986 Airbag indicator

[scherb]

Recently I left my car in a valet in San Francisco. One they returned the car the airbag light was on. There is no sign of any damage on the vehicle. Is there any reason why the light should come on? or are there x,y & z reasons? My car is a 97 2.5L. No prior accidents based on the data I have on the car.

Scherb

Edited September 13, 2004 by scherb

[Tool Pants]

This is a cronic problem on the older cars. My 1997 has had 2 air bag fixes because of the light over the years. Has your car had any fixes. If so when was the last fix.

[scherb]

I dont have any record of the airbag being fixed. Let me do a double check with the previouse owner.

I suppose a dealer has to look at it? any idea on the cost for the fix?

Thanks.

[Tool Pants]

I was told that until July of last year Porsche would do the latest fix for free. My out of warranty 1997 was done for free the second time in 2002. In July of last year Porsche stopped doing things that they would normally have taken care of for free.

I was told that it is now a case by case basis, such as a long history of prior fixes. Pat with a 1999 just had the latest fix which involves new buckles and ground wires and he had to pay for the labor. There is also a older 996 guy on this board who had the light due to a bad control unit. Porsche paid for the part and he paid for the labor. Neither were the original owners so they did not know if there was a history of air bag light problems. Pat told me how much he paid, something like $500 but check with Pat as I was not paying attention.

All warranty work for your car is in the Porsche computer. And any friendly dealer can look up your VIN to see if it has been fixed before. And there has never been a recall.

Then they need to read the fault codes with a PST2 to see what is needed. Control unit, new buckles, or new ground wires. Otherwise it is just a guess as to what the problem is.

If you go to the October 9th tech session in Sant Cruz Tim Benson has a PST2 and he can read the codes. He use to work for Porsche but now has his own shop. He also does the fix for out of warranty cars.

[scherb]

THANKS. I shall drive safely in order to avoid using the airbag until October 9th ;-)

[Tool Pants]

The air bags work even with the light on. But drive safely anyway.

[scherb]

TP

I got the records from Stevens Creek. Airbag light came on at 47k (Code 48), Porsche replaced both seat belt buckles and midified wiring harness. (Under warranty). Then at 69k airbag light came up again and the tech replaced airbag control unit also under warranty. I will wait to see what the PST2 brings up next Saturday at Santa Cruz.

Seems odd that the control unit would fail in less then 20k agree?

[Tool Pants]

Your car has a history of prior fixes.

This will be interesting to see if a dealer tries to get you to pay if your car has not been messed around with since the last 2 fixes.

Electronic stuff can fail at any second for any reason. That is why I have had 4 notebook computers in 5 years.

Like why the remote control key head stops working after years of service, or a control unit, or a DME, or an air flow sensor.

[wingless]

As previously stated, an airbag fault light can illuminate for any number of problems as detected by the airbag control unit. On the Cayenne, if the fault is with a specific airbag, then that device is disabled until the problem is resolved and the fault cleared with the PST2. Intermittant airbag faults are not automatically cleared based on a specific number of ignition cycles, like other vehicle faults, but instead require the PST2.