is via Fleetpartners, who claim to have "priority reserved" service slots but thats not wking too well either.

Service slots for routine servicing I assume they mean.

[Big Yellow]

ive had the steering wheel icon flash up 2 times and when checked with vagcom it was a steering sensor angle sensor. when dealer checked it, they determined it was an intermittant fault, as the car drove normally (i determined that it didnt not feel any different prior and post warning light coming on).

never had an airbag one though, unless they are related.

[Dyldo]

from your replies, it does look like a steering angle sensor fault. Still unsure what has caused it or what it is entirely, but it does appear fairly innocuous (until it gets worse and the red light comes on).

The manual doesn't mention anything about this, so thanks heaps to Maverick and Big Yellow for helping me at least understand what's gone wrong. Looks like i can keep my hat on till service time.

[bazzle]

from your replies, it does look like a steering angle sensor fault. Still unsure what has caused it or what it is entirely, but it does appear fairly innocuous (until it gets worse and the red light comes on).

The manual doesn't mention anything about this, so thanks heaps to Maverick and Big Yellow for helping me at least understand what's gone wrong. Looks like i can keep my hat on till service time.

And please change your sig etc so we can see where you live. Might help next time for people to suggest somewhere.

Bazzle

[Dyldo]

Update - VW service just phoned me and it turns out the Gateway Control module has failed and needs to be replaced. This is an overnight job so I am carless till tomorrow. Interesting to see where this ended up. The service guys initially thought perhaps a front wheel had been thrown out by bad tyre pressures, but i tend to keep those pretty good.

[Dyldo]

Update - Turns out the drain pipe for all the water and condensation that comes from the AC system was either broken or blocked, and was leaking all of its water onto the Gateway Control Module which caused it to fail. They've replaced the module and claimed to have fixed the leak, but time will tell i guess.
They also have now somehow stuffed my AVC unit and now the stereo won't turn off after taking the keys out (unless you power down the unit manually via its power button) and the volume and mute keys on the steering wheel now also don't work.
I guess the car has to go back to VW.

[Maverick]

Update - Turns out the drain pipe for all the water and condensation that comes from the AC system was either broken or blocked, and was leaking all of its water onto the Gateway Control Module which caused it to fail. They've replaced the module and claimed to have fixed the leak, but time will tell i guess.
They also have now somehow stuffed my AVC unit and now the stereo won't turn off after taking the keys out (unless you power down the unit manually via its power button) and the volume and mute keys on the steering wheel now also don't work.
I guess the car has to go back to VW.

Volkswagen aren't responsible for the AVC not powering off and you will be wasting your time taking it back to Volkswagen.

You have a new gateway (most likely a AA) and the AVC only powers off with a few revisions of the gateway. This is an issue with the AVC and you'll need to take it up with the seller/manufacturer but there is no fix IIRC and they either want you to do a dodgy relay fix or turn it off manually.

If you leave it the car battery will be flat after 24-36 hours.

[Dyldo]

So, this has happened again. And again with my wife driving (see the coincidence here )

I'll be taking it up with VW again, but getting it to a service centre might be tricky. She is refusing to start now and is stuck in Bowral, with the nearest centre being Liverpool i'd imagine. They're good, but does Roadside Assist cover a pick-up to fix a fault that they should have fixed properly in the first place?

If the gateway module blew because the AC drain hose was leaking onto it, and you change the Gateway module... haven't you just treated a brain tumour with an aspirin?

[Maverick]

So, this has happened again. And again with my wife driving (see the coincidence here )

I'll be taking it up with VW again, but getting it to a service centre might be tricky. She is refusing to start now and is stuck in Bowral, with the nearest centre being Liverpool i'd imagine. They're good, but does Roadside Assist cover a pick-up to fix a fault that they should have fixed properly in the first place?

If the gateway module blew because the AC drain hose was leaking onto it, and you change the Gateway module... haven't you just treated a brain tumour with an aspirin?

That analogy is pretty inaccurate considering they replaced the faulty component with a brand new one.

If some water did leak and take out the gateway replacing it would resolve the issue.

It's possible that the dripping condensation didn't kill the gateway (it still would have at some point) and the after market head unit did. Do you still have that head unit installed? I'd be looking at that as the likely culprit unless there is condensation dripping again.

[Dyldo]

wowsers - you think the AVC is causing the fault? wtf? never heard of a stereo causing a fault like that.

Trouble is, I think I have binned my old stereo....dumb i know.

[Russ59]

Shouldn't be too difficult to come across an RCD300 head unit to try as a temporary replacement. :>)