[ds968]

This just started last week, and it consistently happens every time I start the car ;  the  main center  “ ! “ alert light , along with the small “ air bag “  notification down to the right side of the screen, stay on for about 15-30 seconds and then both go away simultaneously the very moment I drive off and the RPM moves up from idle .  

Has anyone experienced this, and figured out the cause ?

 

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[unknown4u]

Nope. Is it not an abs failure/warning?

If the airbag is faulty it stays on the big ! Light. Can not go of because of the used software.

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[ds968]

It reads air bag but both lights go off as soon as I drive off, and never come back on or even flicker until the next time I stay the car .  Yesterday I also tried to see what happens if I just stay put after I start the car and just rev it above the rpm ; the lights disappear if I do that also !   What the heck ?!   Some sensor going bad that’s impacted by the rpm ?! 

I thought it could be the seat sensor with a loose connection ,  and as move around in the seat the weight affects it and it goes away, but then again why would it do that dependent on rpm level ?   I’m puzzled .  No idea what to check .. 

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[Roboman]

Do you know someone with a Durametric that you can get hold of Dan? 

 

You could test your seat sensor notion by getting in from the passenger side to start/rev your car. 

 

I had a problem with my airbag light, it turned out someone had piggy-backed onto the power cable for the passenger airbag (what a power line to choose?!) so you may get some joy looking under that cover, it's in the cabin, RHS, up to the side of the glove box..... possibly behind the carpet, it's been a while since I did that job.

 

Oh, and the airbag fault is triggering "!" so they will go off together at the moment as presumably you have no other faults  ..... but you really aught to find the source because there's only one "!" light, so if you choose to ignore it and something else triggers the "!" you won't know until it's too late.

 

Good luck,

 

Robert

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[94SilverCab]

I'm guessing it's a dirty ground.

 

JMHO,

 

Jay

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[ds968]

Thanks Robert , I do have a Durametric, I’ll just have to figure out how to use it .. never needed it before so not sure if it’s as simple as an OBD , just plug and play or if you need to set it up, synch it with a computer, etc.,  ?

But I’ll try the start from the other seat method and see if anything changes .  

As a last resort, Bob ( “ flash “ ) is my neighbor, he can probably figure this out in his sleep , but just wanted to first see if anyone else here has experienced this particular symptom before..  

Jay, that sounds very plausible also, but the question is where / which conduit would I check ? 

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[ds968]

Ok, so I started the car while sitting in the passenger seat ; same thing happened -  the air bag light and the big “!” stayed on at start and then disappeared on their own after about 10 seconds ( I counted this time ) . I didn’t even have to rev it beyond idle. 

Shut it off, moved back to the drivers seat and restarted it.  Same thing ;  about 10 seconds and the lights went away .  

I guess it’s time to see if the Durametric shows anything.   Not sure it would show if there’s a dirty or loose ground connection anywhere though.    For now I really don’t care, seems like some harmless electrical gremlin, I just don’t want that airbags to deploy without any reason , becuase that could be 1) painful and 2) expensive . 

 

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[ds968]

The Durametric did not show any fault codes.    

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[Roboman]

Hi Dan, I thought I'd do the right thing and try mine for comparison ..... my airbag light went off after about 3 seconds ..... without starting the car.  Does yours go out after 10 seconds without you starting your car?

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[ds968]

I start the car immediately after I put the key in, so I have no idea what lights might stay on and for how long if I just turn the key to the second position and not start the car .   But I’ll test that today and report back .  

 

Ok, so now I’m confused :  if I don’t start the car and just leave the key on at the second position all the multiple  lights and alerts stay on …permanently .  None of them extinguish after any amount of time .  If I start the car, only the airbag and the “i” light remain for about 10 seconds .   And no , my handbrake is not on 


I spoke to Bob ( flash ) after the durametric did not show any fault codes, and he thought the “I” and airbag lights are supposed to stay on for about 5-8 seconds after you start the car . Well, if they’re “ supposed “  to do that , they certainly never did it in my car ..until just recently .   

