My wife’s 2003 VW Beetle convertible Airbag light has come on and stayed on again, that’s to say we had it cleared about 3 months ago by the local dealer, and its back on again, we took it back to the dealer and they said it was probably going to cost in excess of $500 to find the fault and replace the part/s that were possibly causing the issue..

Well I aren’t up for spending that kind of money on a car that my wife uses for shopping and taking the kids to school, plus I know that his fault analysis is really a...

“Well we don’t know exactly what it is, so we will replace all the sensors, switches, wiring etc. and that’s going to cost you about $500..

I drove the car back and borrowed my buddies OBD2 code reader, I am an electronics design engineer with many years of experience and getting to the bottom of issues is sometimes my job, so i figured i'd have a go.. anyway here is my dilemma, the OBD2 reader scanned the memory and came out with no faults/codes, it looks to be scanning all the modules and I can clearly see the AIR module is scanned, the unit I am using to scan is “INNOVA CanOBD2” no part number on it as I can see. (cost $170)

I’ve read on several posts (googling) that only certain VAG scanners really work on newer VW’s, so question is, has anyone any idea if the tool I’m using is capable of reading and displaying all error codes from a VW Beetle of this year,also it would seem this particular fault is common on Beetles, to be honest she had this same fault on our Beetle in the UK, but ended upsellingit with the fault as the VW dealer couldn’t actually cure the fault.. crazy..and she wanted another!!

Any help, comments, questions would be great..

Thanks

Will (thedutydoctor)

 

First off what OBDII reader does your friend have? If it's the cheap Autozone version, they may scan the ACU but they usually have no idea what the codes are or can't get them right. Find a shop that'll scan it using either the Snap-On Scanner II or the Mac Modis systems. Either of those with the VW cartridge will likely read the code and give you an idea what's wrong with it.

Keep us updated on what you find out. I hope it's not the clockspring. THAT'S a pain in the @$$ to change and I believe the part is fairly expensive too...

 

It all depends on the software used. Auto shops are forced to have updated software, while autozone and other places get away with old modules cause it's up to the consumer to get the updates. Some older scanners will only check for certain code, engine codes or what not, but my airbag light didn't come up on mine and then I took it to the dealer and it came up on theirs. They told me that the igniters can go bad, and sometimes old wiring.

 

Clocksprings are a common airbag code but those are expensive to have changed no matter what. (And people wonder why I don't buy cars with airbags).

 

Just hung up from dealer. They are replaceing the airbag sensor located in the bumper for $404 I said ok and now my husband is mad as to why it would go out on a 2004 and why it costs so much money to replace

 

there is not a sensor in the bumper
the impact sensor is in the controle unit
i see the seat belt switches go bad all the time on the beatles

 

There is a new recall for the airbag sensor it just came out August 2008. It is free of charge if problem has to do with the recall.

 

hi check the wireing harnes under the drivers seat the harnes is to short so when you move the seat it pulls on the hranes,or cuts the wires.