Ducato Drivers air bag warning light

HOOKWATER said:
Had the usual air bag failure light (2016 Ducato/Buestner) possibly.low 12v when starting, Fiat Bournemouth were of little help other than stating an outrageous price & offering no help in contacting Fiat.

I phoned Fiat who replied "its an old van" implying "what do you expect! "!

Took it to Essandjay who confirmed the fault was the unit and not the wiring. Had it repaired under MD&G warranty, but here's the thing - the new ecu has a different part number and manufacturer. Clearly Fiat know there's a fault within those years, and have since changed supplier. The mechanic also said they had never had fault after fitting the newer version ECU.
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There is a thread on the Fiat Commercial Vehicle Ducato section [name may not be accurate, but may give you the general location] stating that Fiat had a problem with ECUs in 2015/16 and that replacements since then appear to have a more robust constitution. Our 2016 ECU failed in November 2021 [Burstner Ixeo 590] but the cause was a low Starter Battery voltage [it had been changed 6 days earlier to avoid an ECU failure but was a duff new battery]. Cost £855 for fault tracing, ecu purchase/recode and wiring trace to identify a back charge that caused the Starter Battery to back feed to the Leisure Battery via the Electrobloc and a 3rd replacement Sterter Battery because the 2nd new battery had been damaged by the backfeed.
Problem solved by spending some more money in Jan 2021 to get David of Wildebus to fit an AMT12 Battery reconditioner that forces the Leisure Battery to feed the Starter Battery with a constant supply and then replenishing itself from the Solar Panel Feed

Steve
 
marchie said:
There is a thread on the Fiat Commercial Vehicle Ducato section [name may not be accurate, but may give you the general location] stating that Fiat had a problem with ECUs in 2015/16 and that replacements since then appear to have a more robust constitution. Our 2016 ECU failed in November 2021 [Burstner Ixeo 590] but the cause was a low Starter Battery voltage [it had been changed 6 days earlier to avoid an ECU failure but was a duff new battery]. Cost £855 for fault tracing, ecu purchase/recode and wiring trace to identify a back charge that caused the Starter Battery to back feed to the Leisure Battery via the Electrobloc and a 3rd replacement Sterter Battery because the 2nd new battery had been damaged by the backfeed.
Problem solved by spending some more money in Jan 2021 to get David of Wildebus to fit an AMT12 Battery reconditioner that forces the Leisure Battery to feed the Starter Battery with a constant supply and then replenishing itself from the Solar Panel Feed

Steve
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Ah! Sorry all, didn't know there was a separate area related to this topic.

It really is infuriating that Fiat have got away with this for so long. For my part I've always waited until the warning lights have gone out until starting the engine (use the time to put the seat belt on). But this I didn't, but the battery was sub 12v. Dunno!
Also, apologies for upper case for user name didn't realize the key was on. Will change it
 
I have my van (Rapido v56 conversion on 2012 Ducato) booked in for an mot tomorrow morning. Collecting it from storage this afternoon I had an “airbag failure“ warning as I turned on the ignition. I have rung the garage I take it to and they have said that they will have a look at it. After reading through this thread don’t expect a quick, or cheap, fix.
 
Ginfearsdad said:
I have my van (Rapido v56 conversion on 2012 Ducato) booked in for an mot tomorrow morning. Collecting it from storage this afternoon I had an “airbag failure“ warning as I turned on the ignition. I have rung the garage I take it to and they have said that they will have a look at it. After reading through this thread don’t expect a quick, or cheap, fix.
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Depends on the fault code. Ours was the 'Body Roll ...' [Fault Code 17xxx or 18xxx,perhaps 18192?] that meant the ECU cannot be repaired, 112 months ago, the repaired ECU for a self removal and DIY refit, was £180-£200 IIRC, whereas a new ECU + reprogram + refit was around £360 + VAT and £75 + VAT initial inspection and analysis. My bill was £855 + £170 for a new vehicle battery ['VB']and then I paid for the supply and fit of a B2B and an Ablemail AMT12, the latter topping up the VB SOC from the Leisure Battery ['LB'] for up to 9 seconds in every 10 seconds to 'save' the VB and, in turn, your ECU. My total bill came to a few £ either side of the £1500 mark, but I do have a more robust system now ... The B2B and AMT12 are the best kit I have bought. I do occasionally think that, had I bought these 6 weeks earlier, I would have saved myself a lot of grief, a cancelled Ferry Crossing, and about £1000 of the overall cost ....

Steve
 
Hindsight is priceless.

The tip you posted about checking the dashlights before starting is also priceless, but fortunately not one in hindsight :)
 
I’ve just taken my van back to storage. The garage had to replace the “air bag module“, presumably the ecu. Parts, labour and vat = £438.10.
 
