Skoda Octavia 2003 1.6i Airbag Light

[Caesar]

Hello All

I disconnected the Car's Battery for 1 Hour to check the connections on the instrument cluster which had recently been giving problems but appears to be OK now. The airbag light now stays on even though nothing was diassembled or touched! Can anyone shed light on this problem is it a ECU problem? How can this problem be rectified? Many thanks for any help.

 

[gregers]

it might be as simple as reset the codes in the ecu,it has no doubt logged a fault,something like vag-com should be able to do the trick,or it might be a faulty clock spring.

 

[Caesar]

Dear Gregers

Many thanks for your reply, could you please tell me what is a 'Clock Spring' and where might it be located? Many thanks.

 

[sisize]

A clock spring is located under the steering wheel on the steering column,(its a spring that contains wires, it saves having a wiring loom up to the drivers airbag that would otherwise get twisted when turning the wheel) on some vehicles if you disconnect the battery the steering angle sensor loses it position which brings on esp,traction and sometimes srs lights and you have to relearn it. You do this by going from lock to lock on the steering a few times.

 

[Caesar]

Dear Sisizes

Many thanks for your very informative reply. Do you think if I turn the steering wheel from lock to lock a few times the Airbag light will switch off or does it mean re-programme of the ECU is needed? I had dosconnect the car battery for over 2 hours and since then this light has come on?

 

[wotan]

Have a check under the seats, for loose connections to the seat belt pre tensioners, if fitted, these are in series with the airbag warning light system.

Wotan

 

[Mickymoody]

Clockspring technology is generally for turning on and off turn signals, don't let him wind you up!

Cars with aftermarket steeringwheels generally case an issue in this regard.

You MUST connect positive first...then when you connect the earth, it sparks excessively, it means there is some live circuit drawing power...you must connect negative cleanly, otherwise it scrambles alarms, central locking etc...if it sparks, repeat the process.

A passenger that pulls their seat all the way backwards, can unplug the connector to the ecu, thus instigating a fault? Or a minor bump?

And after all that tosh, the airbag ECU is diagnosable, and resettable. VAG is mentioned, and a kit from Halfrauds can reset it. As mentioned in another thread, I can read my codes by shorting out te1 and e1 in the fusebox, but other vehicles after 1998 need a special reader (OBD), but that gives control to actually reprogramme data back into the system, as well as reset. If you want to reset an airbag warning, then £40 equipment from Halfrauds will do that, spend a little more, go for it, reset your mileage to 0, add performance mods...blow your engine!

After OBD came OBDII, totally tune your engine. Plug your laptop into your car.

 

[jetex]

Clockspring technology is generally for turning on and off turn signals, don't let him wind you up!

Micky, what a load of rubbish you spout. Sisize is absolutely correct. The clockspring is not an actual spring, but a wiring ribbon inside/under the steering wheel. It's connected to the airbag, and is to prevent the wiring breaking when the steering wheel is turned from lock to lock. If this is broken, it will put the airbag warning light on. Your also living in the past regarding obtaining the OBD codes. From 2000, all cars have a standard OBD socket. On earler cars, you could link two pins out on the diagnostic socket and get the M.I.L lamp to flash a type of 'Morse Code', but you cannot do this on modern cars.

 

[Mickymoody]

Clockspring technology is generally for turning on and off turn signals, don't let him wind you up!

Micky, what a load of rubbish you spout. Sisize is absolutely correct. The clockspring is not an actual spring, but a wiring ribbon inside/under the steering wheel. It's connected to the airbag, and is to prevent the wiring breaking when the steering wheel is turned from lock to lock. If this is broken, it will put the airbag warning light on. Your also living in the past regarding obtaining the OBD codes. From 2000, all cars have a standard OBD socket. On earler cars, you could link two pins out on the diagnostic socket and get the M.I.L lamp to flash a type of 'Morse Code', but you cannot do this on modern cars.

And after all that tosh, the airbag ECU is diagnosable, and resettable. VAG is mentioned, and a kit from Halfrauds can reset it. As mentioned in another thread, I can read my codes by shorting out te1 and e1 in the fusebox, but other vehicles after 1998 need a special reader (OBD), but that gives control to actually reprogramme data back into the system, as well as reset. If you want to reset an airbag warning, then £40 equipment from Halfrauds will do that, spend a little more, go for it, reset your mileage to 0, add performance mods...blow your engine

Which parts did you choose not to read?