Just purchased an '05 S model. My wife just loves this car. The only issue with the vehicle is the passinger seat sensor fails to pick up consistantly. While researching this in the owners manual, I noticed that sitting on the right edge of the seat made the Passinger Airbag off light above the mirror go out and the general airbag malfunction light on the dash also went out.
While riding in that seat the sensor did not detect me...(Passinger airbag off light illuminated over the mirror and the red general airbag fault light on the dash lit up) however I could force my right leg down on the right front corner of the seat and the car would notice me sitting there with my seat belt on.
Has anyone adjusted this sensor? It does apparently work, but the placement seems odd.


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Obviously that's not how it's supposed to work. I believe that the airbag system has a warranty of 10 years/150K miles and a dealer should repair it for free.

I have an '06 and the passenger airbag off light was sometimes turning on when nothing was on the seat. Dealer replaced the seat sensor pad under warranty.

 

The warranty info is good to hear. I need to find a good service dept for the Mini as we are basically in the middle of Cooper no mans land in southern Indiana. 2 hours to Indy, 3 to St. Louis and 3 to Nashville. The best part will be having an excuse for a road trip.

 

The way the sensor is made, it can't be adjusted. It is a very large coverage flat copper circuit imbedded in plastic film. (I took mine out of the OEM seat, so I know what it looks like.) It covers the base, up the sides and the back--as I said it has a large coverage area.
I'd say it's faulty and should be repaired or replaced by the dealer under warranty.

good luck,

 

i got mine's replaced under warrenty, they have to put a new seat mat. (micro crack on the seat mat) cause this issue. there is no other way to fix it.

 

Thanks for the info. I will check with dealers about replacement. By the way, how long did the car need to be in the shop?

 

I am having the same problem with the sensor mat in my 05 S.

Zap - Did you get this fixed under warranty or are you out of warranty?

Does anyone know if there is a service bulletin for the 2005 model year. We found one for earlier years, but not the 05. I am a whopping 2000 miles out of warranty and was quoted about $750 to fix this unless I could find a service bulletin this was covered under.

 

I did a search and found this: http://www.motoringfile.com/2006/03/...airbag-issues/ Unfortunately the 10 year/150K warranty seems to be for a specific wiring connector issue, not the seat sensor. In my case, the car was still under warranty. They had to order the seat sensor which took a couple of days to arrive. I didn't leave the car with them and when I went back it was replaced the same day.

 

Yeah...I think that refers to the SB we found regarding the earlier model years. It refered to the pretensioner. Mine was throwing a code regarding a short in the mat under the seat.

He reset things for me but I haven't had a passenger to test out if that did anything. I am sure I am not lucky enough for that to have fixed things and I am just going to be out $$$.

Why couldn't I have noticed this 2000 mile ago?!?!?

 

Luckily I did get the sensor replaced under the 5 year warranty. If it had not been for the members of this board I may have messed around too long with it. July of 2009 is the 5 year period. Thanks to all.

 

My 05 MINI S has the same issue. There seems to be a trend.

 

I know it is an issue with BMWs and they are covered under an extended warranty. Apparently a bunch of the 2nd gen owners mistakenly got recall letters about this same problem, except the letters were refering to BMWs.

I am not sure what to do about getting this problem escalated if it is a trend.