Please refer to my 'injured 997' post below. After the front fender light and bumper cover were replaced, the airbag warning light has stayed illuminated. Body shop advisor told me, everything was replaced correctly and that the light should go off after 50-100 miles. Was this a possible bs explanation to get rid of me at 4:00 pm on a Friday afternoon? About 65 miles now and light is still on. Can it/should it be reset via the OBD computer. Any thoughts much appreciated as always...
Jim

 

I.T. would say to reboot.
Disconnect the battery?
Don't sign the finished work order until the light goes out. my 2 ₵

 

Durametric or PIWIS tool if the above does not work. I also believe that a standard OBDII tool can reset the airbag light (in the US I think it is mandatory that OBDII can reset check engine and airbag). Could be off on the latter statement, since I have not tried such in my 997.

 

CEL won't literally kill you. A malfunctioning restraint system can. I doubt this will go away on its own due to the lifesaving nature of ths system. Porsche most likely made this a mandatory dealer reset so they can check the system.
Also, disconnecting systems' electrical connectors with the battery installed is what can cause these issues. Even after its reconnected, the fault is locked in.
B.

 

Based on airbag lights on my prior cars (a VW) I can assume it may work similarly. The other car I had would latch(Retain) an airbag error code on the simple fact that the car's systems powered up and found the airbag light bulb not to get turned on. As a safety precaution, since the light goes through a test at car power-up, and the light serves to inform you that a critical safety system is likely malfunctioning. If the bulb were to burn out, you would not know... so it throws a check light on the cluster when it cannot verify the airbag light illuminated.

So its possible that the car was powered up without everything being plugged in again.. and then the system logs that condition and throws an error.

That error will likely stay until it is manually reset - via a host of OBD2 tools that can do the job. Time won't reset a critical fault code for a safety system not working correctly. This isn't a loose gas cap sort of error if its airbag related.

 

I didn't read your "injured" post but I have worked on airbag issues on the 997. Light wont reset itself, needs to be manually reset. If you didn't have a deployment AND you have an 06 and up, your AWS (weight sensor) is likely causing that light. When the cars get jarred suddenly, it needs to be recalibrated. It also needs recalibration after deployment. Good luck with this issue

 

Light was manually reset at my indy repair. I think they use an OBD plug in or something similar. Thanks all for the help.
Jim

 

Good news for your reset.
On a further though for other, on one of my Beetles. the passenger air bag wire on the seat belt catch was broken. Soldered the wire, the light went out. Put that in your mental files for later.

 

Heh? They are using the seat belt catch, to control the airbag? Is this to tone-down the airbag for small children v adults or something, without using a weight sensor? Or is this the American "have airbags that protect the morons that refuse to wear seat-belts to the detriment of everyone else" mentality foisted on us by DOT?