Dreaded airbag failure light!

[jcbpa]

Just a rough week. Driver side muffler shot... Rattles like a snake. Then 4 days later the airbag failure came on. I read about a seatbelt, possibly issue. Any thoughts or suggestion?

[LouZ]

What model P-car? The 964 has a known problem with the airbag light, caused by 1 of 2 faults:
1: "cold solder joints" on the clock internals (I had this problem and resoldered all of the connections, no problem for over 6 years)
2. dirty accelerometers

Either one is discussed on Rennlist.

If I can be of help, let me know.

[jcbpa]

Thank you for the reply. It is a 996. (s4) 2003 w only 45 k on it.

[jcbpa]

Or... 2003 911 4S... Obviously I am new.

[michael lang]

I am not 100% familiar with the 996 but there could be a number of issues. It could be related to the steering column if the contacts on the clock spring get worn down, possibly if the car has seat recognition sensors or possibly in the seatbelt latches themselves. Then you have the airbags, the airbag squib connectors, etc... If that were my car I would get a scan tool, find out which direction the problem was headed and then based on that would decide if it was something I would attempt myself. Since you say you are new, you might as well jump in with both feet. I don't know if you've done this but Rennlist has a huge 996 crowd, you might try there as well. Please keep everyone posted a to what you find out with your car.

[jcbpa]

Thanks, Mike. Suggestions on a scan tool? A lot of my reading thus far seems to point to seatbelt issues. Cooincidentally, my 2 year old granddaughter was in the car with me pushing every button she could find. Car was off, and when I turned the key... On came the warning.

[michael lang]

Well if the car has a seat recognition sensor in the r/f seat that could be the answer. If the sensor sees a small amount of weight in the seat it tells the SRS Control Unit there is weight on the seat and is not seeing the seatbelt being latched through the buckle so the control unit then disables the airbag to prevent deployment in a collision. The idea being the airbag would cause more injury than the impact itself. Now the sensor doesn't know the difference between weight of an object or weight of a child, all it sees is the seat is being occupied. Simply cycling the key with your grand daughter in the seat is all it takes to ding the light. In which case a quick reset is all you will need. I still stand by my previous statement that the problem should be properly diagnosed.

[MylesD55]

My 2002 996 had a airbag failure light recently.  It turned out to be the passenger side seat belt receptacle.  Several rennlist threads pointed me to the problem and suggested cleaning it, however, I replaced it with a used one.  The warning light has remained off since replacement.  There was also mention of a bad wire loom under the seat. 

You can't reset the light with a standard OB2 code reader, you need the Durametric software to reset it.  Although not tested...I read that the airbags still function despite the light.

Myles