Released On 15th Oct 2020
Air Bag and safety restraint systems (SRS)
We are fully qualified, and have a wealth of experience, when it comes to working with air bag and safety restraint systems (SRS), which is vital when dealing with components that are critical to your safety, the safety of your family, and other road users.Here at Okee we have seen some terrifying air bag and SRS repairs over recent months and would urge all vehicle owners not to settle for any cheap vehicle repairs, but to give particular consideration to safety related components like your air bags, SRS and braking systems.
Recently, a new customer came to us with the air bag warning light on (an MOT failure) requesting we find and rectify the fault. After scanning the ECU and looking at live data, we found a high resistance value at the passenger front air bag igniter. So, with the system powered down we began our investigations…
First, we gained access to the air bag itself. A quick removal of the glovebox and a couple panels revealed everything we needed to see. The wiring loom had been damaged previously and someone had made a poor job of fixing it. The wires feeding the Air Bag had been re-connected by crudely twisting the two together, and they had neglected to apply any insulation to the join with nothing physically holding the wires together.
We also found the igniter wires on the passenger front seat belt retractor to have had the same sub-standard repair. They had been poorly soldered together and then taped to the seat belt to stop them falling off, obviously not a good enough repair and the result of poor workmanship.
You don’t need to be a master technician to know that this is not good enough. We professionally replaced the wiring loom and checked the resistances using the scan tool and everything had returned to normal. Best practice dictates that you should never repair air bag wiring, but replace with the correct wiring loom, supplied by the vehicle manufacturer. Also, it is important to use the scan tool to check resistances, as multi-meters could deploy the Air Bag.
These systems are so important and do need highly trained technicians with experience and knowledge to repair them. At Okee we can repair any electrical system fitted to your vehicle. Modern systems are so complex and need people with good understanding to work on them. Cheap repairs often cause other faults to appear, costing you more in the long run.