Renegade4

My 2013 C4S showed the air bag light on dashboard.

For those with experience with these issues etc

PWIIS is showing air bag fault codes:
004E03 ignition circuit- short circuit btw circuits

and 000501 passenger-side side air bag - short circuit to ground

Wiring to the passenger side air bag looks good and intact.

q:
1) would you start by checking the air bag control module?
Or
2) would you start by replacing passenger side airbag?

I need to understand this asap so I can be sure the car is safe to drive with kids in it, let alone myself. Car is my DD.

Also don’t want to spend $1200 & $2300 on both an airbag AND control module if the faults are being caused by the module throwing the wrong voltage at ignition, causing the module to misread the airbag, rather than actually having a bad passenger side airbag.

Again: Would you first try to reset or assess the control module or do these codes tell you to go right ahead and replace the airbag first?

Thanks all!

SilverSFR

Have you been doing any work to the car? If you clear the codes do they come back?

Renegade4

Hi - thanks.

No other work on the car prior to these codes. The codes don’t clear. There is definitely an issue.

I would like to avoid replacing the air bag entirely to start if the culprit is likely to be the control module.

I don’t want to mess with the airbag or the system myself honestly, and would prefer to understand what these codes likely mean before taking it to the dealership. A replacement control module needs to be coded anyway and I don’t think I’m able to do it.

When one searches the 004E03 fault code the results are mostly related to the control module, which reinforces my suspicion that the air bag (alone) is not the problem.

many thanks again for all advice.

Nashvegas

I would not be betting on the airbag unit in the dash. I would think it's a wiring, wiring connector or controller / sensor issue.

It would be rare for the dash passenger airbag to go bad. Unless perhaps you left open the sunroof or targa/cabrio top. ? Has the interior gotten wet?

VII7

Disconnect and read test result.
Also test with resistor.

G.I.G.

I can almost guarantee this is due to a low battery. A lot of weird faults and gremlins on these cars can be attributed to a bad or undercharged battery. Has the car sat for a long time or is the battery getting old? When I changed the battery on my old 997 the airbag light came on but I was able to clear it with my iCarsoft and it never came on again. Test/check your battery or if it’s old, maybe consider replacing it. If it’s good and fully charged, try clearing the code and see if it comes back on. Good luck and keep us posted.

Renegade4

Thank you for the feedback.
Will check battery.

No water that I know of.

Will report back.

Renegade4

Hi all - just to close this out…

After replacing the right side airbag, my dealership found that the fault codes remained.

After being told that the next step was to replace the ACU, a different tech was assigned to do that work.

Being meticulous, and having recently worked on a different car with an airbag light issue, the second tech discovered there was a voltage drop when moving the back of the seat forward (such that someone could sit in the rear seats).

This led him to look more closely at the wiring harness, which he found had two frayed/cuts in the wiring that were throwing the faults.

After I took it in, the original tech had reported checking the wiring more thoroughly than I had initially, which led to the airbag replacement in a the first place.

Being a stand-up service department, they did not charge me, since it seemed that the airbag itself had not been faulty, and that the wiring harness — which per these threads is the most likely culprit — was the problem all along.

I’d say the lesson is to be sure that the wiring harness is THOROUGHLY inspected before moving on to the next stage in airbag warning light diagnosis, even if it means fully taking apart the seat to inspect it if needed.