Airbag – ecu – configuration error 401

[planenut]

As to the airbag light, it may be worth reconnecting the underseat plug several times to see if that cleans the terminals, or a gentle flexing with a small flat bladed screwdriver, good luck.

[hogweed]

Okay... Mr T4 is booked up for 6 weeks, so it looks like I'm going to have a go. Again.


I'm going to have to make some assumptions. First time (recently!) the light came on was when I moved the driver's seat forward to squeeze a child seat in behind.


SRS Tool identified it as pre-tensioner resistance too high, so I have to assume the wires to that module have got kinked by something, or the connectors were always dodgy, and this simply moved them a bit.


I’m going to be charitable and assume that, on all the previous occasions it’s been fixed, these wires were not implicated, so if I fix them, the light will be off long-term – anyway, I’ll concentrate on them for now.


The additional errors (Airbag ECU config etc) appeared directly after the seat was moved again – nothing else has been changed, and I haven't used the SRS Tool/TOAF or anything like that.


Trebor kindly posted some diagrams in another post. I can’t read the legend for the colours, so can’t tell what colour “N” is – so assume the wires are orange, orange/something, and red/something! If anybody knows, please post…


So I’ll get the seat up as high as I can, and hope I can find a badly kinked wire or dodgy connector.


Many years since I did any of this stuff before – don’t know if it’s easy to remove the seat completely? When I did it before, I was just able to tilt it back or forward – I’m guessing some of the wires couldn’t be disconnected or something.


Sorry it’s all a bit vague – I can't see under the seat with it in place, and can’t remember the last time with any accuracy, except that it gave me a very sore back and a bad temper

[vitesse]

I find it easier to remove the whole seat but you need a good Torx 50+ (I think that's the one) to do it. Perhaps if I was still of a working age and more supple I'd manage better.

B Black
G Green
K Pink
LG Light Green
N Brown
O Orange
P Purple
R Red
S Slate
U Blue
W White
Y Yellow


Keep well & good luck

[hogweed]

Mike, you're an absolute star - thank you.


Years ago, when I first did this, I learned of he existence of RIBE (Polydrive) screws, which are what holds the seat down. Very like Torx, but not quite


So I have a set from the last time

[hogweed]

Originally Posted by vitesse

Perhaps if I was still of a working age and more supple I'd manage better.

Me too


It's coming back to me now, from 10 years ago... the main problem was that I had to kneel beside the car with the door open, then awkwardly twist round with the sill digging into my ribs, and could never quite seem to brace myself at the right angle to hold both halves of a connector or whatever.


I wonder how it's going to feel now, 10 years older

[hogweed]

Well, one wasted morning later… so I lifted the seat, dug out all the pound coins, sunglasses, stale crisps and general filth… got in the back, and had a good look. I remember now – I removed the blue connector years ago, and soldered the wires together in shrink-fit wrap. No reason to think they had deteriorated in all this time, but I took them apart and refitted them using crimp connectors this time.


Mr T4 had already done the same with airbag wires – transparent crimps nice and tight, and you can actually see the copper filaments crushed in place inside them.


So I don’t know. I suppose the problem could be on the passenger side, but if so, it would be odd that it appeared as I moved the driver’s seat.


I guess Jamie’s right – I’ll have to schedule it in for a T4 session in 6 weeks’ time. Fortunately the MOT isn't due till August (and the way they are here at the moment, it’ll be August 2023).

[hogweed]

Just one thing... if I decide to do some resistance testing of modules (battery disconnected obviously), do I risk damage/accident?


I'm thinking specifically of the pre-tensioners - could the current from the meter fire them ?

[stevestrat]

Forgive me if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious or its something you've already checked but the airbag light can be triggered by either the airbags or the seat belt pre-tensioners. My old 1.8T actually had a knackered seat belt pre-tensioner, nothing to do with the wiring itself.

[hogweed]

Originally Posted by stevestrat

Forgive me if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious or its something you've already checked but the airbag light can be triggered by either the airbags or the seat belt pre-tensioners. My old 1.8T actually had a knackered seat belt pre-tensioner, nothing to do with the wiring itself.

Just beat you to it - see above


Only thing is, though, over my 12 years of ownership, the **** light coming on has always immediately followed moving one of the seats, and been recitifed by fixing the wiring

[stevestrat]

I battled the airbag light for a while on the 1.8T I had. I'd get rid of it only for it to reappear. In the end I gave up and had a trip to Brian's, he diagnosed the pre-tensioner.

Eventually it came back to haunt me again so went down the solder/heatshrink route but added 6" of wire all round so that seat movement wouldn't be a problem. Ended up doing the same with the 260.