2006 Golf TDI MK4 Air Bag Light and Code 01217

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Brkdrvr

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Hello, I have a 2006 VW Golf Mk4 TDI with the airbag light lit. I ran a scan and at address 15: Airbags, had 1 fault found : 01217 - Side Airbag Igniter; Drivers Side (N199) 33-00 - Resistance Too Low.

I did some research and found many notes on the yellow connecter/plug under the seat being the culprit so I disconnected the battery removed the seat and cut out the connecter and soldiered and shrink wrapped the 4 wires, reconnected the battery and cleared the code. airbag lite is still on and code never goes away. any suggestions? Is this definitely the code for the airbag in the drivers side seat as opposed to the bag in the steering wheel, A-pillar or roof? Thanks, Mike
 
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Uwe

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Yes, I'm pretty sure N199 is the bag in the seat.

I think I would have gone about this differently. Given that the code was "Resistance too low", I would have disconnected the connect, powered the car back up, and re-scanned to see if it changed to "Resistance too High".

-Uwe-
 
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Brkdrvr

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Just read a description of that (checking code while disconnected) , I guess its time to un- do and re-check. I looked at the connections and two appeared a little corroded. I had also recently moved the seat to its extremes forward backwards and up and down while cleaning under and around seat.
 
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Brkdrvr

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So, Resistance too low should indicate a poor/no connection somewhere in drivers side seat airbag circuit? If I disconnect and get same reading would that indacate air bag is bad, I found a suggestion to insert a 3 ohm resister to fool the system into thinking airbag is there to confirm it is bad.

Also this car does not auto scan so I am selecting VW Golf/Jetta/Bora IV 1998 + .
 
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Uwe

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So, Resistance too low should indicate a poor/no connection somewhere in drivers side seat airbag circuit?
No, resistance too low indicates a short circuit (or something close to it) rather than an open circuit.

I found a suggestion to insert a 3 ohm resister to fool the system into thinking airbag is there to confirm it is bad.
I'm not sure of 3 ohms is the correct value, but yes, putting a resistor in place of the airbag is a useful method of trouble-shooting.

Also this car does not auto scan so I am selecting VW Golf/Jetta/Bora IV 1998 + .
Of course it Auto-Scans, it just that it doesn't have a proper CAN gateway, so VCDS can't "Auto-Detect". VW Golf/Jetta/Bora IV 1998 + an appropriate selection.

-Uwe-
 
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Brkdrvr

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Well I stripped back the seat cover in anticipation of having to replace the seat airbag (hoping to get a part number) and in the process of examining it found the connection where harness plugs into airbag not correctly set/locked, the plug fell out when i touched it. I re-set the plug and correctly inserted the little brown locking tabs and cleared the airbag code. The airbag light went out and stayed off. I shut off and restarted the car 5-6 times and ran a new scan no more airbag codes.
 
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Jack@European_Parts

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Induced FOD........... wins again!
fod-control-signs-risk-series.png
 
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