Never open the bonnet

[dry664]

So I took my MK5 GTI to Halfords (yes, I know) last week to get a Pure Highway 300di fitted. After installation I realised the numbnut set off the airbag sensor - not a problem, I'm sure I could either get someone to reset with vagcom. After a week the 300di stopped working so went back to Halfords, the bloke told me to book it in but in all likelihood the 'brain' probably just needed the power to be reset to it could reboot.
Came home and did some research about resetting the airbag sensor and saw that many people recommended just unplugging the battery, leaving for a while and then plugging it back in. No problem, right? And it might even reset the 300di? Gave it a go this evening....

Opened the bonnet and disconnected the battery - no problems so far. Left it for around an hour and came back and reconnected. Went to close the bonnet and it wouldn't close. Thought it was strange, but ignored it and went to have a look at the 300di and airbag light. The good news? 300di reset and working beautifully again. The bad news? Airbag light still on and now accompanied by ESP and steering wheel lights. And by the way the bonnet not shutting was because my bonnet catch had seized. Spent 2 hours un-seizing the bonnet catch, will have to be down the stealers tomorrow for a replacement.

But what of the warning lights? I assume this isn't normal? Before i had the 300di i had no warning lights and the car was running beautifully. Is it ok to drive? Thanks

[Greeners]

The lights should extinguish once you drive the car again.

[john87]

heard of this before...some steering modules are affected by a loss of power. As mentioned above, the lights should extinguish once the system re-learns upon driving 

[Matto]

Not sure about airbag light but to reset the esp and steering light, park up on a straight road and without moving go full lock left, hold for 10 seocnds, back to the middle hold for 10 then full lock right hold for 10 and back to centre. Then drive about 5mph and they should extinguish.

Hope this helps.

[dry664]

Just took it for a spin and you are right, the ESP and steering wheel lights are gone. But the airbag light is still on. Does this mean that numbnut disconnected something or doesn't disconnecting the battery clear the airbag fault light? Do you have to use vagcom for that one?

[holland15h]

I had to have my airbag light reset by bag on. Perhaps they unplugged the airbag light when fitting kit and turned on the ignition

[GTI-Pirelli]

As holland15h says, the fitter more than likely turned on the ignition with the "Passenger air bag (off)" light disconnected. I did this in may last golf!

With the air bag system being a safety device it will (as far as I am aware) remain in a fault state until manually reset (VAGCOM etc) after it has been looked at.
I am not sure about resetting it with a battery disconnect but; are you sure that the fitter reconnected it? If it has not been reconnected it will still be showing the fault!

Been around here a while and am hoping to be a little helpful.

[dry664]

The fitter did mention something that would lead me to believe that he did reconnect the airbag. Do I need to have the glovebox back out to check?

Regarding vagcom i had a look on ebay and there's a bunch on there, even for less than a tenner. Should I just get one of these and reset the light myself?

[GTI-Pirelli]

I wouldn't have thought that the fitter should have gone anywhere near the airbag itself (although it was halfords!).
Try checking to see if the "passenger air bag (off)" light - under the hazard warning light switch illuminates when the ignition/lights are on. If it lights up he reconnected it.

As for the VAGCOM it would be better to find someone with the "real deal". Most of the cheap ebay ones may do the job but they are mostly inferior copies. I personally wouldn't plug them into my car. Luckily the girlfriend bought me one for my bday last year. www.ross-tech.com
Try to find someone on here, close to you who has one. Search for the VAGCOM list.

[dry664]

I love this forum. Just pm'd a member who's on the register, local and very active. Appreciate the help from everyone. Thanks