I'm installing Sparco R333 seats in a friends 2003 R53. As I'm sure you know, the OEM seats have side airbags and the new seats don't and I have not been able to kill the airbag warning light. The light is not the worse thing in the world but I would like to shut it off. I've seen a number of fixes with various size resistors and some with resistors combined with a diode but none of these has worked for me. As a last resort I removed the side airbags from the OEM seats and reconneted to the wiring harness - no change. The airbag light blinks once and then stays on when the key is on.

Has anyone gone thru this with non-OEM seats. Any help/solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

 

I'm installing Sparco R333 seats in a friends 2003 R53. As I'm sure you know, the OEM seats have side airbags and the new seats don't and I have not been able to kill the airbag warning light. The light is not the worse thing in the world but I would like to shut it off. I've seen a number of fixes with various size resistors and some with resistors combined with a diode but none of these has worked for me. As a last resort I removed the side airbags from the OEM seats and reconneted to the wiring harness - no change. The airbag light blinks once and then stays on when the key is on.

Has anyone gone thru this with non-OEM seats. Any help/solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

 

I have never mess with the seat airbag intensionally. My insight is, if the supplementary restrain management computer detects anything not kosher, it logs the error and is latched so subsequent restoration or faking it will not cancel the latched error. The fault condition has to be removed and the latched error cleared, typically with a dealer level tool.

 

I'm not totally sure on this, but I believe that once the airbag light has been triggered only the dealer can reset it.

 

Well, I'm bold (dumb?) enough... I used 2.2ohm resistors soldered into the airbag connector and the light did not turn on. Be sure to secure the resistor and do the work with the battery disconnected for over 20 minutes.

If you have the error after the 2.2 is in you can get a Creative 310C for the MINI (Amazon, under $60) to clear the code.

 

 

10:47am
at least the titles are different.

 

As an FYI, the resistors work, but if the light has been tripped, it still needs to be reset, just adding the resistor won't turn it off.

 

BMW/Mini OBDII scanner iCarsoft i910 Multi-system Scanner

 

Hopefully it will work for you, I know that only certain ones will actually clear this light, short of going to a dealer or shop that would have pro mechanic software.
Good Luck

 

The iCarsoft i910 Multi-system Scanner worked perfectly. Used the 2 ohm resister and then cleared the code with the scanner. No more airbag light. The the scanner was well worth the $ spent.
Thanks for the comments/advice.

 

Happy it all worked out! Please share your Sparco setup details via PM? I'm still shopping.

 

Hmm - is it possible that you mean 2.2 kohm instead of 2.2 ohm? 2.2 ohm is basically a wire