Maybe you keep having an airbag light come on, perhaps you have fitted an aftermarket steering wheel, maybe
you are tired of the seat side airbag connections failing. Of course, there are other possibilities such as wishing
to use aftermarket seatbelt reels or you don't want to pay for an airbag but you want the car to pass an MOT.

There are plenty of reasons why the airbag light can come on and some good reasons why you don't want it on.

How To Trick The System

When the car starts up, the airbag controller is powered and it begins continuous checking of the restraint systems.
The controller monitors all of the airbags and both seatbelt pretensioners to make sure they are attached.

If 1 part of this system is not connected, there is a fault with a connection or the airbag itself, you will get a light on.



If this light is on, none of the safety features will function when required to do so.
In a crash, none of the airbags will fire and the seatbelts will not pretension.

How Does It Know?

It's a fairly basic system that simply measures resistance. If there is a poor connection, the airbag
has already fired, a break in the wire or the airbag is disconnected, the resistance will be very high.

If 1 of the wires is short circuiting then the resistance will be very low. Either way, the light will come on.

The Right Resistance

The resistance range is a small band but there is a bit of leeway which is necessary due to the
natural resistance change of the connecting wire as the temperature fluctuates inside the car.