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How to fool and reset airbag system.

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This is a guide for fooling the SRS system when removing the OEM seatbelts and fitting an aftermarket wheel, then how to reset the entire system.

Tools required:
Cross headed screwdriver.
10mm socket and extension.
Wire cutters and stripper.

Parts required:
2 meters of wire.
3x 2.2ohm 0.25watt resistors.
Tape and/or heatshrink.

Always disconnect the battery and allow 10 minutes for any residual charge to dissipate before messing with the electrics!

To fool the system when replacing the steering wheel.

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Remove plastic covers on steering column and under dash.
3. Find the yellow SRS plug on the left of the steering column, unplug and unclip from the column.


4. Cut off the plug and replace with a resistor. Tape or heatshrink it then tape it out of the way.



To fool the system when removing seatbelts.

1. Disconnect the battery.
2.Unplug yellow SRS plug from the side of the seatbelt reel.
3. Connect the two wires with a resistor. Tape or heatshrink it then tape it out of the way. I left the plug on because I took a strange 6 month voyage to get to this stage, you don't need it.


To reset the system.

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. The fuse box on the left underneath the dash needs to be dropped down. This one:


3. There is a bolt on the bottom left corner, remove with 10mm socket. This is seriously awkward.


4. The fuse box is now held by a sliding track on the right. Pull the box down as far as possible.
5. This is the SRS plug. Take it out.


6. Take two separate one meter lengths of wire and strip the ends, tie them together near the ends to make it easier. Insert the ends into the SRS plug and make sure they're not going to touch.


7. Reconnect the battery.
8. Get the other ends of the wires where you can make and break the connection with one hand.
9. Cross the wires and switch ignition on, the light will be on.


10. The airbag light will go out after a few seconds, quickly uncross the wires.
11. When the light comes back on quickly cross the wires.
12. When the light goes out quickly uncross the wires.
13. The light will flash twice and then stay off, this is to let you know that you're awesome and have done everything correctly.
14. Remove the wires from the SRS plug.
15. Plug it back into the fuse box.
16. Start the engine. Let it run for a while to check the light doesn't come back on.
17. The system is now reset.
18. Replace the fuse box. You thought it was awkward taking that bolt out? Yeah, now try putting it back in....
19. Replace all covers.


If the light comes back on then go back and check all the connections, resistors and wires. Reset the system again. Keep doing that until you find the problem. I went through a bunch of resistors and several different connection techniques before it worked for me.
 
Awesome write up Jamie, don't know how you figure these things out buddy.

If I wanted to swap my driver and passenger seats for something like a buddyclub or cobra bucket seat, whilst retaining the standard seatbelts, is that both possible and would I have any issues with the SRS light?
 
Much googling and six months of trial and error buddy!

You shouldn't have any problems if you keep the seatbelts. If you're fitting harnesses too then you have a couple of options to get around the seatbelt sensor. 1. get something to plug in to the belt buckle, either a OEM buckle or one of the purpose built things which do the same thing. Or just unplug the yellow thing under the front of the driver seat, sounds to good to be true, but it works.

The only problem I found with the seatbelts was that the tab end wouldn't fit through the hole in my seat. So you would need to get a buckle on an extended mounting wire/strap/thing, but that would mean the both parts of the buckle would be inside the seat with you. Or get a seat with a big hole/make a big hole.
 
Good work with the persistence mate, paid off in the end ;)

If I had the choice I would go for the stripped out rear, harness bar, harnesses etc. but with having the little one its just not an option at the moment unfortunately.

My thoughts at the moment are to replace the front seats whilst retaining the OEM belts and buckles, I need to get in the car and have a look underneath the drivers seat to see exactly what is wired up, just don't want to remove the drivers seat and be left with the dash lights on :(
 
A difficult compromise for sure. You know with buckets it's almost impossible to get into the back seats yes?

Look under the front of the driver seat, you'll see the brown plug pictured below. Unplugging that is the same as plugging in your seatbelt. Mine is unplugged (obviously :lol:) and just taped to the rest of the harness to keep it out the way.
 
Is the reset required if the wheel change and the above steps to fool the system are done in the one sitting? Thinking about changing the wheel on my EP3 to a non airbag and a quick release, mainly for security when it's parked outside overnight.
 
Is the reset required if the wheel change and the above steps to fool the system are done in the one sitting? Thinking about changing the wheel on my EP3 to a non airbag and a quick release, mainly for security when it's parked outside overnight.

If you unplug the battery and get everything done correctly I don't think you'll need to reset it.
 
The more I read Jamie the more I am thinking of sticking with the standard interior until I can do this properly.

End goal is to go for the stripped out, bucket seat, harness bar and harnesses look like yours, so until then probably not worth doing half a job.

PS my old console will be on its way back to you before the end of the week buddy, sorry for the delay had a crazy couple of weeks.
 
Have you thought about reclining seats? Those red buddy clubs are gorgeous, I very nearly bought those instead of buckets. There's some really nice looking seats on the GSM site. That way you could keep a full interior and put the harnesses and bar in and remove the rear bench whenever you want. It would probably only take 30 minutes max once you're slick at it.
 
Hey, my srs came on this week randomly and I've reset using paper clip. I removed without undoing the bolt so as you can guess it will be tricky to get back in... Does the plug need to be re-inserted as I see 2 plug sockets that it could have came from and one is blank
 
That's a good question, I'll have a look when I get home from work this afternoon. I was actually planning on digging into it all over again anyway because my srs light is back on again, probably a failed resistor.
 
Top man :) if it's a blank socket I see no point in me wasting time removing everything. Will be handy to leave loose incase of future issues
 
Yeah, I've been having problems too. I have been meaning to investigate further, but I've not had the time. I'm no electrical wizard, in fact I'm not even remotely competent, so it's all trial and error. I plan to get a volt meter hooked up to the pretensioners and wheel and see if I can find out the resistance, failing that I'll just get a bucket of resistors and see what works.
 
Did my reset yesterday and until now all is good. Is resetting the srs system the same as taking it to a garage and having them do it, last time the garage cleared it it came back after about 4 days. It came up as passenger airbag fault on there reader.
 
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