Airbag and Pretensioner error light

[AlexHaden]

Morning. Went out, first time in a few weeks just to keep my 2012 c3 Picasso turning over, and it decided to throw a bit of a wobbly.

Was freezing cold, and when starting everting dimmed for a moment on displays, and the airbag light popped up. And the display up by the mirror has a picture of an airbag with a cross and a 2.

Then it tells me there is a airbag or pretensioner fault. Took it for a drive, and it went off, came back on, and then the service light popped on for a moment, and then went off.

Before I take it in, is there anything I can do? Is it worth buying one of those OBD readers to narrow down the fault first? Would that tell me anything more than what’s on the display?

Hoping as it’s coming on / off it’s just a loose connection, but knowing my luck I sense a large bill in my future

[routemaster1]

Morning. Went out, first time in a few weeks just to keep my 2012 c3 Picasso turning over, and it decided to throw a bit of a wobbly.

Was freezing cold, and when starting everting dimmed for a moment on displays, and the airbag light popped up. And the display up by the mirror has a picture of an airbag with a cross and a 2.

Then it tells me there is a airbag or pretensioner fault. Took it for a drive, and it went off, came back on, and then the service light popped on for a moment, and then went off.

Before I take it in, is there anything I can do? Is it worth buying one of those OBD readers to narrow down the fault first? Would that tell me anything more than what’s on the display?

Hoping as it’s coming on / off it’s just a loose connection, but knowing my luck I sense a large bill in my future

It sounds to me that the issues are caused by the battery almost failing when you started the car. I suggest you recharge the battery either with a charge the battery or take it for a decent run, then start it again after standing overnight and see if any faults recur.

I had this kind of issue on a C3. That had sat around for several weeks after lockdown. My daughter reported it was showing several faults. When I went to start it the battery completely failed to start, actually failing to turn over. It then struggled to life, showing a permanent engine management fault. It seemed to drive perfectly. I had the faults read, injector faults, a failure to communicate road speed and accelerator pedal faults. I had the faults cleared and its been ok since.

[AlexHaden]

Thank you just been out to get a battery charger, it wouldn’t even detect the battery to begin with, to had to use its force mode. Once that was done, started to charge ok. Was showing as “less than 25%”.

Left it charging for two hours, and it was back showing as green100%, but that feels a little short for a noco genius 2?

Just about to take it out for a run, see what happens.

I’ll report back and see

[Missing Lincs]

Was showing as “less than 25%”. Left it charging for two hours, and it was back showing as green100%, but that feels a little short for a noco genius 2?

It's probable time to get your battery tested and maybe replaced. That does sound very quick for a recharge.

[AlexHaden]

off to Halfords again, they have a battery tester for a 10£ worth having one I guess

The run last night was same, airbag light on, no service light on this time.

Coming back home, service light pops up, and goes off, pops up, goes off.

Today, just the airbag light again. So will test battery and go from there

Then, it’s either 130£ for a new battery, or spending 99£ on an autel 619 to try and get a bit closer to what the problem is.....

[Missing Lincs]

off to Halfords again, they have a battery tester for a 10£ worth having one I guess

I'm not sure what sort of battery tester you get for £10? Something decent, ie that works, is likely to be a lot more than £10.

You might be better off going to Kwik-Fit or similar battery fitters who will usually test your battery for free. I guess they're expecting you to buy a new one from them if it's needed but nothing says you have to.

[AlexHaden]

Ahhh! Right, guessing the tester just tells me how charged it is, and not if the battery is on its way out?

https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-e ... 08542.html

And my noco should do that when I attach it, gives me a charge level reading.

Might just get it replaced anyway, it’s the original battery, so coming up on 10 years old, so probably worth a change to be fair, especially with lockdown needs some TLC.

Thanks for all the tips by the way, appreciate the help, never really dabbled in car maintenance before, so it’s all new to me.

Now PC maintenance and support - if anyone needs help, I’m your man for that

[Missing Lincs]

Ahhh! Right, guessing the tester just tells me how charged it is, and not if the battery is on its way out?

https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-e ... 08542.html

And my noco should do that when I attach it, gives me a charge level reading.

Essentially yes. A basic battery tester simply measures the voltage with no load which indicates how well the battery is charged but not the amount of charge or the ability to produce current when a load is connected. Current under load is the crucial part hence why you see varying CCAs on different batteries (Cold Cranking Amps). As a rule, diesels are harder to crank than petrol engines and the bigger either type the more power is required to turn over and start.

Traditional battery testers are like giant resistors with an ammeter connected in parallel. When placed across the terminals they measure the current supplied by the battery. Rather crude and not the best thing to use, they spark/ark when connected, the side effects of this are not only dis-concerting for the user but can damage modern cars full of ECUs etc by creating voltage spikes! More recent electronic types do something similar but in a more controlled way, generally the load they place on the battery is smaller and they measure terminal voltage rather than current, with and without a load. Circuitry allows them to calculate the batteries capacity which can be compared to the marked or new capacity.

A quick battery test without any tools is to put the headlights on and then watch the light intensity when the engine is cranked. If the light is poor to start with and dulls down to a glow when cranking then the battery is expired.

On the tips side, if you do change your battery, it's a good time to inspect the battery leads and also clean up the battery connectors. Check for loose or corroded connections at both ends of the battery leads. The insides of the battery connectors should be clean with no crystal formation or other crud. You can get a special tool to clean battery terminals/connectors, it's basically a round wire brush so from that you can deduce that a small wire brush will do the job or even a small piece of fine abrasive paper (eg wet and dry) rolled up. I always apply a small amount of Vaseline to battery terminals and then a bit more over the connectors when tightened down onto the battery. Again there are special pastes that can be used, they are usually dielectric grease. This can be useful for all electrical connectors around the car especially those under the bonnet or in other damp areas but, just for one battery I'd stick to Vaseline - other none trademark brands of petroleum jelly are available

[routemaster1]

A further thought. Have you checked the electrical connectors below the seats? I had this issue on a Clio, and it was caused by something under the seat disturbing the connector.

[AlexHaden]

Quick update

No lose connectors under the seats, have given them all a wiggle/push.

Tried the lights test, left them on for 15 mins, and started the engine, they did dim slightly, but not a huge amount.

Might just change the battery and see if that fixes the lights next.

Thanks for the tips everyone, thanks for the help trying to fix.