Airbag igniters

[A80Avant]

Does anyone knows if these 'igniters' are electrical circuits within the airbag ECU? or somewhere else?

[bertman]

Was wondering the same thing mate.Have recently had the airbag light come on and after a check with vagcom it told me that the igniter was at fault.
Have you got an warning light on?

[A80Avant]

yes for passenger side belt igniter. i want to try a second hand ecu but since its a bit tidius to reach it, was wondering if anyone knew, so as not to bother!

[A80Avant]

well i replaced the ECU today but before i did that, i erased the codes and they didnt come up again. Strange, Once i was there i did replace the ecu in the end, but not sure if this was a wire/plug thing in the end. Im hoping it wont come up

[DJones]

Its normally due to poor connectors resulting in the resistance dropping, a good wiggle normally sorts them out..

[A80Avant]

initially it went ok just by fiddling with the passenger side connector, and i even sliced and used a new connector, but didnt do the job.

looks like it was the ecu connector instead

[bertman]

Been over the wheel several times wiggling this and that to no avail.Where is the airbag ecu situated on the car exactly,I know it will be in darn hard to reach place like everything else is on these cars

[A80Avant]

in mine it is situated in the middle part under the 3 dials. you need to remove the center section(move back the plastic around the handbrake lever), remove the plastic with the 3 gauges completelly, and you will see it hidden in there towards the back with 3 10mm bolts.

[bertman]

ok thanks mate will have a look in that area

[johne]

Does anyone knows if these 'igniters' are electrical circuits within the airbag ECU? or somewhere else?

The igniters are the actual circuit within the airbag/seat belt restraint that fire the device. Think of them like an old fashioned flash bulb or fuse that you pump so much electricity through quickly that they burn out instantaneously creating the heat to ignite the airbag gas generator explosion.

The airbag ECU checks the ignitor circuit for continuity using a very small current way below that needed to ignite but enough for it to check that there's a circuit and they're still connected

John

[A80Avant]

thanks for that info!!