Red and Amber Airbag / DSC lights of doom

[chrisl1410]

I'm sorry for starting a new thread but i couldnt see an answer elsewhere though this seems a fairly well trodden path!

Taken my 2005 Zed to the garage where its gone through its MOT (£350 not including apparently needing new tyres and brakes in the near future). It however has the red airbag light of doom and also 2 amber warnings, the DSC and handbrake ones.

Im told by the garage these are to do with the tyres though the pressure is fine so its a fault with the sensors. Apparently it might cost up to £500 to fix the airbag sensor and £80 each for what they think will be 2 tyre sensors.

How does this figure with those who have had similar problems?

 

[srhutch]

And they passed it with the airbag light on?

 

[bcworkz]

The lights indicate a malfunction with the airbag system and the stability control system (DSC). There are multiple components and sensors for the airbag system, the passenger occupancy sensor is a common fault. Same with DSC, multiple components. And the ABS wheel sensors are a common fault. Despite the common faults, you need the proper diagnostic software to determine where the fault lies, there are a few other common failure points. Was this done?

As far as the wheel sensors, be sure the area between the front sensors and rotors are clear of debris. Several people have resolved ABS and DSC errors with a simple cleaning. I'm a bit sceptical about the wheel sensors being the problem since you did not get the ABS light as well. Ensure the stored errors were retrieved before spending any money replacing parts!

 

[yg54sg]

for the airbag light of doom buy yourself a cable £25 which comes with all the software (will try and find link) reset it then see what the error is. Mine was low resistance at the battery terminal which has happened twice now over 4 years... took everything off copper greased it up put it back and no light since.

 

[chrisl1410]

Hi all,

Thank you for the replies!!

srhutch - yep they sure did though im guessing this is pretty lucky!

bcworkz - ill be honest as he did explain what he had done but i got very confused and lost. i think the gist was they had gone through all the systems and checked everything but couldnt find any fault nor could they reset it so were working on the theory it was a faulty sensor. with the tyres they said the run flats can run flat and not give the appearance of being flat and they were in fact low on air. they were actually 10 *insert measurement of tyre pressure here* when they should be 30 and they could have damaged the sensor this way

yg54sg - thatd be great if you could, thank you! i read some of the topic about the airbag light but it seemed to go off about something else and again i got confused, im not very car minded :S

again thanks all for taking the time to reply

 

[bcworkz]

It IS very confusing if you don't have innate knowledge of the subject, no worries.
Inability to reset has happened to several members here. Seems to be related to no errors actually stored. No idea how others resolved this. I wouldn't do anything until the light is reset and it triggers again, hopefully with an error code.

Unlike some cars, your car does not have sensors inside the wheels, so they cannot be damaged by low pressure. The system detects low pressure by counting wheel revolutions with a sensor near the hub, also used by the ABS system. Low tyres have a smaller rolling radius, so they roll more revolutions than the other wheels for the same distance.

One thing one should always check with strange electrical behaviour on modern cars is that the battery is strong and healthy. Low voltage will cause all manner of strange symptoms.