 

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[tejon007]

Just your normal Bavarian gremlins (although could be another species of German gremlin) ....sometimes they sneak on-board after they leave the factory in Stuttgart & sometimes they arrive decades later.



For example, when you have the turn signal lever up or down with the ignition off, the turn signal light stays on...even with the key out. Until the last month or so, our chime did not sound when the lever was up or down. Now it does.



It might have happened after I used the Durametric to diagnose or reset things, but I think that was months before this happened or at least months before I noticed...gremlins, what you gonna do??
What ever you do...do not feed them after midnight!!

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[ds968]

Indeed , German gremlins it must be.  Still not up to par with Italian electronic gremlins but often inexplicable things in spite of nothing being evidently wrong  . 

I started the car four separate times today ; the fist time the air bag light and the “ Idiot “ light  stayed on for about 8 seconds, The second rime for almost 25 seconds , and  the  last two times for less than 2 seconds !   

I’m just going to ignore the whole thing !  It’s not on while I’m driving , so who cares ?! 

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[Roboman]

"It’s not on while I’m driving , so who cares ?! " ..... I think I agree, so long as "!" goes off before you do then the system should identify should another fault occur.

 

And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all     

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[ds968]

If the <b>i </b>appears while I’m driving I usually go into panic mode, although it does show up if you’re about a quart low on oil ( luckily the small print alert tells you that )  maybe a couple of other things that are not critical enough to make you pull to the side of the road immediately, but it’s just startling enough to scare the s**t out of me for two or three seconds until I look to see what else shows on the screen.  

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[ds968]

From a master 968 mechanic :  “ sounds to me like the airbag is getting old, and the airbag module has to check it longer before determining it's OK and turning the light off . Options:

Bypass the airbags with resistors
Unplug the airbag module (requires skill)
Ignore it til it gets worse, then choose one of the above. “ 
 
I think I’ll stay with the last option.

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[unknown4u]

Perhaps it is sn idea that you'll have to clean the connectors? And after that the test will go much quicker? This because of a lower resistant.

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[ds968]

But where are the connectors ? 

 

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[Roboman]

But where are the connectors ? 

 

I should stick with your earlier decision until the symptoms change, else you're going to start 2024 on your back in the passenger well .... take it from my experience this is definitely uncomfortable.  The wiring goes through a connection box up beside the glove box (from memory, but happy to be corrected) and then follow through to the airbag unit.  Er, you are talking about passenger airbag aren't you??

 

Or as Unknown suggests, maybe the simplest thing would be to disconnect the battery and remove the steering wheel airbag (remember to leave the bag alone for 15mins after disconnecting the battery) clean all the connectors and reattach .... don't forget to follow the reattach process of "unwinding" before placement ..... I think instructions are on the bottom of the bag unit.

 

Bon chance!

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[ds968]

Ugh, no way am I capable of doing any of that ..nor willing .   Not to mention that I have no idea which of the two air bags may be involved .   The alert simply reads air bag , without specifying if it’ the  passenger or the driver one. 

I think I’ll just leave it alone considering the lights always go off after several seconds and stay off all the time I’m driving , and only show up again lingering for 10 to 30 seconds when I start the car in the morning .   If I start the car during the day after a brief pause  for shopping, etc. the lights disappear in 3-5 seconds.  

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[Inkedupfatboy]

I am having a similar issue. Just had the front end suspension redone as well as new odometer gears (which don't work) into the car.

Also new clutch slave and master cylinder as well.

Now when I start the car, I get the ! light, the airbag light, and the oil level light.

I can tap on the airbag, and that one goes out, but the other two stay on.

Then when I stop after driving and let the car sit like for lunch, then when I start the car again, not a warning light in sight.

Then after the car sits for a few days, bang, same sequence.

You would think that spend well north of 5 grand on this stupid thing it would show a little appreciation.

I guess it's a gremlin as I don't have a durametic anywhere near here.

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