Airbag panel vibrates and makes ANNOYING sounds

Hi there,

I am not sure if my C3 is 2006 or 2006 (56). Wasn't sure what was meant by that. Anyway, my question is about the air bags. The car is a left-hand drive and my question is about the right-hand side airbag just above the glove box. So, the air-bag panel (and by that I mean the cover of the air-bag, which separates the tucked-in airbag from the interior of the car) seems to be vibrating and making a very annoying sound. Those vibrations seem to be caused slightly from the engine running and more noticeably from when I'm driving the car, thus producing more vibrations, which in turn creates this annoying buzzing sound ALL THE TIME. Question is ... can I open or somehow fix that panel to stop the vibrations???

Hi soewhaty

soewhaty wrote:I am not sure if my C3 is 2006 or 2006 (56). Wasn't sure what was meant by that.

The C3 model changed in 2006, some are 06 and some are 56 on the UK number plates. Its useful to know if its a 2002 model or a 2006 model because changes to electrical, trim and body were made in 2006.

soewhaty wrote:The car is a left-hand drive and my question is about the right-hand side airbag just above the glove box.

Which may explain the (56) confusion

soewhaty wrote:So, the air-bag panel (and by that I mean the cover of the air-bag, which separates the tucked-in airbag from the interior of the car) seems to be vibrating and making a very annoying sound.

This is not normal and I would suggest you take the car to someone who knows what they are doing with airbags. They can be dangerous if not handled correctly. There is defiantly something wrong because the airbag unit is normally very securely fixed and normally has no opportunity to vibrate.


This is a passenger air bag from a RHD 2002 model

This image shows exactly the airbag I am talking about. And yes, up until a few days ago the car used to prompt me with some Faulty Airbag error message. Thought it was nothing and therefore I turned off the airbag from the side switch and then I started the engine. Then turned off the car and turned on the airbags again and then started the engine and from that point on the error messages about airbags seem to have disappeared. However, that does not mean you are wrong. On the contrary, I think you are very right in saying that airbag panels should not vibrate. Well... it's not such a big vibration .. it is just this buzzing noise and as soon as I put my finger on the airbag panel the noise is gone ... so it's clearly vibration from that front airbag panel. Guess you are right. Guess my best bet is to have it checked by someone else. I guess I can't do anything on my own since I aint a car pro by any stretch if the imagination.