My brother had another car run into the back of his car in July, his car being an ?X? reg Nissan Primera. There was no damage to the other party?s car although there was damage to the boot, bumper and under floor on the Primera.
It was repaired three weeks later, and when he picked it up from the repairers, the airbag warning light was flashing indicating a fault. When he informed the repairers that the airbag fault light had come on in between him dropping it off for repair and picking it up, they denied any responsibility.
He took it for ?diagnosis? at the Nissan dealer (for £25.00) who informed him that the left hand airbag module was showing open circuit.
Now the question is, who or what caused it?
The repairers deny any responsibility, probably quite rightly.
The insurance company deny any liability, as it was not deployed in the accident (but apparently would have repaired it had it been the drivers side airbag, but not the passenger side).
The Nissan garage wants £350 to repair it, and has suggested that it was caused by the accident, but because there was nobody in the passenger seat, the seat belt sensor didn?t detect the belt tensioning and has somehow caused the airbag to open circuit, but not deploy.
Has anybody got an explaination, or is it just fair wear and tear! Should he just get it repaired and pay the charge himself?The car has done 70,000 miles and so is out of warranty.
Reggie
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I think it's a coincidence, I'm not aware of a car with any airbag related items near the back of the car. The sensors are at the front, and even then require a specific criteria of trauma to deploy the airbag/s.
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I don't quite understand the nature of the fault - is it the gas generator module itself, the ECU or a crash sensor?
These systems are normally very reliable, so I would be suspicious. Did the repairer do any welding? Did he disconnect the battery?
It could of course be simply a bad connection in the airbag circuit, so the garage should check this first before fitting new parts.
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I seem to rememebr reading somewhere that if a car has been in an accident and the air bags didn't deploy then they should be disabled while repairers are working on the car to save possible injury.
Might be worth getting the garage to check and 'disablers' if fitted. If the diagnostics say 'open circuit' this could be the same and a disconnected plug.
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Unfortunately, I cannot be more specific about the fault except that the l/h airbag is "open circuit" according to the Nissan diagnostics. Presumably if the cost to repair is £350, the airbag itself is going to be replaced, unless there is something more expensive in there? The battery was apparently not disconnected, and I am not sure if welding took place, although probably if the battery was not disconnected, that would exclude electric welding I presume.
I realise that it may be just coincidence that the fault occurred when it did, but with the history of a relatively minor rear end shunt three weeks earlier, just wondered if there was something that one of the more knowledgeable back roomers may have been aware of that I was missing.
Thanks for your help.
Reggie
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Not quite the same, but I have had an Alfa GTV 3l, AND an Alfa 156 2.5 which both had Airbag Warning lights on. With the GTV, an Alfa dealer in the Hants area checked it over and declared "New Wiring Loom required" for around £500-600. I held off repair for a second opinion. While getting a stereo repair, repairers said "Oh yes, we reset the ECU faults" or "rebooted it" or sometning similar, and the Airbag light cleared. When light appeared on 156, I went and got the ECU "reset" and light never reappeared. Apparently sometning to do with an oxidised connection under the drivers seat - if there's a break in the airbag loop (on alfas while the ignition is on) then the airbag light will come on and stay on until reset (Better safe than ...).
Might be worth finding someone to do a "reset". If it's a genuine fault, sort out the premium. As part of settling a claim, surely the 3rd party cover is to leave you "in the same state as before" so a new fault is outside that remit.
good luck.
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You are correct Alfa_Pug.
There is a procedure for resetting the light on the Primera - but I can't remember it - I think it relies on pressing the drivers door switch a certain number of times. Dealer should obviously be able to reset it though. I would check all wiring and then do a reset before condeming any other components.
I would be concerned if the repairer did not disconnect the battery. If any new panel were fitted they would likely be MIG/TIG or spot-welded - gas welding would not be used.
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It did require a connection into the ECU - where I believe you can view a log of errors logged by the system. This car audio place (used to be very near to Shepards Bush R'bout) had the required connection and software to do it. Some Bosch ECU's can be reset with a combination of pedals/ ignition/ other "user operable" interfaces. I've had 17 alfas, and some allowed you to reset the keycode with the brakes!
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