a6 airbag light on (and then off briefly, and then on again)

hi, i live in cambridge, MA, and have recently bought a 99 a6 quattro avant, which now has 82K on it.

last week i had the airbag light come up, and brought it in to my local mechanic in cambridge, mass., to get it diagnosed. he diagnosed it and come up with the code for 'bad passenger airbag, resistance is too high' (i believe it was 0589 on his computer). so, he tried to clean up the wiring, and voila' THE LIGHT WENT AWAY. he called me to pick up the car, but when he took it for a test drive, the light came up again. this morning we diagnosed it together and he showed me that the successive steps for that error code are, in sequence: clean up/check the wiring, replace the passenger airbag (part is $1,200), then eventually the control module (part is about $600).

i am confused:

- IF THE LIGHT WENT AWAY, even momentarily, shouldn't it be related to a false contact and the such, rather than to something major like the airbag gone bad?

- i read all the postings related to 'airbag light' and the range of responses is wide: they go from tough luck, to AUDI will replace it even if out of warranty, to reset using VAG-COM or the like. could anybody shed some light on the situation i illustrated above?

- last, why do i need to replace the airbag before the module? in doing so, don't i risk to replace a good airbag (if the problem was indeed in them odule)?

thanks in advance! fabio

Reply to
fabio.fonti
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Fabio, logic doesn't always play into it with Audis.... Personally, I would get the car to a shop that specializes in Audis and have them check it. It DOES sounds like a contact or sensor if it's intermittant (you didn't say if it was coming on with no one in the passenger's seat so that's what I am assuming). I believe there is a longer warranty on airbags than there is on the car (10 years, maybe?) but don't have my car here to check.

Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA

Reply to
Dano58

Fabio:

I had essentially the same problem with my 2000 A6 (while under warrenty). After some trial-and-error (including about 3 trips to the dealer - 75 miles away - they finally fixed it by replacing the controller. Their first attempt involved replacing the radio! The airbag system may be covered by a longer warrenty.

Good luck

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce W. Ellis

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