Several months ago while working on my stereo upgrades I pulled the interior of my M. This included removing the seats, door panels, etc. so I could lay sound deadening and pull wires. During the two days that the car was apart I had to move the car so my wife could get her car out of the garage; in doing this I cause an unintended consequence. It seems that if you start our cars, with any of the airbag (SRS) senor wires disconnected it will cause a fault in the system. This in turn causes the dash board indicator of SRS to blink, as well as an annoying message on the LCD screen which you must manual cancel every time you start the car.

My question relates to resetting the sensors. A friend who is a VW/ Audi tech indicated that this is not a very big deal and anyone with an OBDll scanner can reset it. In talking to the dealer, they wouldn’t confirm that it was this easy, but said bring it in…. since my car is out of warranty and I know it would cost at least $100 or more for them to do it. Could I pickup my own OBDll scanner (they are under $100) and do this myself? Does anyone know if my VW tech buddy is correct, or if there is another procedure for doing the reset? I once found something in either the Shop manual, or another forum that gave a key sequence to do this, but can’t find it now; I recall trying it a few months back and it didn’t work. Any input is appreciated.

You can rent one free (leave a deposit and they give it back later) from Autozone. These scanners are basic, but should allow you to reset most of the OBD-II settings - I do not know about the airbag setting, but I would be surprised if it did not allow you to do that.

Try it first, before you shell out the money to buy one, or go to the dealer. By the way, the low-cost $100 to $150 units do not have the smarts to do much (i.e., don't "buy" the Autozone rental one by accident by failing to return it), and you would really need to go for one of the more expensive one (or the PC-attached ones) to make it worth your while owning a scanner!

Z