Fiat ducato air bag warning light is on…..AGAIN.

Camper634

Camper634

Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Posts
775
Likes collected
532
Location
Hull
Funster No
19,200
MH
Autotrail 634
Exp
Since 2006
For the 3rd time in less than 12 months the air bag warning light is back on the dash.The last time was 6 weeks ago when it cost me £88 with crashdata to have the module reprogrammed.I did ask the question then why has it gone again.One of the replies it could be high voltage when starting the engine.So every time since the last replacement i have turned the ignition to on and waited until the various lights went off before cranking the engine.This morning i only tuned the ignition on to check mu LPG levels and almost immediately the air bag light came on.
I am at a loss what to do next.I cant keep paying £88 God knows how many times.Has anyone please got/had this problem and found out a reliable fix?Any help greatly appreciated.
 
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BobJayne said:
Does he know if the new part number ones have had a modification to prevent this happening in the future?
Would be worth spending out a bit more if it's going to be reliable.
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CamperJack said:
After reading about all the ones that have been "fixed" failing I'm tempted to just buy a new one.

Are they all the same for Peugeot, fiat and Citroen? Are they specific to the year of van etc?
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Unless the ECU module has been modified to cure this problem, and I haven't seen anything to suggest that Fiat has bothered to do this, buying a new one seems a waste of money.

Until the DVSA forces a safety recall things are unlikely to change at the Fiat end of things. I suspect that because commercial Ducato vans in daily use seem relatively immune, and the percentage of Ducatos (and other Sevel clones) produced for MH conversion is quite small, Fiat doesn't care enough to fix the ECU module design, even though the warranty cost is not insignificant.
 
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CamperJack said:
After reading about all the ones that have been "fixed" failing I'm tempted to just buy a new one.

Are they all the same for Peugeot, fiat and Citroen? Are they specific to the year of van etc?
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Maybe Lenny HB would be kind enough to find out a bit more from the dealer on behalf of the forum?
I would certainly prefer to pay more for a more permanent fix. Portsmouth not too far from me either if Adams Moray want more business.
 
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It is also an issue for average van man, and as mentioned ambulances which have high use. Difference is that average van man doesn’t care, so will only be sorted at MOT time.
There will never be a recall or similar as it isn’t a safety issue as it lights the warning light. Would be a different issue if it just stopped working. Shame there is just a bypass for the entire system.
 
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I’m not making any inferences here, but is there a high failure rate on units sent to Crash Data for repair once they come back?

I’ve got my fingers crossed mine will last for many years to come, but should it fail, I don’t want to waste time and money on it.

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Stealaway said:
Nope.
I used to believe that they were probably right because many motorhome batteries are badly neglected.
Not any more.
Crash Data are providing a great service but that cannot excuse Fiat crap
It's s been a faulty component for over twelve years and Fiat have done nothing about it.
The reports that Ducato ambulances are also often off the road waiting for a replacement module has confirmed it to me
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Landy Andy said:
It is also an issue for average van man, and as mentioned ambulances which have high use. Difference is that average van man doesn’t care, so will only be sorted at MOT time.
There will never be a recall or similar as it isn’t a safety issue as it lights the warning light. Would be a different issue if it just stopped working. Shame there is just a bypass for the entire system.
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Not a safety issue?
Do you think that the airbags would fire in a front end crash ?
 
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Landy Andy said:
Would be a different issue if it just stopped working.
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My understanding from Fiat garage is that the airbags will not deploy if the warning light is on.
So it reduces the safety aspects of the vehicle.

However, I wholly agree fiat will not do anything about it, neither will it become a recall
 
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It’s not a safety issue as you have been warned it isn’t working, by the light coming on, so should not be driving the vehicle.
 
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A recommended alternative 72hr turn around repairer based in the North West……

northernautotech.co.uk

Airbag ECU Repairs Throughout The UK - Northern Autotech

We Specialise In Airbag ECU Repairs For a Wide Range Of Models For clients Throughout The UK. Call us today on 07870 903 552
northernautotech.co.uk northernautotech.co.uk

I’m surprised that none to the techies on here have explored Carprog that I mentioned earlier. 😉

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Landy Andy said:
It’s not a safety issue as you have been warned it isn’t working, by the light coming on, so should not be driving the vehicle.
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I see -- sorry


It's just failed in France so really I need to find a garage and sit and wait until they can order one and have time to fit it.
Do we now all need to carried a spare module - just like a spare wheel.

(Which I also don't bother with)
 
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Stealaway said:
I see -- sorry


It's just failed in France so really I need to find a garage and sit and wait until they can order one and have time to fit it.
Do we know all need to carried a spare module - just like a spare wheel.

