MK V Golf airbag fault

[V8mate]

I think it's a Mk V anyway... late 2008 Golf Plus jobbie.

Airbag fault reported on the dash. Plugged an OBD thinger in to read and hopefully clear fault. It won't clear it though and it's suggesting a more 'permanent' issue.

What drastic and expensive action is a VW dealer likely to suggest in order to remedy this?

TIA

[justinio]

Has the car been involved in a shunt? Even if the airbags didnt deploy the seatbelt tensioners may have gone off.

[V8mate]

No - no bumps.

[justinio]

Seitenairbag is the seat airbag.

I'd be checking the plugs and wiring under the seats. These can sometimes be kicked by passengers sitting in the back.

ETA Fahrerseite is drivers side. But I'm not sure if they convert that for RHD, so could be either seat.

[DanSkoda]

G179 is one of the front door crash sensors. Pull the boot back on each A pillar and you'll no doubt see a broken wire or two. New door loom is the usual cure.

[V8mate]

DanSkoda said:

G179 is one of the front door crash sensors. Pull the boot back on each A pillar and you'll no doubt see a broken wire or two. New door loom is the usual cure.

Thanks. I did think that 'Seitenairbag' is actually side airbag, rather than seat.

Sounds expensive?

[xjay1337]

Worst case, 30p resistor will fix it.

[V8mate]

Closure:

As suspected by DanSkoda, it was loom wires getting abused and broken as they pass from the body into the doors. The tech said that VW made them too short, so they're under tension through that phase. He found three which were broken/breaking, cut out the distressed parts, replaced with longer wires and reset the codes.

£108 inc VAT at a VW specialist. I think a main dealer would have charged the best part of that just to read the fault codes... and then probably recommended a sizeable loom replacement!