hi, while fitting a fuse to a 1997 marea 2.020v i have turned the ignition key and the airbag warning light is now on. According to the manual the airbag control memory unit now has a 'fault' and to contact fiat to cancel this fault.
is there any way to cancel this myself ?
or if it is a fiat job , how much will it cost ?
in the meanwhile although it has the fault , will the airbag still work ?
thanx
rossco
What fuse were you trying to fit?
I doubt you will be able to turn it off. Fiat or other equiped agent I'm afraid.
The bad news is this: The airbag system is a safety system. Dealers have to do a full system check which can I believe take up to 45 minutes. They could probably just reset the error but if you were to have an accident and the system failed to deploy you would probably sue them big time. So to cover this they play it by the book.
Whenever messing with electrics on a modern car:
1) disconnect the battery 2) WALK AWAY FOR up to 30 MINUTES (to be safe) 3) now play with the electrics.Even when the battery is disconnect there will be residual charge / energy storage in the systems and they continue to function. So these smart systems will spot irregularities even after the battery has been disconnected! You have to allow time for the systems to discarge themselves.
Nick /////
booked the car in to main fiat dealer for tomorrow £31.14 inc vat to test and re-set the fault.
thanx for the help.
rossco
Glad you are booked in OK.
I find these modern cars annoying and gratifying in so many ways. Reliability is up, service times are down, and thus nromal running costs are lower in real terms, allowing for inflation etc. However when things go wrong one is left with interesting decisions, costs etc.
What is really a worrying point is the quality of service, training, custmer pr/satisfaction of manufacturers and dealers. The buy new/almost new and sell at warranty end (3 or 5 years) is sadly becoming the only customer safe route, especially and many makers (like Ford) have a new version of and old model every 6 months and parts, epsecially body/styling part, become unavailable after 3 years.
I guess we all tread these dangerous waters, but it should not be that way.
Nick ///// (keep of Fiats dating back to the 80s)
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.