I have been offered a Volvo S40 02 reg which has had a side impact and needs a new drivers door and some tin bashing to the front wing and rear quarter. Nothing heavy .
What concerns me though is that the curtain airbag(s) in the roof (drivers side)have gone off and are hanging down. I have seen front bags replaced but Volvo quote £500 to buy a new roof one and maybe £1000 for the sensors plus £200 labour. All of which would make the car not worth the effort.
2 questions then, please ;_
1. Is there a cheaper way to replace the bag
2. I know its not ideal but what would happen if this bag was not replaced - the s40 managed for many years without the roof one. Would the management system go into shut down mode or just show a warning light on the dashboard ?
Seems a shame for a good car to be binned off.
Thanks for any inspired comments.
Mike
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Can't help with 1. 2. I can offer guesses.
It will either light up and do nothing else or light up and disable the entire airbag system (more likely I would imagine).
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If the bags and sensors are not replaced, the warning light will glow and the car wont pass an MOT. You would need someone with the diag computer to reset the light, and disarm the side curtain airbags circuit - a Volvo dealer wont do it.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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the warning light will glow and the car wont pass an MOT.
Airbag lights aren't part of the MOT (Yet!)
That aside, I imagine the Volvo would have a high Euro NCAP rating with all those airbags, therefore the insurance grouping *may* be lower because of it. Start disconnecting airbags and you'll have to notify your insurance company so that they can adjust your premium accordingly.
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Adams correct, if the light on the dash is illuminated (as it will be with one air bag missing) the whole system is dissabled.
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Get a second hand airbay and sensors from the scrappies then have the system reset. I was not aware that the sensors have to be changed, are you sure. Regards Peter
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Try and source a curtain from a car which was written off on the passenger side. As long as the curtain was not deployed and there is no physical damage on the drivers side you have nothing to fear from this.
I can think of no good reason why you should have to replace the sensors - unless they have been tested and found to be faulty or damaged. But then, if they were damaged in the accident how did they manage to work to set off the curtain? The sensors are accelerometers and are extremely robust - they have to be, they must remain working right through any accident event to ensure the ecu has the right level of input to decide when to deploy the bags and curtains.
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a lot of sensors only work once and have to be replaced im not sure with this car, also i found out last week that one major insurer insists that the yellow cabling from sensor to airbag must also be changed if the airbag has been activated ,apparently they may go off on their own due to the ends having got warm during the first detonation and may have melted internally.
I would have thought if the side curtain has gone off then this car will be classified as a cat c and will need a vic check there is a 2 month waiting time for an appointment in the london area so im told? so be careful if you need it on the road sharpish.
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Oldman is correct.
These cars, IIRC use a 'SensoNor' microengineered cantilever accelerometer. Under high G-force (i.e. enough to trigger the ECU) the cantilever undergoes plastic deformation and therefore should not be re-used. If you try to re-use it the ECU will most likely log a fault because the sensor will not pass the power-up self-test.
When the airbag fires, a lot of current is discharged from the ECU into the firing circuit to fire the squibs in the airbags. For this reason, ideally, you should replace all the airbag cicuit and connectors (bound in yellow wrapping). I suspect you could get away without doing this - but don't quote me!
This will not be a cheap or easy job.
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Thanks to all for the wise (and honest)advice. I realised it would not be cheap but the high cost and the work has persuaded me not to buy the car. I won't compromise on safety - Ronnie Barker said "Death can be fatal !" Thanks again!
Justmike
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On the subject of Volvo airbags (though doubtless applies more widely) I came across the following Volvo Service Bulletin for older models that surprised me:
www.alldata.com/tsb/Volvo/1049184000000_1054710000...l
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