Greetings folks

With passenger in seat and belted in, the Passenger Airbag Off light comes on once key is inserted then briefly comes on once engine is running.

After reading about the issue here, I brought to dealer. Their response was exactly as mentioned on this forum.

"Could not find any error codes all normal"

So I whip out the video on my cellphone and show them the problem.

Long story short they are going to replace the weight mat in the passenger seat.

Keep those cellphones handy!




2009 MCSm

 

On three occasions, I've had that light come on while my wife was belted into the passenger seat. The light didn't go off until I turned off the engine, in my case.

I mentioned this to the dealer at my next service. He said there were no codes stored, so they couldn't do anything. He DID say, however, that there was no problem unless there was also a dashboard warning light on. In other words, just the overhead light on is a false alarm.

I wonder if anyone else has been told this and/or can confirm that it's true.

 

Is there just the weight sensor or is there also a distance sensor? As in how close/far away the seated person is from the dash?

 

I think its just a weight sensor.

As for false alarm, this is the worst kind of false alarm as it DISABLES the airbag for your passenger. From what I can gather, its a known issue @ MINI as the dealership asked how heavy my wife was (light) when I asked them to look into it. Frankly, I wish the airbag was on all the time. The child seats are in the back for a reason.

 

From what I understand, and I was not able to find this in the manual.

The Passenger Airbag Off light will come on once you start the car, if it detects no occupants in the seat. Or it detects the two bars caused by a child seat being placed in the seat.

This will deactivate the passenger airbags for the duration of the trip.

The light will go on once you place the keyfob into the ignition, then go off as the car is being started, then come on for a few seconds. Then go off, if this happens your passenger has no airbag protection if a collision occurs.


The dealer tried to use the "how heavy is your passenger" bit also. Don't allow them to. There is a problem with the weight sensor and it needs to be repaired!

 

So there is no dashboard warning symbol indicating the passenger airbag is disabled?

 

"Oh, she's fat! I mean orca fat! Just huge! It's a little disgusting, to be honest with you. It's a wonder I can close the door!"

What kind of a question is that?!

 

I have this same issue - from reading here I thought it was just something you had to live with. How much effort did it take to get them to agree to fix it (or shall I say try to fix it)? I was going to bring it up when I take my car in for it's first visit so any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated

 

Search the topic here, about a year ago, a NAM Member got his MC Lemon-Lawed for that exact issue (after three repair attempts).

He was pleased to order the MCS that he wished he had ordered in the first place.

It is a serious safety issue, if an 'over 80 Lb.' passenger is belted in the seat and the "AirBag Off" light stays on!

 

Was not a hard sell, just had to prove it to the dealer. Which begs the question. Why didn't the dealer put some one in the passenger seat and verify the problem????

I had to show the video!

After the dealer reset the system we drove home in separate cars, my wife then sat in the passenger seat of the MCS and the Airbag Off, lit right up!!

Stupid me, we should have done that at the dealer and dragged them out to see what they had just "repaired"

Oh well live and learn. Now I have two videos of the same problem.

 

MiniS'09 Best advice I can give is document the problem with a camera or video.

If on Video, say that your passenger is buckled up, and seated comfortably in the seat. Show the passenger, show the seat belt. Then go through the start up of your car, talking each step through.

I did just that and it caught their attention!

 

When it happened to me, the light stayed on the whole drive home from the restaurant... I'm a bit unclear if its supposed to stay on normally.

 

^^^^^^^Normally that light should be out with an over 80# passenger belted into seat.

It should be on, when the belt is connected and you have less than 70# in the seat. (The weights posted are from my recollection )

The idea is that the AirBag could cause harm to a child in that seat, for safety a child should be belted (or child-car-seated) in a rear seat anyway.

 

Pilotart thanks for your input in this thread, during research of the problem I saw your name many times on that problem as well.


I am now wondering about the issue myself. Hopefully I can get a straight answer from the group.


My over head light will come on before I start the car, regardless of passenger or not. Then stay on for several seconds after the car is started.
Then go out.

It does the same thing with a passenger in the seat, so I concluded that there must be an error.


Now I wonder if the overhead light is part of the normal "light check" sequence and there is no problem!!



How does everyones "passenger airbag light off" perform on their cars.

I swear that the "passenger airbag light" did not come on till 2 weeks ago.


To think I may have given the dealer grief for no reason

 

The problem occurs when: there is a passenger in the seat and the "Passenger Air Bag Off" light is illuminated and stays illuminated. This means the passenger has no airbag protection.

The fact that the light comes on during engine startup and then goes off is no problem.

 

Thanks for the words everyone - will take a video as support since it is sort of an on and off again issue.

 

I have another issue - light comes on during engine startup and the goes off even when nobody sits in the passenger seat - its not that bad of a case, but then both airbag would go off in case of the accident when nobody in the passenger seat. I think I would need to replace mat in this case too.

 

No, I think you are okay there, I think that is the way it should work (since no one is sitting in the seat).


Also, I have had this issue this summer with my 08 Cooper (punch leather sport seat) where the passenger airbag light was off for an adult properly seated and buckled in the car. I am going into the dealer next week for this and the cat recall.

 

Glad I saw this here as I thought I was going crazy.

Our 2009 MCCS that we got in May has just developed this problem of sorts. When my wife sits in the passenger seat and is buckled in the warning light above the mirror comes on. We have to stop the engine...remove the key FOB and then restart to get it to extinguish.

Looks like this is going to require a trip to the dealership to fix it.

 

When there is no passenger in the front seat, our 2007 Forester has a bright yellow light that comes on indicating, "Passenger Air Bag Not Activated", and it stays on as long as no one is in the seat. There've been a zillion posts complaining about this online, with people asking how to deactivate the light.

I think MINI made the right decision to have the light extinguish after startup...

 

corcoranwtnet,

The problem we are having is that you have to restart the car to get the light to extinguish. For example....I get in the car and my wife gets in the car....both buckle up....start the car....Passenger Airbag light REMAINS lit....have to restart the car to have it extinguish. This is NOT the way the car is meant to be. This problem just started 2 weeks ago.

 

I understand, Mike, we have the same problem (see my earlier post on this thread).

I was responding to BARS_SUN, who said, "I have another issue - light comes on during engine startup and then goes off even when nobody sits in the passenger seat - ".

If no one sits in the passenger seat, the light is supposed to go off after a short delay, in order to avoid the annoying bright yellow light (that we have all the time in the Forester).

 

The dealer did not find anything wrong with my car, in other words, the computer said nothing had faulted. So they couldn't do anything to fix it because it worked normally for them. Oh well, if and when it happens to me again, I will record it with the cellphone. Also, the SA mentioned the fault codes are not permanent in the computer and I may have waited to long to come in (not sure if I buy that or not, but whatever).

 

Ahhh gotcha! My misinterpretation! Yes you are correct in what you stated! Thanks for clarifying!

 

The last couple of days I noticed that my overhead "passenger air bag off" light would do exactly as JeoRider - the light would go on whenever I put the key fob in the ignition, regardless of whether or not I had a passenger. The light would turn off after about 10 seconds.

I called my MINI Service manager (and my Sales Advisor) and they both said that that was "normal", and the computer was doing a self-check on the system. As long as the light turned off after a few seconds (with an adult passenger or nothing on the seat), that was fine.

Funny I never noticed till now the overhead light going off and on. I've had my '09 Clubman for only a month.

rt