I've done a ton of reading in the past couple of days regarding this issue. I know more than I ever wanted to know about this, but I'm still not quite understanding where I need to go from here. Your input will be appreciated.

So, what (I think) I know:

1. The airbag light is on. I was driving down the freeway and suddenly, it was there. I didn't see it come on, but it just sprang up while cruising down a straight road. Thanks universe, I owe you one.
2. I don't have a passenger airbag light above the mirror (it doesn't exist), only the lone light on the instrument panel. It doesn't blink, it doesn't go out, it's just ON when the car is on.
3. This particular MINI is not subject to NHTSA campaign 15V-205, since that only covers builds after January 2005. Mine is July 2004. You can read about that here http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/...tsa_ids=15V205
4. I don't think this MINI has seat position sensors or weight pads for the seat, only an occupancy sensor. Sort of a "person there/person not there" indicator. All of that 'fancy stuff' was added after this car was built. I think.
5. I should be able to buy a scanner to pull the SRS codes for this, but I cannot figure out which one is best, or even which one will work. I've been in touch with Peake Research, and they don't have one. I've seen a few others, but sometimes the documentation says it's only good for MINI up to 2003. I've seen some good results with a C110, but again, not sure if I'm even close. I'm not paying the local BMW dealer $89 to pull a code. I have an OBD scanner, but that doesn't show anything since my problem isn't engine related.
6. The closest MINI dealer is 4+ hours away. I'm not able to pop-in for anything.

I think the main thing I need help with, is what scan tool can I use to start digging into this?

 

I purchased one from Amazon or eBay. I can't remember b-200 scan tool if I remember right. The code book that came with it was word for word from the peak manual. I thought that was strange. I read my code and for me I had a bad airbag controller. $40 for the code reader and $40 for a used airbag controller. I was back in business.

 

Take a look at the AutoEnginuity Complete OBDII Diagnostic Tool here and see if it may be useful to you.

 

Thanks for the replies. Anyone else want to chime in?

 

I bought the C110 scanner. I had the same light come on while driving. When I scanned it, it was the drivers seatbelt tensioner. I tried to reset and it kept coming back. So I unplugged all the connectors under the drivers seat and sprayed a lot of contact cleaner in there, reconnected, scanned and reset again. The light went out and stayed out. The scanner is pretty good. I have a BMW X5 and it works on that as well. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Prime, it does help a lot. I'm going to give the C310 scanner a shot, which is similar to the C110 but includes adaptation reset.