I have had the airbag light on for some time in my 06, and have noticed a couple of times the light is on in my wife's as well. With her's if you wiggle the passenger seat belt receiver the light will go out. So I thought that maybe that might be the problem with mine as well. Maybe a bad wire or something.

I ordered the receiver online, but got a message today that it couldn't ship because of explosive contents. What??????

Why would there be explosives in the seat belt receiver? Can I check the wires without setting something off? Anybody else had this problem.

Thanks in advance.

 

Unfortunately, that's correct. In the event of air bag deployment, there is an explosive charge in the tensioner that causes the seat belt to tighten (one side locks in place, the other retracts).

 

The parts dealer is giving you some half truths. Seatbelt pretensioners and airbags are not technically "explosives". They are propellant actuated devices. They can be shipped by ground and air (and so can most explosives, BTW). But they are a hazardous material (Class 9, miscellaneous dangerous goods) and there are some hefty fees that have to be paid to ship them, as well as a bunch of paperwork.

It's just not worth the cost to ship a single pretensioner.

Get one through your MINI dealership. They got theirs shipped to them somehow, didn't they?