2004 MCS Airbag Light

[RRS_Staffs]

We have a 2004 Mini Cooper S which we have run from new
It lives in the garage and has light use only - 15k miles in fact, it really is that pampered

For the last few months the airbag light has come on
I bought a Memoscan unit from ebay to reset it which failed

In view of the imminent MOT changes I took it to my local tame indy today for an estimate to reset it
They had a look and suggested I put £400 quid to one side as their diagnostics suggest a well known fault which may take several hours to strip back and put right, with no guarantee it wouldnt recur

They claimed to have done this frequently and Google suggests they are correct

Now on the one hand its an old car
On the other its been well maintained and Im pretty sure we have a recognised problem with the Phase 1 MCS
£400 is a lot of money to part with if they wont guarantee it will never come back

Thoughts welcome
Particularly from anyone who has got BMW to admit there is an issue here

Cheers

[MX-5 Lazza]

That's a new car in my eyes!
Make sure any connectors under the seats (particularly the passenger seat0 are properly connected and the wires are in good condition.
Also, check your handbook to see if there is an airbag disable function somewhere that you might have inadvertently triggered. Other than that I guess you'll just have to let someone take a look.

On the plus side, you should have a word with your MoT guy first as they might not fail it for that. My MX5 has had the airbag disabled and airbag warning lights on for about 4 years due to me fitting different seats that do not have an occupancy sensor but it's never even been mentioned at MoT time (MoT by a very good local independent).

[mike9009]

Hi

I had the airbag light on my Mini One a few times, A couple of times under warranty and another outside. Luckily, as I had the car from new, MINI repaired FOC.

On all occasions it appeared to be the connections under the passenger seat. Likely repair bill each time would have been £175 at MINI.

You could check the connections, but MINI need to reset once the connections had been established.

I believe in the 2012 MOT regs and airbag light will be a fail. (There is some get out until April 2012 - but I don't understand the details) I have this confirmed by my local MOT guy because my Alfa `156 has its light on too.

At the time in my MINI, it annoyed me that the dealership would not repair again outside warranty despite the problem reoccuring. Also the service manager helpfully advised me not to use the back seat with passengers as this was likely to cause the issue WTF?

Mike

[TimCrighton]

As said above passenger seat connections are the most likely cause - the code and therefore light should clear out with a normal code reader so shouldn't need a specialist.

[RKDE]

You need a B200 to read and reset the airbag lights on the mini. It will be the wires or worst case a pre tensionor