Hi,
I did first search and read.
My airbag light came on. Undoubtedly because I used the horn a week ago. I knew that was a mistake.

I take it to the dealer, hoping it just needed a reset, like the VW we had that needed lights reset constantly for no reason.

They cleared the codes which evidently requires reprogramming the entire car.
$220. The light came back on, I went back. He said he was sorry it did not work (the reprogramming) but that the airbag is bad. And again, he feels badly, as he has never seen another airbag go bad.

My questions: I see airbags on ebay at reasonable prices. Can I get one of these on ebay or are they somehow magically coded to a single car forever?
I realize after putting in a new airbag it will have to be reprogrammed again.

There has been many posts on airbag reset tools and $10,000 GT1 programming tools. Many of the posts seemed not posted recently.

I was hoping there has been developed a tool to be able to reset this thing at a reasonable price. I'm convinced it is OK to just clear the code I don't need the whole car reprogrammed. Is there a decently priced tool to reset the airbag light?

This is the second time I've had this entire car reprogrammed. The first time was under warranty. It might have just been an update, I was not overly interested in hearing about it since it was free.

I can only sustain so many $220 reprograms before I have to dispose of this
thing. (I am not a car swapper I bought it to last me a long long time)

Thank you.

 

http://www.thebesttuners.com/product...BMW-Enthusiast

I saw this mentioned by name on this site so I searched and found it.

Is this the appropriate tool to get for the 2007 justacooper airbag?

 

It seems this is uncharted territory.

I ordered the tool.

My first try will be to remove the airbag, wiggle the wires
(always the first step at work), and reset the code.

I will let everybody know.

 

Removing the airbag is super easy. Take a punch and find the hole on the underside and right behind the steering wheel. Put the punch in and push up and it will pop loose. Pull the airbag off and disconnect both the power and the ground wire and BAM the airbag is off. Oh BTW disconnect the battery because if you don't you will trigger the horn. And if you have chrome line interior get a new 2001 chrome line interior pone because the gray around the MINI emblem has been switched to chrome.

 

THANK YOU.

Very helpful.

I don't think I have the chrome line interior.

Something that irks me a bit though.
I needed a car that day and bought off the lot.
Most had either vinyl I think or cloth. I got cloth.

All the ones at the dealer when I was there had leatherette.

I will update as time goes on. I'm still hoping that using the horn
triggered some thing and taking it apart and putting it back together
will make it work again.

The next saga will be how to change the oil pan gasket.
I really wish they would come out with a book for this thing.

 

I pushed a punch in the little hole. The bottom came loose but I
can't get the top off. Is there a trick?
I have 3 spoke wheel with paddles.

Thanks.

 

Got it out.
Undid the wires, hooked the wires back up.
Always the first step there could be a simple bad connection.

Reset the thing using the tool under
check whole system
reset whole system

Started car, airbag light came on.

Ran diagnostics it says no fault codes.

This is very very troubling.

 

I report success in turning the airbag light off, driving a mile
down the road and back and no light. I will keep you posted.

For taking the airbag out you must push up with your tool
at the same time pull out. At the same time. Pops right off.

I disconnected the connectors and put a small amount of that
dilectric grease on it. The equivelent of
wiggling the wires. ALWAYS the first step I should have remembered
this before paying the stealership $220.

The bavarian technics tool worked really well.
I didn't have success just scanning the restraint system.

I told it to scan the whole car, then reset the whole car.
With the key on.

There was some other weird code on something else that does
not trigger a light.

I found the minitechinfo sight to be very unsatisfying.
I could not get any of the info off of it.

My guess is, well, it is not a guess. If I am not able to get a
book/program/reliable information on error codes, how to
fix leaking gaskets, routine maintanence, etc, this car will
have to go.

It's here I would normally say that I would be waiting for the
CRZ Si version but its only two seats which could be a potential
problem in my life right now (rule was new wife must be able to
drive it, etc etc, thus the automatic).

I'm also close to getting out of debt so I don't foresee another loan.

My guess is the way it will play out, this thing ends up parked in
the yard, just like my two MGs 25 years ago, I take the SX4, and
we get my wife something a little bigger.

My point being this much effort and frustration and money over
a simple thing like turning a dash light off does not bode well.

 

Yes you can get a cable and software to reset the airbag light. For $119 you can buy an INPA cable and get DIS running with software that's available on the web. I have it setup, it was quite a bit of work, but I can reset the light fine. I have posted the information in a couple of other threads recently on what cable to buy.

 

My main idea now since I have this tool even though it was
expensive I can say it was plug and play no trouble no worries,
is to find a way to do "simple" things like change the leaking
oil pan gasket.

I don't see how to proceed with this thing without that.
A book or some other thing (that works).

Can you link me to what you have?