The airbag light flashes intermittently when the drivers seat (UK) is moved and I guess there is a damaged cable under the seat.

What should I be looking for under the seat?

Thanks
Andy

 

I'm not near any drawings at the mo.... but i too had issues with air bag code 17 and over the 2 months trying to locate the issue i removed lots !! First things first is DO NOTgo unplugging or testing anything with the battery connected and wait at least 10 mins after disconnection. The air bag trigger is VERY tempermental and can be triggered by a DVM. If i recall under the seat is 2 multi plugs and the Yellow is the air bag connection to the seat pack....others on here will hopefully be near drawings and can guide you better but please head my warning...it's a very expensive mistake otherwise !! TS

 

Thanks for that.............I feel suitably forewarned!

I'm hoping to be in posession of an IDS/mongoose system soon and hope to be able to read the code. Failing that, I'll take it to my local garage and ask them to read the code.
Andy

 

Not sure what year your car is ? The later models fitted with SRS have the flash code system whereby the air blag light will flash sequentially to give you a code, my issue was code 17.....flash 1 then gap then 7 flashes after which the air bag light remained on.
Are you sure your mistaking intermittant for a flash code ? Search the forum for the Air bag flash code TSB it's definately on here and possibly a sticky ?

 

SRS System 1.pdf
Reading Material !!

 

501-55 SRS Flash Codes XK8-R.pdf

If relevant to your MY this may help. TS

 

Thanks for this Trevor, it's really helpful. I think there is a really good chance it may a code being flashed, as at one point it looked really uniform.
I'll check it tomorrow and see what I get.
I'll let you know.
ATB
Andy

 

Hi Andy!

I suspect, you have the newer seat variant with the separate Headrest.

These are equipped with a side-airbag in the backrest. This is connected to the rest of the car by a two pin connector on seat's underside as you can see on the attached pic. Another similar connector is mounted at the airbag itself in the backrest, wich is much more of a challenge to get at.

Both are vulnerable to contact-failure prob's over the years, but if you get the errorcode when moving the seat, there's a good chance, that the shown connector ( or its cabling ) at the bottom is the cause.

The 'blink-code' you get with a failed connection to the side-airbag is 2-2. Maybe it could be sufficient to clean the contacts and bend them carefully a little bit.

And please: BE CAREFUL - as it was said before: DISCONNECT the Battery and WAIT at least 10 min. before you do anything with the Airbag-connectors. So best would be to unmount the seat bolts while moving the seat back and fore, disconnect battery, WAIT, get the seat out of the car and check the cabling and connectors, if you have the mentioned before 2-2 blink-code.

BTW: Be very careful with moving the seat out of the car, as the seat-rails are very sharp and can easily damage the rear quarter trim ( or your hands :-)

Good luck...
Wolf

 

Thanks for that Wolf, much appreciated and yes, you're right, the seats are the later type with the separate motor driven head rest.

The irony of the situation is that the light has gone out completely now. The previous owner was a really big fella and he had the seat all the way back and it was only when I adjusted it forward that the light started messing about.

The car is for my wife and we adjusted the seat for her yesterday, which is quite far forward, and the light hasn't been on since.

I suspect it will come back in due course, as these things rarely have a habit of repairing themselves, so I'll put it on my 'To do list'!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Andy

 

I know what causes this, its a bad design of the harness under the seat.

When the seat is in the fully lower position it pinches the wiring loom and causes damage.

I used to get the flash code intermittently and then always when I went for an MOT, the MOT tester is a big guy, it was too much of a coincidence.

I raised the seat by say, 1cm, and the flash code has never returned.