Airbag light on - Have you been affected? (UK)

I have recently been subject to this problem. I bought a 3.0SE 2003 Z4 in November 2008. It has been 8 months and the airbag light has come on.

I went to the local garage to pump my tyres up. Upon leaving i reset the tyre pressure and that was when the airbag light came on - Strange!!!!!

The light has now been on for about a month. Has anyone got any ideas on how it can be fixed or will this have to be booked into a garage.

I have read different threads who recommend i pull the connectors apart underneath the passenger seat or disconnect the battery. Does this actually work? i dont want to do this and find i have caused further problems!!!!
 
BMW of N. America sent out a notice dated December 2008 about the failure of the "passenger seat occupant detection mat." When that happens both air bag warning lamp and the passenger air bag "on-off" lamp will illuminate and the passenger side air bag will not deploy. They recommend that the vehicle be serviced promptly and that passenger seat not be used until the problem is corrected. BMW N. America provides an extended warranty for this defect for ten years from the in service date of the vehicle. I got this notice for our 2003 Z4. Of course, none of this may apply to cars delivered in the UK, but if you would like to have a copy of the notice, I will send a scan of it. I don't think I can attach a document to a post on the Forum, so I'll need to direct it to an email address of your choice.

I don't know if disconnecting the battery does anything to fix the problem and I would be reluctant to experiment with the connectors under the seat. Good luck!
 
My warning light came on yesterday, 3.0 roadster early 2004 model, I will phone the garage today as I have an extended warrenty, is 400.00 pounds to fix it the going rate?
henry1
 
Had the airbag light come on.
Took it to a local non-stealer garage who hooked it up and got what they described as nonsense fault codes 22,1,95,24. They cleared them and the light has been off since. Anyone shed any light on that? oops pun!
 
This has happened to me twice now. First time i got it repaired by BMW and they astonishingly fixed it for £45!!! Don't ask me how. They put it down to an electrical fault, there was a sudden loss of electricity which then activated the fault......That was about 4 months ago and suddenly its come on again this week....

To make matters worse yesterday my drivers side window decided to make a clunk while putting it down, luckily it's now stuck up but im not looking forward to the bill as it sound like the cogs in the door are just rubbing against broken glass or something. :(

I have an 04 plate.
 
See my post on France road trip, came on during the trip. Will book her in for next week and let you know how I get on, she is still under guarantee.
 
brimoon said:
BMW of N. America sent out a notice dated December 2008 about the failure of the "passenger seat occupant detection mat." When that happens both air bag warning lamp and the passenger air bag "on-off" lamp will illuminate and the passenger side air bag will not deploy.
Click to expand...

The BMW techical doc I read said in event of occupancy sensor it defaults to assumed occupied and fires. The downside is that you fire a second airbag and ruin the whole dash for no reason if the passenger seat is empty. It'd be pretty silly to default to off if there is a fault, when there is no benefit to assumed empty in an emergency that I can think of. Hmmmm, BMW just wanting to scare people into a fix I guess!



Anyone know what actually fails on them? The mat or the loom/ box etc?

Cheers

Dave
 
Damn... out at lunchtime, sun out, roof down... lovely. Got back in the car, the light airbag light came on and stayed on!

Booked it in with an indie for Monday. Will see what they have to say on the matter.
 
Had the car in to Didcot Auto Centre today to get a few bits done - there primarily for the airbag light. They plugged the computer in and found no fault codes. Switched the car back on to start trying to trace the fault and the warning light had gone out. Cheap fix! I hope... bit of luck it will stay out.
 
