airbag light on

[captzoom]

My airbag warning light is on. I took the car by the local Porsche dealership and the service manager explained to me that this could happen if my battery was discharged below 8 or so volts. I had been working on the car a few days ago and the doors were open for several hours. The battery was discharged to the point where it cranked very slowly before engine start, so I probably passed the low-voltage threshold while starting. The service manager said they could reset it, but would have to charge me 1/2 hour labor because Porsche would not cover this under warranty.

This seems a high priced penalty to pay, and would also be incurred by anyone who let their car stay in storage for a long time, left an interior light on overnight, had a battery cell go bad or many other possible scenarii.

I don't want the bags to detonate while I'm driving down the road, or fail to detonate if I am involved in a crash, and since the warning lamp is non-specific about the problem it seems like a situation like this could be a liability issue for Porsche if anything like that should happen, especially in the USA courts. The old black plastic tape fix seems inappropriate for a car under warranty too.

Is there a way to reset the airbag warning light without the Porsche dealer's computer or other specialized diagnostic/reset tool? Anybody had any success dealing with Porsche about this problem?

[Loren]

Is there a way to reset the airbag warning light without the Porsche dealer's computer or other specialized diagnostic/reset tool?

Sorry, no. Durametric, Porsche PIWIS tester and perhaps one or two other high end scan tools. Durametric is likely the least expensive of the group.

If you have the actual fault code I can likely tell whether the airbag is still armed or not. In most cases the airbag will do it's job as long as it is not damaged or the wiring disconnected.

[PAULSPEED]

I take the seat out and put a racing seat in for the track.

I have had the dealer reset the light but now I just live with the light.

It seems like every time I have the lite reset, a month latter I am

back at the track.

I have been told that the air bags will still work if the electrical

connection is firm. The electrical connection takes a little bit of

work to take apart and put back together.

Paul

[CaptnCrash]

I take the seat out and put a racing seat in for the track.

I have had the dealer reset the light but now I just live with the light.

It seems like every time I have the lite reset, a month latter I am

back at the track.

I have been told that the air bags will still work if the electrical

connection is firm. The electrical connection takes a little bit of

work to take apart and put back together.

Paul

Durametric is not all that expensive and is an awesome tool for the DIY'er. Good investment.

--CC

[captzoom]

Thanks to all for the info and advice. I am assuming the electrical connection referred to is not the connector for the center console or the PCM unit, but is probably around the steering column and under pax seat...

[kbrandsma]

Thanks to all for the info and advice. I am assuming the electrical connection referred to is not the connector for the center console or the PCM unit, but is probably around the steering column and under pax seat...

The connection Paul Speed was referring to is the harness under the passenger seat that needs to be disconnected each time a seat is removed.

Did you have the dealer reset the airbag light? Did they tell you what the fault code was?

[captzoom]

Not yet, still trying to find a way around paying $67.50 for five minutes of "work"...

[PAULSPEED]

You can buy the durametric.

http://www.durametric.com/default.aspx

This will tell you the code but I think you

still will need to go to the dealer to reset it.

Paul

[kbrandsma]

Durametric will reset airbag light.