(Which I also don't bother with)
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When that happened to me I drove for the remainder of our time away no more adverse effects except no airbags will deploy
 
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Landy Andy said:
Personally I’d just carry in with your holiday. But I’m used to not having airbags and it doesn’t bother me. I’d bypass the system completely if I could when/if mine fails.
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Me too but I daren't say it on here... Whoops I just did 😂
 
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Landy Andy said:
Personally I’d just carry in with your holiday. But I’m used to not having airbags and it doesn’t bother me. I’d bypass the system completely if I could when/if mine fails.
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I wonder if a good OBD reader is capable of turning it off?

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chaser said:
As I said before, have you tried wriggling the wires under the seat or if there is connecters see that they are fully pushed together, it happens on my Renault about every 1000 miles ,a quick wriggle and it goes off for another thousand, especially if you have seats that turn round, has the wire got fast somewhere?
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I have checked under the seats and the four wire under there only go to the seat belt tensioner device and the seat belt latch
 
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I had an airbag ECU failure on a previous Fiat base motorhome. It happened 20 miles into a journey. It was replaced under warranty.
On our present motorhome a 2018 fiat base I've always adopted the procedure recommended on here that is turn ignition on, let the display complete its check sequence and then start the engine. I then put the seatbelt on. Maybe I have been lucky in not having a failure. Would not putting the seatbelt on make any difference. Does anyone else have a different starting sequence and not have had a fault.
 
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ramsthom said:
I had an airbag ECU failure on a previous Fiat base motorhome. It happened 20 miles into a journey. It was replaced under warranty.
On our present motorhome a 2018 fiat base I've always adopted the procedure recommended on here that is turn ignition on, let the display complete its check sequence and then start the engine. I then put the seatbelt on. Maybe I have been lucky in not having a failure. Would not putting the seatbelt on make any difference. Does anyone else have a different starting sequence and not have had a fault.
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I have followed that procedure since replacing my ecu for the 3rd time.Unfortunately last week i turned the key to position 1 and immediately heard a bleep and the air bag warning light came in and check airbag was displayed on my dash.

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As a result of this thread i've updated my spread sheet on airbag ecu failures.
Here's a couple of graphs to chew over.
airbag1.jpg
airbag2.jpg
airbag3.jpg
 
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All done, new ECU has a two year warranty.
They gave it a fail on the MOT one of the headlights kicking up a bit he said the lever that wasn't adjusting it properly and was loose (the lever that sets flat dipping), he took the headlamp out and bent the lever and got it just in and passed. Charged an hours labour.
It passed twice at my normal place but they were fully booked for a couple of weeks I think the guy was too fussy.
Adams Morey not cheap not they have been taken over and new company put the labour rates up from £75 hour to £115.

On a Ferry on Sunday.:dance2:
 
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Lenny HB said:
All done, new ECU has a two year warranty.
They gave it a fail on the MOT one of the headlights kicking up a bit he said the lever that wasn't adjusting it properly and was loose (the lever that sets flat dipping), he took the headlamp out and bent the lever and got it just in and passed. Charged an hours labour.
It passed twice at my normal place but they were fully booked for a couple of weeks I think the guy was too fussy.
Adams Morey not cheap not they have been taken over and new company put the labour rates up from £75 hour to £115.

On a Ferry on Sunday.:dance2:
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That hourly rate is extortionate.
 
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Then to cap it all my ECU turned up at Crash Data, I was hoping it was lost so I could claim for it.
They said they had fixed it and wanted payment, I told them no way. They said it failed on low volts 12.6v I know the battery had been up at 13v it's a load of bo**cks this low & high voltage failures.
I would never deal with Crash Data again and definitely wouldn't recommend them at all. After they repaired the ECU the first time it failed in under 2 weeks and they wanted to charge again.

May be more expensive but if you get it done by a Fiat dealer but you get a 2 year warranty.
 
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Lenny HB said:
May be more expensive but if you get it done by a Fiat dealer but you get a 2 year warranty.
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If you don't mind sharing ,what was the cost of the new ECU and charges for putting it in?
Did it have to be reconfigured to your van or just ,plug in and play as it were?
 
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Jimbohorlicks said:
If you don't mind sharing ,what was the cost of the new ECU and charges for putting it in?
Did it have to be reconfigured to your van or just ,plug in and play as it were?
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£219 for the ECU & £155 to configure it + VAT so £449 he did give me £30 off the labour full price was £479.

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Lenny HB said:
Then to cap it all my ECU turned up at Crash Data, I was hoping it was lost so I could claim for it.
They said they had fixed it and wanted payment, I told them no way. They said it failed on low volts 12.6v I know the battery had been up at 13v it's a load of bo**cks this low & high voltage failures.
I would never deal with Crash Data again and definitely wouldn't recommend them at all. After they repaired the ECU the first time it failed in under 2 weeks and they wanted to charge again.

May be more expensive but if you get it done by a Fiat dealer but you get a 2 year warranty.
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Mine failed within 6 weeks so i contacted them for help and they more or less said tough..I would certainly not deal with them again.
 
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