I'll start from the beginning.

2007 MCS. 29k miles. I just changed the tires to 225/45/17s. No wires or lines seemed to be in danger of rubbing. I drove about 20 miles in total to test different tire pressures and finally settled on one that I liked. On the drive home, the TPMS light came on in red. I forgot to reinitialize the system and, at the time, didn't know how to reset it without referencing the manual.

The next morning, I went out driving (still had not reset the TPMS) and three lights came on: Brake (yellow), ABS (yellow), and TCS (yellow) in area 1 with ABS (yellow) in area 2. Then, after driving over a bump in the road, the dash chimed, Brake turned to red, the airbag warning symbol (red) came on on the speedometer cluster, and the airbag warning symbol (red) appeared in area 2 (alternating with ABS).

After turning the car off, I get a yellow symbol in area 2 that looks like a CD with a lock.

It seems to me that the TCS and ABS warnings are likely the result of a wheel speed sensor (I have not yet checked or replaced the sensors), but what could cause the airbag warnings? If I let the car sit for at least an hour, the airbag warning goes away, but comes back as soon as I hit a bump.

 

Are you still under warranty? If so, have them reset it for you.

If not, you will need to buy the tool (or borrow it). The Bav Tech tool it works great.
Undo your battery. Pop the steering wheel cover off. Disconnect the airbag wires
and reconnect them. (wiggle a bit to get good connection you could also use a
small dab of dielectric grease). Put back together and reset.

It is coincidental. The wires have a loose connection. Same thing happened to me
when I used the horn once.

 

Unfortunately, the car is out of warranty by a few months.

Thanks for the input regarding the BavTech. I'm not yet familiar with all of the Mini-specific tools since I've only owned the car for less than a month. Do you happen to know if the Alta Accessport is capable of diagnosing the same codes? (Might as well kill two birds...) I'd like to just replace the sensors on the problematic corner(s).

 

I do not know about the Alta device. The bav tech tool is fantastic. I do not think
anyone should own these cars without owning this tool. (unless you just plan to drop it off for all your randome lights). It has saved me the $850 the dealer wanted for a new airbag, plus however much and a tow the time it just locked down because it decided to think it was being stolen. $500 for sure. It seems the dealer which I did get stuck there with the airbag for "diagnosis" they seem to not have a reset tool, but must always reload the entire software program at a cost of $250 lol.

I've not had a lot of quirks pop up on mine to be honest, but the above saved
1300, 1400 easy. That is just this past year.

BTW, just to be clear you do not need a tool or device that diagnosis codes -
you need to be able to reset and clear the codes.

 

Awesome. Thanks again.

I went to a BMW/Mini shop today and pulled/reset everything I could. It appears that the SRS is based on the DSC system, which is based on the wheel speed sensors. The two front sensors went into an open circuit, so it looks like I'll have to replace those. There didn't appear to be any rubbing from the tires, so I'm still at a loss as to why two sensors crapped out at the same time.

 

That is so statisically not able to happen.
<makes the worried face>