Mike,
Forgive the stupid question, but all you had to do was plug it in?
Thanks,
Roger

 

I got the seat mat emulator from AirBagLightOff.com in Ireland but it didn't work at all. Yes, all you do is plug it in and the computer is supposed to think there is a good seat mat and someone is sitting there. There is also a seat buckle plug to keep the seat belt light off. The idea is that it will always fire the airbag in an accident even if nobody is sitting there.


They now have removed it from the listing. I sent mine back for a refund but don't know if I got one (my wife is the money person).

 

That is correct, I bought my emulator from srsdrive on ebay from Ireland and it has worked on my 2005 CooperS. Unplug the seat connector and plug in the emulator, all is working. The emulator I bought also came with a resistor which I connected to the seatbelt sensor to stop it from ringing.

Mike

 

do you have the link? thanks

 

Does anyone have any updates on this? The OC3 mat is still not available by itself and is sold only with the cushion - $700. Ridiculous.

This is for a build date 12/06 R52 Cooper S Cab. It seems every year and model has the recall except for this one.

The emulator from srsdrive on ebay does not work for this year. Well, technically it does clear the 71 occupancy sensor fault code, but introduces a 72 fault code which is seat position sensor and k-bus and this car does _not_ have a seat position sensor, but the R56+ do.

NCS is not an option for the car for down the road safety/liability reasons, nor is the emulator (even if it worked) as we decided to sell the car after this is fixed.

 

I would go to the dealer and present them with the evidence - document how all others have been recalled (including BMWs), recap this and other threads in this forum and tell them that several members have received repairs free of charge from MINI with the assistance of their dealer. (I am one such person but not the first.) MINI knows of this problem and I believe they think it is cheaper to fix on a case by case basis than to issue a recall - at least until there is a wrongful death lawsuit. That is the big question that no one has answered to my satisfaction - if the sensor warning light is on, will the bag deploy or not? If you override with any of the emulators, will it deploy? If not, you might as well just pull the plug on the warning light.

 

I purchased the emulator from the Ireland ebay store as well for my 06' mcs.
The instructions state.
1. Car off
2. Unplug mat
3. Plug in emulator
4. Turn on car

If you still have the light you have to use the srs airbag reset tool, or try to convince your dealership to do it. (Pretty sure they won't)

I also don't have the passenger seatbelt light that people are talking about. Just updating the list of models it works on. 70$ well spent. Better than the 1500$ they wanted for the whole seat.

 

Thanks Firehawk and Cboy!!!!

This rocks!!! No more air bag light! I really appreciate you guys for documenting the process.

 

Can anyone tell me which plug is the seat sensor? The one closest to the door with white and black plug? Is the yellow one the airbag?

J

 

The seat sensor is the one with the iBus connection. IBus is red/white/yellow wire.

 

It is the one that doesn't exist on the drivers side.

 

Anyone know if Canadian version of 2005 mcs needs the us bypass or can the resistor trick works?

 

Does it have the extra connector under the passenger seat?

I thought the passenger weight sensor is only required in the US, but perhaps Canada adopts US regulations by default. If you can read the error code, it should identify what is causing the warning light.

 

It does have extra connector, but my question is, is the sensor same as the US version that needs a emulator to emulate the microprocessor, or like the 02-04 mini which can be done with a resistor trick.

 

Would the OC3 disable in NCSExpert work on a US 2008 R56?

 

My mini developed this same problem about a week ago. I actually created a new thread, as I didn't find this one in my original search: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-air-bag.html

I thought I would post here with my solution. Rather than buy a new seat ($1200), or buy the emulator (might work, might not), I decided to disable the OC3 sensor using NCSExpert. I then unplugged the weight mat from under the seat, and cleared the error code with INPA. The speedo light and the headliner light are both off now.

Everything looks good now, with the exception of verifying that the air bag system is armed and active. Somehow, my INPA gives me errors when trying to read the airbag ECU status, so I have to dig a bit more. I'll try to find a better version of the software out there somewhere.

Thanks everyone, for the pointers in this thread. I did also log a complaint on the website that was linked to in this thread.

 

I am thinking of doing that because now even with no one in the passenger seat I get the air bag light in the tach and speedo. Sometimes it beeps a couple times and goes away. Other times the fasten seat belt light remains on only and might turn off or all the lights come on. I tested with INPA and it seemed all right. I don't understand.

Which of all the cables under the seat is for the OC3 Mat sensor? Can you post a pic?

I also would like to know if be disconnecting and disabling in NCS Expert, that it'll actually work in an accident.

 

The best way to know which cable to disconnect is to check your driver's seat then determine which cable is extra on the passenger side since only the passenger's side will have the sensor. I think that it's yellow but can't remember, there is a step by step somewhere in the thread it will include disconnecting the battery at some point sorry that I can't be of more help since I sold my car but I did this and it works as stated above..... Also from what I understand this sensor is not used in other parts of the world since it is a federal mandate in the states and maybe some other countries but it seems that the airbags should still work ( no way to confirm this) regardless of a Person seating there or not. Maybe someone want to try it and let us know :-)

 

On mine, it was a 4 pin connector with three wires coming out of it, red, white and brown.

All of the seat connectors were just under the front lip, and as minibx said, if you can't find it, just compare it to the driver's side. The mat will be the extra connector that does not exist on the driver's side.

Once I finished, I checked the status of all the air bag system components with INPA, and they all said "released", which means active. Based on that and other info in this thread, I am confident that the system is working.

 

So will disabling the OC3 sensor using NCSExpert work on an '02 that doesn't have the seat sensor?

My situation is rather frustrating. I can go and have the light shut off, and it stays off... until I move the seat. This is massively frustrating, as I use the back seat all the time. Plus, my wife likes to sit with the seat slide forward, and my 6' tall friends slide it back

So about once every three months, I take it to a guy to reset the light, and it stays off... until.

Thank you in advance.

 

I think the dual stage airbag system, and thus the OC3 weight mat, were introduced in the 2005 model, thus your '02 doesn't have it.

If you look in NCSExpert, you'll probably find that the OC3 component is already disabled, since you don't actually have the mat in your seat.

Given that you don't actually have the OC3 mat, I would assume that your problem has a different root cause.

 

I've just worked through this problem with my USA '09 base model...
This thread got me on track to figure it out so I thought I'd share my updated info.

I unplugged the seat mat sensor. then disabled only the "OC3" in the ABG module with NCS Expert.
Notes:
1) There is no OC3_1 and OC3_2 switch options, only "OC3" for my year/model
2) You must disconnect the seat mat sensor first otherwise, (A) the module will poll the "not active" mat sensor and (B) set a new error. So then the over head light will go out, but, the error light on the dash will re-occur. (no worries, just unplug the mat sensor and update the module again) and then all is well.
(clarified 1/30/15)

Hope this Helps

 

In my 2008 R56 in the ABG module, I only have GK_OC3_POL and OC3. Should I deactivate these two or just OC3?

 

I deactivated only "OC3".
FYI, I updated/clarified the original post that you quoted.. best..

 

Seems like mini should cover this issue!