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Airbag Light On and Off...

9.3K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  bluebee  
#1 ·
This started happening yesterday. For no apparent reason, my airbag light came on. :eek: I pulled in a gas station to get some gas then restarted the car...the light was gone. After a few mins, it came back on and stayed on. Today, I started the car and the light was off...then came back on again. This kept happening in my whole 1 hour drive. Is something loose? I recently did my vapor barriers for 3 doors but did not mess with the airbags. Also, I had a koi pond in the rear passenger side and it still a little damp. I had some water in the rocker panel but dont hear it anymore. With all these in mind, what could the problem be? Loose connection when I was working on the vapor barriers or water damaged to something?
 
#6 ·
I had the same issue as you and was intermittent, at first. When your airbag light is ON try the visor trick and also beep your horn (sometimes it won't beep when depressed)
As a side note, I noticed the ignition switch would act up only when very cold or very hot outside.
 
#8 ·
Vehicles concerned:
E38, E39
Manufacturing period:
E38: Start of series production until January 2002.
E39: Start of series production until March 2004
Procedure:

1. Connect BMW diagnostic system (DiSplus or GT1) to the vehicle.
2. Read off fault memory.
The following fault codes could be stored in the fault memory of the airbag control unit, depending on manufacturing period and model:

E38, E39 to March 1999

^ "05 - Driver-side belt tensioner triggering circuit"
^ "06 - Passenger-side belt tensioner triggering circuit"
E38, E39 from March 1999

^ "02 - Driver-side belt tensioner triggering circuit"
^ "03 - Passenger-side belt tensioner triggering circuit"


i can post the rest of the instructions on how to repair in another thread if anyone is interested.