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Airbag Fault light on 2006 Jetta & mysterious clunk in dashboard

Hello all.

Ok, bought a 2006 Jetta 2.0T in August and yesterday got a "airbag fault" warning on the MFD when I started it, and now the airbag light is permanently lit. Called VW and taking it in for service on Tuesday (gonna be "all day" according to them...at least there is a library nearby...) and it is under warranty, so I am not worried about paying (and no, I have not done anything out of the ordinary).

Just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience...

Also (and I am going to have them look for this gremlin in detail) sometimes when I turn the car off (have not counted exactly, but feels like about 1 time in 8) there is a *clunk* in the dashboard that sounds exactly like the windshield wipers are being parked when you turn them off. Now, the wipers were never turned on to begin with, so I dunno what is going on here. When I went in for an oil change, they looked at it a bit but could not duplicate it. Only common theme I have noticed is that it usually happens when I come home at night (16 mile drive, nothing out of the ordinary). The car does not have any automatic light/wiper sensors or anything like that. Maybe something to do with the headlight circuit, but again, there is no rhyme or reason other than that.

Anyone had this happen to em?

I'm trying to be positive and think that these are little bugaboos and that I am not getting bit by the notorious "poor VW electrical system" but can't help but feel a bit concerned...

Any and all info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-Chris

Reply to
Chris
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On some cars, the heating/cooling system flaps are driven by motors and there are no position sensors. The computer drives them for a specified interval and assumes they have reached the desired positions. The computer will completely open or close them periodically when the car is turned off to make sure they are where it thinks they are.

If one of the motors isn't working right, I can imagine that the computer *might* drive it hard against the fully-opened or -closed position and make a noise. But this is all speculation because (a) I've no clue whether VW has this kind of system and (b) I have never seen one that's not working right. Or--the system could be working perfectly, but something meant to stop the sound (like a piece of foam rubber) was not installed or fell off after manufacturing. This, of course, is still more speculation.

Good luck,

JRE

Reply to
JRE

I have a 2006 GTI that does exactly the same thing. I can see the passenger side wiper move about 0.2" up or down. This happens alternately; after bumping up, the next time it would bump down. I'm thinking it's not a gremlin, but a feature! I think VW implemented it to keep the wiper blades from taking a "set" during periods of non-use. The movement is just enough to flip the blade in the opposite direction. Of course, I could be all wet. Watch the blade a few times to see if you can catch it in the act. It drove me nuts until I saw what was happening.

Torky

Reply to
Torky

You hit it right on the head. Took it in today, and when I got it back they explained that the wipers can be in Position 0 (parked) or Position 1 (about a cm up from parking location) where it is "ready" to be deployed, as per the rain sensor. (kinda neat, did not realize the car had one). Anyways, it does not always have to be raining to activate the sensor, hence the move from position 0 to 1, and converesely it going back to 0 when you turn it off. I watched for it today when I shut it down and finally caught the movement.

So the mystery clunk is a mystery no more, and better yet, not an indicator of a problem.

As for the airbag fault, there was a short in the wiring harness somewhere that led to a ground fault. Evidently they had to yank the entire seat before they could get to it, and had to replace a chunk of the harness itself. What a mess. No wonder they had it all day.

So, back on the road and all seems well. Still the occasional clunk, but no more airbag fault, so I guess I am happy on both counts!

Thanks for the replies.

-Chris

Reply to
Chris

JRE , you were very close given the clue ( in the dashboard ) . The clunk was a system resetting itself. The 'groundfault ' error for the airbag system leaves me wondering , how did the shop know it was going to be an all day thing?

Reply to
samstone

Good question. The guesstimate came when I asked on the phone if they had any idea how long it would be in the shop. The tech said "oh, airbag fault? It'll be in all day". Could mean a bunch of things: Labor intensive job to repair; a common problem; or just a stock answer. I dunno. I dropped it off at 8.30 and they called at 1615 to say it was ready.

-Chris

Reply to
Chris

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