Airbag light - driver's side airbag igniter bad

[Sublimize23]

Hey,
So I just got the car about 4 months ago, and driving the other day and the airbag light came on. Took it to the Audi dealership today and the people who worked there knew the PO of the car, and mentioned that he had problems with the light as well. They printed me out the full service history of the car, the TSB was performed on the connectors but according to the service notes, this was still a sporadic issue. Dealer quoted me $906 to fix, but assured me that even though the light is on, does not mean all the airbags are deactivated. What are my options here? I'm thinking of just finally buying vagcom and clearing the light, because by the service notes, he had the light reset 7k miles ago (I've had it for about 4k) and this is the first time it's been on. What should I do?

[ocod]

here's the diy fix
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289490

when it's happen to me I always go underneath seat unclip connectors then plug it back in.
Clear it w/vag and turn car off. Start car and see if light comes on again. If not all done otherwise clear again and turn car off.
If light stays on it will turn off after a few cycles.
Has to do like someone said about wire gauge they used. causes a difference in voltage which triggers CEL.
Has someone moved you seat to cause wire to crimp or be pulled loose from connector.
iirc it's the yellow one? but thread shows you which one.
GL

here's another thread

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ag-light-is-on

[Sublimize23]

Guess I'll try it myself.. I'll see what the dealer has put in there. Do I just use any wire? Or buy the kit?

[ocod]

Guess I'll try it myself.. I'll see what the dealer has put in there. Do I just use any wire? Or buy the kit?

The kit is only available to dealers only
try pm'ing szinkuti for wire gauge??
Do you have a vag to clear it? Check connectors under seat though...

[Sublimize23]

No I don't have a vagcom to clear it.. I don't even have a PC. need to borrow my parents', lol. I'm planning on buying the ebay cable and purchasing the software license, does it work on windows 7? I've tried searching many times but it doesn't really seem clear if the ebay cable even works.

[ocod]

No I don't have a vagcom to clear it.. I don't even have a PC. need to borrow my parents', lol. I'm planning on buying the ebay cable and purchasing the software license, does it work on windows 7? I've tried searching many times but it doesn't really seem clear if the ebay cable even works.

yes to ebay cable plus 99 dollar software reg. fee. Not sure if compatiable w/windows 7. There was a thread a while back iirc.
search various audi/vw threads for vag cable you may get lucky. VWVORTEX had someone selling it w/a laptop a while back.
haha you may want to edit having to borrow parents comp. will make you look noobish

[Sublimize23]

yes to ebay cable plus 99 dollar software reg. fee. Not sure if compatiable w/windows 7. There was a thread a while back iirc.
search various audi/vw threads for vag cable you may get lucky. VWVORTEX had someone selling it w/a laptop a while back.
haha you may want to edit having to borrow parents comp. will make you look noobish

Haha, whatever. I'm graduating college in may, then starting dental school in the fall and bought the car myself, but that probably won't matter to the haters.

Thanks though, I will keep an eye out. If i can figure out how on this new system, I'll rep you

[ocod]

no more rep system.
But your welcome.
post in the regionals for help w/Vag. Offer some beer..
Congrats on Dental school. Went through similar curriculum and it will get easier after the second year when you start learning about your profession.
Good grad present for school(computer).

[Sublimize23]

Thanks!
Yeah that's what I keep telling myself.. gotta make it through the first 2 while watching the debt pile up.

[Sublimize23]

OK sorry to bump an old thread, I pulled my driver's seat and there are already 2 butt connectors there to replace that factory connector. What now? Should I just solder the joint and get rid of the connectors entirely? That will be less resistance than any connector

[Sublimize23]

For anyone who cares, soldering the wires cured the light. It had the dealer fix of 2 butt connectors, but it was again tripping the light due to too much resistance. Hopefully the driver's side airbag igniter isn't actually bad.

[imnuts]

Not a fix/solution to the problem, but I was using VAGCOM with no problems on Windows 7. If you have problems with it, just right click and "Run as Administrator" and it should work then, although I think it may start up that way by default. I just downloaded the latest version from Ross-Tech and they state that it's W7 compatible there now as well.

[ocod]

For anyone who cares, soldering the wires cured the light. It had the dealer fix of 2 butt connectors, but it was again tripping the light due to too much resistance. Hopefully the driver's side airbag igniter isn't actually bad.

Glad it worked out..