We have a 2004 Z4, 2.5 liter. We took it to our mechanic for a new passenger window regulator which went bad. He had to disconnect the air bag behind the door panel (passenger side). When he re-installed everything the air bag light came on (instrument panel light). This was after 3 or 4 key in starts. Meaning it didn't come on for the first engine start, but came on a couple starts afterwords. He deactivated all and the light came on again after 2 or so starts. He gets a code 38328. Another code is SBSR (whatever that means). He has spent a lot of time trying to decipher this and no luck. He finally told me to take it to the dealer. He has an after market computer and thinks maybe the BMW computer will be able to decipher the code. He can't come up with the definition of what 38328 means. He has looked over everything that he did in installing the window regulator, cut or damaged wire to the harness, etc. All seems ok. Does anyone have any ideas before I take it to the BMW dealer?
 
I took it to the dealer and was diagnosed to be a faulty passenger air bag seat mat sensor. They were going to charge me opprox. $1100. I showed them the article that was posted on this forum and they tried to make me believe that it was not an accurate article and no recalls.
I called BMW North America and they finally agreed to fix it at no cost to me, but not until after I mentioned the 08 article from USA Today. There isn't a recall on this year model (don't know why not?), but there is an extended warranty for this problem.
They were trying to get out of fixing the problem or even acknowledging this is a problem with these cars which makes me a bit angry.
 
I see from searches that there appears to common fault with the Z4 Airbag system. (BTW I've already replaced my springs and the window regulator... :thumbsdown: .)

My airbag problem is slightly different to one described on this thread.

Just recently the red Airbag warning light in the instrument panel remains on for approx 30 - 180 seconds after I start the car from cold.
Once it goes out, if I stop the car and restart it, it goes out as normal after 3-4 secs.

Anyone seen this?
Assume once it has gone out the system is active?

Any help, advice apprecaited.

I have 2003 Z3 3.0SE

Cheers
 
rbadger said:
....Just recently the red Airbag warning light in the instrument panel remains on for approx 30 - 180 seconds after I start the car from cold.
Once it goes out, if I stop the car and restart it, it goes out as normal after 3-4 secs.

Anyone seen this?
Click to expand...

Haven't seen that one! Does warning light act the same way when the passenger seat is occupied or not? If not, it could well be a problem with the airbag seat mat that detects the amount of weight in the passenger seat. That mat seems to be the source of a lot of trouble. As you may have read above, BMW N.America has extended the warranty on that part. Sorry, I don't know if the same is true in the UK. Good luck!

Brian
 
rbadger said:
Just recently the red Airbag warning light in the instrument panel remains on for approx 30 - 180 seconds after I start the car from cold.
Once it goes out, if I stop the car and restart it, it goes out as normal after 3-4 secs.

Anyone seen this?
Click to expand...

Thats what happened to mine for the few days before it went on permanently. Its been on ever since and I have not taken it to the dealer yet as I have needed the £££ for other things.
 
Just bought mine last week and the airbag warning light was on from driving off. I am taking it to a specialist today to get it plugged in and hopefully switch it off but reading this thread it appears it may be more serious :x Having just purchased it I do expect the dealer to make good and pay under the 'fit for purpose' sales clause.
 
My 04 has the warning light problem. Local specialist reset it but comes straight back on. Fault codes show both B Pillar satellites are faulty. Dealer reckons the optical connectors need realigning. I'll know on Tuesday if it was successful or not, and how much lighter my wallet will be!
 
Z4um said:
My 04 has the warning light problem. Local specialist reset it but comes straight back on. Fault codes show both B Pillar satellites are faulty. Dealer reckons the optical connectors need realigning. I'll know on Tuesday if it was successful or not, and how much lighter my wallet will be!
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Which specialist did you go to and which dealer? I see you are N.Yorks and I have the same problem... if yours gets resolved I might try the same place if they know what they are doing.
 
Dukeman said:
Just bought mine last week and the airbag warning light was on from driving off. I am taking it to a specialist today to get it plugged in and hopefully switch it off but reading this thread it appears it may be more serious :x Having just purchased it I do expect the dealer to make good and pay under the 'fit for purpose' sales clause.
Click to expand...

Specialist could not resolve the problem, mainly due to software package on their diagnostic tool being a little out of date for Z4s and suggested BMW main dealer as it may require a new control box :(
 
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