Retrofitting passenger airbag deactivation - advice

Z

Z4hid

Member
Hi All,

As BMW have seemingly discontinued the passenger airbag deactivation switches (and retrofit kit), I was chuffed I managed to source this with akey (thanks Ag51bye) and have been following the advice on the forum.

The work flow as I understand it is:

1. Disconnect battery for at least 20mins
2. Cut holes in side panel and centre console
3. No need to program key as have original switch key from donor car

My questions are:

1. Am I missing anything on the above and will using a donor key throw up any codes?

2. Does anybody happen to have the clips locations for the centre console trim and know if the reverse of the trim has a guide for cutting out a hole for the light switch?

I can measure against the sport bottom switch on the other side of the console but don’t trust my measuring!

Thanks in advance

Zahid
 

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You will also need to programme it to the car or it will not deactivate the airbag, will all connect up fine and not throw up any codes but it just won’t work. To programme you need to do it through ISTA-P and select the airbag bypass retrofit, this tells the car that it is fitted and tells the ecu that the airbag can be switched off.

Also looking at your pictures the bypass light will only work on an LCI E85 if you have an earlier model 2003-2006 then you will need the earlier light which is a different part number and does not have the writing on the surround
 
That's great insight, thanks. Not as straightforward as I thought then!

Presumably a dealer/independent will have the ISTA-P tech?

Mine is an August 2006 model so hopefully has the LCI E85 connection..
 
Yeah I thought it was going to be pretty straightforward when I did it and was confused for ages as to why it did nothing. 2006 E85 hopefully will be ok, yes dealers and indépendant will have the software although no idea how much they will charge, I have the software myself luckily so could do it but it takes about 20 mins to code it and car needs to be hooked up to power so it does not kill the battery and crash halfway though :thumbsup:
 
Looks like Harrow to Chesham is about 18 miles.
I'd be setting off with a bootful of beer and asking nicely for some help. :D
 
I bought a trim on eBay that already had the hole in place, not that common but they do come up every so often, if not maybe go with a drill to make an initial hole then a dremel to open it out to the size you need would be my suggestion
 
I believe the underside has marked locations for the sport and airbag switches in the metal casting.
 
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