Airbag Fault Won't Clear

Chrissyg

Member
Hi all,

I'm after a bit of help with an airbag fault. The fault in question is on the SBSR Saterlite, B Pillar Right, and is fault code 98F6 SBSR: Resistance, firing circuit, safety battery terminal (E85), or belt tensioner, rear right (E6x), too high.

If I clear the fault, the light goes off and stays off until I turn the car off and back on again and it's back again.

I'm just after some guidance as to what I should be inspecting first? I've tried doing a bit of a search as I know there's piles of info on these issues out there but seem to be struggling to find this one? Maybe I'm over complicating the search?

I've got full access to INPA, DIS etc.. (If anyone needs help in the South East or Warwickshire with an airbag reset or other diagnostics, let me know, I'll happily help out!).

Screenshot from DIS below:

Untitled_zpszen6zher.png

Thanks in advance for your help!

Chris
 
Hi Chris.
The air bag fault probably won't clear as it is still present.
The safety battery terminal is a small explosive charge near the positive battery terminal in the boot. If you look you should see 2 red cables coming of of the battery terminal, The idea is that in the event of an accident the explosive charge is triggered and disconnects the main power cable but the smaller of the 2 cable is left connected for hazard lights ect.
I had this fault on my E46 M3 and fortunately it was a loose plug. There is a repair cable for the E46 but its about £470. The airbag circuit should see a resistance of 2 ohms, so to check if it is this you could solder a resistor across the 2 sensor wires and if its this the light will reset.
Hope this helps Rich
 
Had this issue on the mrs' beetle cab, everyone we tried said the module was shot and to replace and daft money- sent to these guys and back the next day fixed for circa £40. :thumbsup: Worth a call.
 
Rich, when I get my car back from the body shop I'll check the cables on the battery. I agree, the fault must be still be there and ongoing :) Thanks for the pointer!

Paddy, you sent the module to who? And where can I find the module?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Chris
 
Chrissyg said:
Rich, when I get my car back from the body shop I'll check the cables on the battery. I agree, the fault must be still be there and ongoing :) Thanks for the pointer!

Paddy, you sent the module to who? And where can I find the module?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Chris

Oopps- too much wine- these guys!
http://crash-data.co.uk/en/site/bmw-airbag-module-repair-and-reset
not sure where module is but real oem should help you find it!
 
I had an airbag issues recently and annoyingly I was forced to replace it for a new one (for the lovely price of £600!)
In my search for a used module I thought I found one but when it arrived it was the wrong one, after 3 weeks of trying to get it collected for a refund the breakers yard gave up with the courier company and just gave my money back.

i can check the model number of this one if you need one
 
Chrissyg said:
Rich, when I get my car back from the body shop I'll check the cables on the battery. I agree, the fault must be still be there and ongoing :) Thanks for the pointer!

Paddy, you sent the module to who? And where can I find the module?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Chris

Has this issue and the leaking coolant been factored in on your insurance claim?
 
Sounds like seatbelt tensioner, which is fairly common problem. Get a second hand one off eBay approx £40.
 
srhutch said:
Chrissyg said:
Rich, when I get my car back from the body shop I'll check the cables on the battery. I agree, the fault must be still be there and ongoing :) Thanks for the pointer!

Paddy, you sent the module to who? And where can I find the module?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Chris

Has this issue and the leaking coolant been factored in on your insurance claim?

Good point, thinking about it I shouldn't need to be involved (I've barely slept this weekend so am a little dazed :( !) - yes the airbag was factored in and the car should come back with the warning light off as this fault appeared on the drive home from the err.. "incident", so I probably don't need this thread but I had the software available and couldn't resist a fiddle. And the rad has been moved out of position slightly - the chap that inspected it commented on it - it's just something I need to be thinking about and monitoring when I get the car back in case something is overlooked. Not convinced it was coolant now as the liquid was clear and my coolant isn't!

Anyway, we digress, thanks for the help anyway everyone - it's good to be learning these things as my other car is a very 'basic' 26 year old Land Rover, so learning the ins and outs of more modern cars is good. If anyone has any other thoughts as to what could throw up that fault, please let me know!
 
Hi Chris didn't realise your car had been in an accident until i read your other threads.
If the airbags have been deployed its quite likely that its the battery safety cable thats done its job and separated the main cable as this is what its designed to do in these situations.
I'm sure your car will come back to you all sorted.
Rich
 
Rich61 said:
Hi Chris didn't realise your car had been in an accident until i read your other threads.
If the airbags have been deployed its quite likely that its the battery safety cable thats done its job and separated the main cable as this is what its designed to do in these situations.
I'm sure your car will come back to you all sorted.
Rich

Pretty sure Chris said he drove the car back home from the accident & that it still drove perfectly at the time so I'm pretty sure that the main 12v feed was intact, I don't recall Chris saying that airbags had been deployed either although I could be wrong on that one.
 
Hi all,

Yep the car has had a little dink..! I can't be 100% sure that the fault was down to the crash as it had been outside in the rain for the week - it's usually garaged - leading up to it so (from what I've been reading so far about water ingress causing issues) it could have just chosen an opportune moment to appear. Air bags did not need to go off though, it was quite a light shunt.

Thanks again guys :)

Chris
 
Hi yes if the car started the safety cut out on the battery terminal is still in tact, so i would count that out.
 
Back
Top Bottom