1. Home
  2. BMW Cars and SUVs
  3. Resetting airbag warning light 1996 E36

Resetting airbag warning light 1996 E36

Hi,

I have a nasty feeling from one of the previous posts that this is going to be a dealer visit with the credit card, but I thought I'd ak just in case...

Recently I've had an annoying creaking sound when I turn the steering wheel, dry parts rubbing together, so I've just had the wheel off, given all the parts that rub a little wipe with some grease, and now the creak has gone...

Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36 bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the dash).

Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me and I only did it an hour ago!

Cheers,

Dodgy.

Reply to
D0d6y
Loading thread data ...

"D0d6y" wrote

The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

Damn, thought as much.

If in future I have to remove the airbag, will disconnecting the battery before I start pulling things apart stop it from triggering again?

Dodgy.

Reply to
D0d6y

Yes. Also, you are kind of lucky that you did not set the air bag off. That would have been (at the very least) scary, or you could have gotten hurt.

In the future, disconnect battery and wait a good long while before disconnecting. Make sure everything is reconnected before re-attaching the battery.

Reply to
Fred W

I did toy with disconnecting the battery, but the stereo is such a pain in the arse at the best of times, and I didn't fancy reprogramming everything... I was vaguely worried about the airbag, so i made sure the ignition was turned off when I reconnected it, and I was not in the drivers seat, but crouched outside the car reaching in through the open door just in case it did have an instant space hopper moment!

Oh well, news things I have learnt today... :-)

Dodgy.

Reply to
D0d6y

Find an independent BMW service center to do the reset. There is no need for anybody to investigate the integrity of the system, you DEFINITELY set the light off when you remvoed the steering wheel and turned the ignition on. The Reset activity takes less time to do than it took to type this reply.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

The problem you're having is that you cycled the ignition switch while the airbag was removed. Assuming all you need is the mechanical stuff when you turn the ignition on, then yes, disconnecting the battery would prevent this issue for you. But, if you need electrical stuff when you turn the ignitiion on, then you'll trigger the airbag light if the bag is disconnected.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.