Air bag light

[m3f_Tpb31_67f747186d]

My airbag light came on, does anyone else have this issue? Is this a normal E36 thing? Is there anyway to reset it?

[m3f_300Z&M3]

Hi mine has been on and my mechanic has been unable to reset it. From the code that is coming out, he told me that there is a sensor in the passenger seat which is gone and so I need to replace it. The sensor simply tells the system if someone is in the seat or not and if so to deploy the airbag in case of an accident. If no one is siitng there then there is no need to deploy the passenger air bag which makes sense. I checked circle BMW in NJ for the sensor and it is $76 but they are telling me from Circle BMW that that last time they performed such a service it was a pain in the neck. It took 7 hours. You can imagine how much they charged that poor soul. On the other hand, My mechanic said he can do it including the parts for $250. I have not done it yet but I need to since he is telling me that in case of an accident the airbags will not deploy because the lights are on. I will also be interested in what other has to say, but I will say get it fixed and if you do let me know the details.



I am a person who just hates having any kind of lights on for no reason and so i will recommend that you get it taken care of.



Good Luck

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

The most common reason the airbag light comes on is due to a bad occupency sensor. Also, the control box thats under the seat for it has an updated version and the older ones will cause the light to also come on, but it will still throw up the fault as the occupency sensor on your car. Replace both. I have the same issue on my car, I just keep resetting it.



When the light is on though, the airbag system is not disabled, just its default settings. Ie, get in a wreck that requires airbags, the passenger bag will fire even if no-one is there. Which is defeating the purpose of the occupency sensor anyways.



All that mat is for under there is to save your airbags, because them are costly



Last one we did at the shop was around $350ish.

[m3f_qu1k]

i have a 91 an mine has been on since i can remember...i checked it out right away but was told not to worry...so ihavnt really noticed it since (i suppose ive gotten used to it, and forgot about wat it really means) sorry this probably wont help you

[m3f_Kerplunk_810182779a]

i just got my airbag light done. It was because of a seat belt sensor or something. Everything seemed to work just fine. But i can't stand having those lights on. I did it at the dealer ( only place that i could find that would do it)



They charged me 500-600 dollars to get that done. What a rip off. blah !!!!!



I have a 96

[m3f_96M3Power_4547fc3d60]

You need a dealer to deactivate the airbag light, or you need the reset tool. IF you have taken out your seats the airbag light will be on... thats how mine was on.

[m3f_Markesq_53919446a8]

Mine is the seatbelt sensor. $102 for the part. $300 for part and installation. Dealer said that is should be done as soon as possible. Also, that changing this could cause airbag to deploy. I would do this myself, BUT a $300 repair could become 1K large in a millisecond.

[m3f_Max M3]

Mine was on so I had a GOOD repair shop diagnose the code. The code indicated it wasn't the seat sensor, but the control unit itself that sits under the rear seat. I found a used one online for about $75 and swapped it in myself. Then went back to the repair shop to have them reset the light. All was well, and didn't cost too much!!! :thumbsup: