I bought my 2003 mini cooper S used from a dealer...the air bag light has been on the whole time I have had it. the car has 86,000 miles on it. I finally took it in and paid the $98.00 to have it diagnosed. Their report is as follows:

01-Drivers Air bag(stage 1)
21-Drivers Air bag(stage 2)
11-Battery positive terminal isolation triggered

They told me that the airbag itself is bad as well as the clockspring in the steering wheel..(none of the controls on the steering wheel have ever worked). Now for the battery cable...it is designed with some sort of diode that shorts out when there is an airbag failure.

Total cost of repair is $1700.00

I have researched the airbag light on this forum but most all of the problems seem to be with the wire harness and connectors under the seat. Has anyone else had this problem and can you give me some insight. Don't know if the airbag was ever deployed....carfax history shows no accidents for what thats worth. Does anyone think that the mini extended warranty on the airbag issues will cover this problem?....thanks for all views and replies

 

I don't think it is common to have an airbag fail. Even more, I don't think it's legal to sell a car with a failed airbag, which could lead to a liability for the dealer that sold you the car under your state's "as is" warranty clause. I would suggest talking to your state's Attorney General office to get a understanding on where your state stands on such a safety issue and how the law applies to your car. Armed with that knowledge, you may be entitled for reimbursement.

I'm not surprised by the ghastly amount for the airbag fix either. I have a friend that has a Volvo C70 convertible that was lightly bumped setting off the airbags. The cost of resetting the safety system was around $5,000. Ugh.

 

There was a TSB , and the MINI dealer fix was free up to 100K miles( wiring in the pass seat too short)

 

Whats this?

 

Techincal Service Bulletin

 

The TSB, and then just like the o2 sensor, the warrenty on thses items were extented.
You are beyond the max miles, and the cause of the light is a failed airbg, not the wiring harness, which on some cars was a bit too short..so the plug could get loose, setting an airbag light.
I would complain loudly to the dealer you bought your car from...and WHY would you buy a car with such an obvious issue? You thought you got a good deal I guess...now you find out why the dealer did not fix it, and then sell it, the $$$$.

 

i know i am bringing this up from the grave but

this is happening on my car and spoke with my dealer Otto's MINI in PA

they are saying that this is only a TSB and has nothing to do with an extended warranty and that i would have to pay for the repair

is this true or am i getting a bs dealer response?

 

anything that deals with with anti-pollution or safety is covered longer than your standard warranty.

 

is there any hard evidence / documentation that i can bring them so i can be prepared to show them that they are supposed to perform this repair?

thank you in advance!


edit: i also called Prestige MINI in jersey since they are known to be great (and from where i grew up) and he also said there is nothing, i said something about it being a safety issue and he said the only thing for my car is the o2 sensor

 

Well i found this thread, I'd sure like to know what the truth is, if there is an extended warrenty or not see as my light just came on for the first time.

http://www.motoringfile.com/2006/03/...airbag-issues/

 

I call B.S. on the airbag being bad, since none of your steering wheel controls work my money is on a bad clockspring.

As far as the code 11, I bet the car was in a minor collision and the airbag had popped which also pops the battery cable right at the battery preventing a spark fire. That is an expensive fix on BMW's. It's an explosion much like the airbags but it severs the positive cable.

 

Just so every one knows, i went into my local Mini dealer in st. louis and spoke with them and the air bags warranty was extended but only on the 2005 model. Atleast thats what she said. So yup my light will stay on till the day the car does to the junk yard.

 

rowan

is there ANY WAY you can get your dealership to get that to you in WRITING that i can then supply to my dealer as proof

i am being told there is no WARRANTY but only a TSB

i have an 05 MCS

thank you so much

 

Don't. Know what to tellyou....
My 2005 S was covered by mini under the tsb....
it sounds like since you also have the battery dissconect triggered....it is a moot point...
that is ONLY triggered when an airbag inflation event is triggered....
Mini sells a rebuild kit...folks we're using the bmw kit before(some have rear batteries like the mini)....
Since that is bad....and both stages on the airbag....I bet it was deployed...possibly by accident during a repair or something since not all the bags were triggered.

 

Just curious, what did Mini charge you to diagnose? Mine is on as well, it went on after working on my drivers side window.

 

My Air Bag light came on in Jan 11 after 65K miles. When I was at the dealer to pick up my Countryman I asked the dealer if my 05 MC was covered by warranty and they initially stated that it was only the 2002 model. After a bit of discussion our MA agreed to take a look. Apparently, my MA went through a bit of negotiations with BMW because it was in the shop for 5-6 days. The issue was a sensor and the seat wiring -ultimately BMW agreed to fix - at no cost.

 

An important thing to add...
in 2005 model year cars, there are 2 different harnesses/airbag systems...
Production year 2004, model year 2005 cars have the single stage airbag system like earlier mini's...
Cars produced in 2005, in compliance with US regulations got the 2 stage system with a weight sensor....
the harness issues affected cars that were pre 2005 calandar builds...
2005 has issues....but with the weight sensor...usually not the harness.

 

Some people are taking the 2002s to local shops that have OBD 2 scanners and found that "MINI" cannot be entered on the scanner to read the error code(s). Ask the shop to enter BMW 325 and codes should come up, and they can also be cleared. Local MINI dealer wanted over $100 just to scan!

The TSB from 2003 on the errant air bag light issue was updated in 2006, with a 10-year/150,00 mile warranty. I had my 2002 supposedly rewired correctly in 2007. Light came on 8 months ago (September, 2010). Local shop with the OBD 2 entered BMW 325 and got the same reading that MINI dealer got in 2007: passenger-side airbag/pretensioner. They cleared the code and it stayed off until last week. Took it back to the local shop but they could not get the light to go off UNTIL they jiggled the wiring connectors under the passenger-side seat and then tried to clear. Worked.

So, be wary of the $5K repair quotations. The local shop said that if the light comes on again, presumably because of some passenger seat movements that jiggle the wires under the seat, they'll try to tighten the connectors (crimping, squeezing, etc.), since the jiggling of the wires allowed the code to be cleared.

This is an instance of a small, dumb problem that may not affect the operation of the side air bags, and which can be solved in the most inexpensively ridiculous way. Why MINI doesn't just try what a local shop can and save everyone time and hassle, as well as promoting good will, is a mystery. Making money through unnecessary repairs is not in the spirit of how MINI started out in 2002!

 

Any luck with TSB if its on the drivers side?