Greetings folks. Just picked up a new to me Chili Red Base with 132k on the odo. Other than general wear and tear everything appears to be maintained and in pretty good condition. The thermostat was replaced some time ago as well as the vacuum pump. The immediate need is to confirm and fix the seat sensor or pretensioner that is throwing the airbag code for the passenger seat. I'll do an oil change later today and will do a new timing chain later this fall. No rattle at startup but I know it is only a matter of time.

This is not my daily and I bought it to pull behind my RV. My brother had a Gen 1 and Gen2 S over the years and they were fun cars. This one doesn't have the same power but otherwise is going to be a great little car for our use.

 

S or Justa? How do you know the seat sensor is causing the air bag light?

 

First I ever heard the term but it is a Justa. Got it for a reasonable price. Manual so I can flat tow it.

I'm just assuming it is the seat sensor. I ordered a scan tool to read (and eventually reset) the specific code.

I did remove, lube, and reinstall the rear hatch mechanism so that it would consistently latch. Now I need to go back in and check on the switch because I'm now getting a 'hatch open' warning even though I know its latched. The nice part of getting a Mini is the wealth of information out there. I've worked on quite a few vehicles over the years and the biggest issue is usually access to information when wanting to do your own work.

 

Confirmed that the seat sensor is bad. Ordered the emulator so I can get rid of the airbag warning, and provide the passenger the additional safety of having a functioning airbag.

I also used my new scanner to check and rest old faults. The battery looks to be a little weak but I keep a charger on it when it isn't being driven. I also dug into the rear light wiring to get this set up to pull behind the RV. I'm wiring it so that the RV will us the Mini lights when in tow...diodes being used so the Mini harness won't be backfed.

 

Finally installed the seat mat bypass and the seat belt bypass. Not hard but had to look up a video online to see out installed the seat belt bypass. Now no more warnings or alerts. Really nice to get in and not have things beeping at you when you start up.

I started tying into the rear light housings a few weeks ago. Maybe start next week end pulling the front bumper off to get my towing baseplate installed. In the mean time I'm having fun running aroiund in my little red chili.

 

Can you provide more details on your fix, instructions, link to emulator etc.? A friend has a 2012 with the same issue.

 

I ordered through Amazon but the website is shown below (out of the UK). You get two things...first is a module that bypasses the seat mat. Essentially what you get is an airbag that will deploy regardless of seat occupancy. What comes with that would be a warning of a seat belt not being latched because someone is in the seat...the second item you get addresses that by bypassing the seat belt latch switch. The occupant will no longer get an alarm to put your seat belt on.

Overall pretty easy to install. It is advisable to unbolt the seat and lay it down to get better access to the underside. I don't think you can do it otherwise. It is only 4 bolts where you need a TP30 driver.

https://tpmsbypass.com/