Resetting airbag warning light 1996 E36

"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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.