Volvo v40 airbag light on
 

If a car has the airbag light on and there are no fault codes what else could it be? I've seen one forsale that has the light on but because of the distance I'm not going to be able to check i'm happy to take a risk if it's cheap fix, but if it means it could be a £500 fix on a £700 car I will walk away

It could be something as silly as the SIPS airbag which is caused when you move the seat around or there are loose botles under the seat. In that case it will be intermittent fault and can easily be reset at a Volvo dealer or an indie.

It could also be a permanent fault which could be a loose cable (easy and free to fix) and a journey to the dealer to reset. The only way though to find out if it is permanent or not, is if you scan the car first, in which case you need to pay for it. Worse case scenario is if there is a fault with one of the many SRS components. Buying new any of them will cost a bomb. You can get some second hand for sure. I have a 2003 V40 atm with all the SRS components intact and working except the drivers and passengers airbag. SO you can have them for very little. Assuming you can change them yourself, it will be cheap to fix. If you pay someone else to do it, it could cost a bit more. If you are getting the car anywhere near London, then feel free to drop by (I live in East London/Essex). I have the Autel EU702 which reads and resets the SRS light. It's for free, or if you want, you can give £10 which I will donate to my favourite pet charity

Thanks for the reply, I don't actually own the car. I found it while trawling the web. The car itself looks good with a nice spec but with the airbag light on. The dealer states that there are no fault codes showing and has a spare sensor, and while the car is cheap at £695 for a W plate V40 it could soon be a waste of money if the fault isn't an easy fix. If i owned the car already i wouldn't mind spending the time on it, if it was something easy to fix i'd probably have a punt but it might be better looking for something else.

It's a tricky call until you get the error code. If the dealer is non-volvo, then their code reader may no be reading the SRS errors (not sure about this though). I recently bought an S40 that had the airbag light on, fortunately for me it was the common problem of the wiring under the passenger seat setting off the SIPS error. But I guess I was 'lucky', as it could have been worse.

Most of the times it is the SIPS (loose cable under front seats) that triggers the SRS light. I have reset the SRS light for 4 members in this forum as well as mine and in all 5 occasions it was the SIPS intermittent fault

Has the car been cleaned internally? My mates a professional valet and he says that sometimes (like gatos is also suggesting) when someone hoovers the car out they can knock the connector under the front seats causing the airbag light to show a fault.

He does not own the car. He is thinking of buying it, or was thinking of buying.... :)

yep something like that :) it could be a simple fix, or it might not be .... i wouldn't say it has been valeted, it looks clean but not all sparkly :) if the light wasn't on then i'd have bought it, but its a little cheaper than most and if the seller has gone to the lengths of checking for fault codes and buying a sensor but hasn't fixed it, then there is always a nagging doubt as to why :)

hi there,i just read your message i have a volvo v40 2003 and the red airbag light has come on,i did clean my car out when i come back from holiday thats when it came on.i did try to reset it by taking the battery leads off all night but that never worked.i see you do have a eu702 reader.i did ring volvo and they wanted 51quid just to plug the 702 in,and thats just a rip off,any ideas what else i can do i am gunner clean the conectors under the seats today as it could be that.or where can i get a eu702 cheap.cheapest is 100,off ebay.thankyou,reece.

It won't reset itself no matter what you do. It needs the proper equipment to reset it. I have sold my EU702 long time ago and now have the proper Volvo DICE tool. If you are passing anywhere near East London/Essex, I will happily reset it for free. If you are too far from me, then there may be other members local to you who could reset the light for you. Check this map, with a list of people with Volvo diagnostic tools. See relevant thread here: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=136759