hi there i was wondering i just purchased a used mini 02 the dealer just gave a 30 day warranty on the engine tranny and rear end. the airbag light was on when i got the car but not knowing the car i didn't know the light until after i bought the car was not supposed to be on i went back to them and they told me that was not covered under their warranty. i was wondering is there a law about selling a car with a non functional airbag is there anything i could do to make them fix this i am getting it checked out tomorrow but i was told it could be really expensive to fix.i have not even made a payment yet. on a good note that seems to be the only problem so far car runs great

 

There could be a number of reasons you get the Airbag Warning Lamp. Some may be cheap, some very expensive.

I believe it is Siemens that makes the airbag controllers for the Mini.

Your Airbag system contains a "brain box" called the Airbag Controller, a number of satellite sensors to help characterize the crash event, and a number of airbags.

The Airbag Controller runs diagnostics on all this stuff, as well as on itself during power up (most of the time, self diagnostics occur in the first 10 sec or so, and then some ongoing diagnostics after that).

• If the Airbag controller detects a fault within itself, it will light the lamp.
• If it detects a fault in a satellite, or fails to detect a satellite, it will light the lamp.
• If the Occupant Detection system is having an issue, it may light the lamp (the device that determines if there's an occupant in the passenger's seat, and disables the Passenger Airbags if not).
• I'm not sure if the Mini's Airbag Controller takes inputs from the Seat Track or not, but if so, the positional sensors in your seat also provide input to the airbag to help tweak the deployment strategy. If there is something wrong with them, it may light the lamp.
• If it fails to see one of the airbags, or the squib (the pyrotechnic element that starts the airbag deployment) is damaged to cause an open, or short circuit, it will light the lamp.
• If it fails to see a seatbelt pretensioner, or its squib is damaged, it will light the lamp.

So, the inexpensive fixes might be that the dealership was doing an inspection or minor repair and forgot to plug in one of the satellites or airbags, or occupant sensors and it is seeing a fault.

And as always, you do this at your own risk, not mine:
You can try with the battery disconnected and waiting at least one minute before doing so, disconnect the connectors going to the Airbag Controller, then reattaching them. Sometimes re-seating the connector is enough to make better electrical contact on some of the pins and may correct any open/short on some of the bags or satellites.

And really, DO disconnect battery if you try it. I've seen a lot of inadvertent deployments in dealerships because the mechanic was too lazy to do so. An Airbag controller might be $200 or so. A set of bags will cost $1000 and stink up your car.

You can also attempt to identify where these satellites and airbags are in the car, and ensuring they are all connected properly. I just got my MCS so haven't located them all myself yet.

Hope this helps,
D

 

chances are that if they told you " it could be really expensive to fix" then they probably already knwo whats wrong with it and dont want to fix it them selves cause it " is really expensive"
tell them if they fix it youll take it. if they dont want to fix it keep looking

 

yeah thats what the mechanic said they probly new what it was i already bought the car so i guess it's my problem now. i am taking it in to be checked tomorrow. i hope it's not that bad i a car like this i think having airbags is a must.

 

Mini has an extended warranty bulletin out for certain airbag codes.

 

My 2002 had the airbag light come on and it was repaired under a hidden warranty. It seems that early cars had bad connectors under the seats. it did not fail until 89K. good luck.

 

Yeah, what he said. There was a problem with the harness being a tad too short and pulling apart when the seat was moved all the way forward. Warranty replaces harness. Find a dealer and get the code checked, you might just get lucky.

 

I just had a similar situation here. I bought an '05 MCS from the dealer. 3 weeks after I bought it the airbag light came on. I brought it in and they said they'd fix it in a few hours. They called me later and said there was a water leak in the boot and it submerged my battery. It shorted out a bunch of things that had to be ordered. They ended up replacing the wiring harness coming from the battery to the engine, airbag modules along with having to reseal the rear wiper that was leaking. They covered it completely under warranty with 57,000 miles on it. They said I was pretty fortunate that it was covered because the labor would have cost a lot on this one.

 

My airbag light came on, but that was my own dumb fault. Removed the seats while listening to the radio. Smooth move on my behalf.