Looking over my (new to me) 99 C2 cab's abberviated records this morning, I noticed a couple of visits for "airbag." Made me remember my 99 BMW Z3 which was plagued with that light going on for no apparent reason.

So, of course, 5 minutes from the house on the way to work this morning, the @$%^ light came on.

What is the cause of this failure, and can it be fixed? Or is it a trouble spot on the car?

Vic
99 C2 cab

 

There is a TSB for this and requires reworking the seatbelt buckle ground lead.
Also, replacing belt buckles and contact pins for the connectors, modifying ground leads and fitting the tie-wraps. Likely best left to your dealer.

 

I just went through that problem with my '99 C2.

The previous owner/second owner had the problem once, 10 months ago, and at that time the dealership in Raleigh, NC, had installed the entire seat belt service kit on "goodwill" which corrected the problem at that time.

In my initial discussion with my dealer in Virginia Beach, VA, they said they would not do the repairs on "goodwill" because I was not the original owner and had not purchased the car from them.

I then purchased the seat belt service kit from the dealer for $100, then the dealer isolated the problem down to the driver side seat belt buckle. They replaced the driver side seat belt buckle and charged me $145 for labor (I'm no longer in warranty at 62,000 miles).

Two days later the air bag warning light came back on so I took it back to the dealership and convinced them to cover the cost of further trouble-shooting and repair at no cost since it was a safety-related issue and a common problem on '99 996 cars. And I mentioned I had all the service records from the time the car was brand new. The dealer asked for a copy of the records which I faxed to them. The dealership got approval from the Regional Service Rep and did the remainder of the trouble-shooting and repairs on "goodwill". They ultimately replaced a grounding strap beneath the driver seat to clear the problem.

It seems to have worked because it has been two and a half weeks and no more problem. Good luck -- and press the dealer to do it on goodwill.

I hope this helps,
Mark

 

The car's certified under Porsche's 2-year preowned warranty, so I won't have to bicker. But thanks for the heads-up on the ground strap, I'll mention it to the tech.

Vic
99 C2 cab

 

i had the same problem a couple of months ago, while the car was still under warranty. they replaced the whole driver-side airbag, telling me that porsche does not like to mess around with safety-related issues.

 

Here's a link to one of the first stories on the airbag light problem...MY car!

Hit this link and click the airbag light link