MykCamper said:
Having just had my driver's airbag warning light extinguished at a total cost of over £1400, due to faulty Body and airbag ECU's repair costs.
There is a common fault with 2006 onwards Fiat Ducato, Citroën, Peugeot models with aircons.
Due to the aircon condensation drain being alongside the airbag ECU which is situated front right of the starter battery, overtime this causes a failure.
The fix is quite easy by removing the ECU and sending it for repair to one of several companies that advertise on ebay. ( There is a step by step guide on Utube, with a Citroën MH.)
Usual takes a few days and cost under £100.
I used a local mobile auto electrician and it cost me but I observed the procedure, so here's hoping this will save members the expense that I encured.
Main dealer cost would be in the region of £500 - £600 for fitting a new unit.
Word of caution,!
Be sure to remove the earth terminal from the battery and isolate before removing the wiring of the ECU to prevent any possibility of setting off the airbag!
I have now placed a thick plastic bag between the ECU and the aircon drain in the hope that it will give some protection.
Hope this will be useful!
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Hi all, am new to the site, really like some of the suggestions i have read.
I am having trouble again for the second time with 2 different campers dreaded ( expensive) airbag warning light. Surely this is a bad design, the main dealer i have used on both occasions is not interested except in the cost and labour and vat.
Motorhoming can be expensive when things dont work as they should.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
 
Mine turned out to be a poor rear bulb connection, even though the bulb stayed lit. Including the usual diagnostic check, and from memory, it was about £110.
 
Mr and Mrs Tupcox said:
Crash data did ours under £200
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Thank you for your advice. Would you believe i sent it to Crash Repair on 2nd January l posted it from Ireland express post and as of yesterday he had not recieved it.
We sail home to France on tbe 11th of January, i hope we get the ECU back and fixed by then and i pray that it doesnt need syncing with a main dealer computer.
Another option i have is to go to the same main dealer who charged me €108 to plug his lap top into my camper and diagnose what i already knew.
And let him rip me off for a new ECU that he has ordered. I would rather give the money to Crash Test.
What a great start to the new year. It can only get better
Once again thank you
Watch this space
 
Good luck, Auto sparkies are a worse breed than domestic sparkies for high prices.

Mine reused to start the ECU got sent off for repair, when they took it out it looked like it had been repaired before, still cost me £880 quid, and it was still not right, turned out it had taken out the body control module, and all tis because Sevel can't make a decent scuttle panel and a drain hole for RHD vans, wankers.
 
Reading through this lot, there are several "The AB ECU failed due to low engine battery voltage' issues. This would tie up with trying to start the engine before all the lights are off. I believe that the battery has to deliver about 450 Amps to turn the engine over - although they usually say something about the cranking amps. This inevitably means that the battery voltage will drop. Donkey's years ago (1968 actually) I was an apprentice at Cable and Wireless in Porthcurno, and we had a keen motor engineer as one of the lecturers. Also of course a lot of telecomms equipment runs off lead acid batteries as backup, which is why a telephone exchange will still work in a power cut. Putting these two together, we had an exercise to calculate the maximum internal resistance of a 12v battery which is required to turn over an engine at startup. The resulting conclusion was that if the internal resistance of the battery PLUS the wiring to the starter motor is anything in excess of a quarter of an ohm, the battery won't have enough power to turn the engine over and produce a spark - in a petrol engine of course.
So I think the theory / requirement to wait until all the dashboard lights are off is significant. At the initial 'turn on' of the ignition the battery voltage will drop a bit, and it sounds as if the AB ECU sees this as a dead battery.
Get in, turn on the ignition, then turn round and put your seat belt on, then operate the starter.
Or buy a motorhome which doesn't have a Stellantis chassis.
 
I replaced mine myself probably took 30 mins. Then reprogrammed with MultiECU scan. Had to buy the correct lead from eBay but total cost was less than £300 and including waiting for ordered lead done in 48 hrs. I’m told it is better to replace than repair the ECU as it is now a new model which should not be susceptible to the corruption
 
Jon Eskdale said:
I replaced mine myself probably took 30 mins. Then reprogrammed with MultiECU scan. Had to buy the correct lead from eBay but total cost was less than £300 and including waiting for ordered lead done in 48 hrs. I’m told it is better to replace than repair the ECU as it is now a new model which should not be susceptible to the corruption
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Just got word today that the repair for my ECU and priority postage to Ireland works out at €167
Thats a big improvement on €535 plus vat and labour. I just hope that when i get it back it doesnt need to be synced with the main dealers computer.
What a joke, this problem with ECU should have been rectified by Fiat. Its happening too regular. My camper is a 2019 Hobby its too fresh for this problem thats my opinion.
Anybody feel the same
 
This theory of 'repair' the ECU brings back memories. My daughter had a Fiat Sciento and it went cough cough splutter. I diagnosed the engine ECU as faulty, as it delivered volts to four spark plug coils. Two of the coils had no volts. Daughter rang Fiat dealer who said £85+VAT to diagnose the fault, plus £850 + VAT for a new ECU. Daughter said "presumably then you wouldn't charge for the diagnosis?" 'Oh yes, that will be extra'. So she said harrumph or something like that and started searching the internet. She found a small business in a building like a village hall north east of Nottingham somewhere that would repair the ECU for £100 including VAT, and give a 2 year warranty instead of Fiat's one year. We took the ECU there and I said "how can you repair it? It is a block of electronics sealed with araldite in a cast aluminium case". They said the components never go wrong, just the software program. We have studied Fiat's software and corrected its weaknesses so we just upload our software and we know it won't fail". Next day we returned and collected the repaired ECU. Daughter said "I don't like this Fiat breaking down, I am thinking of getting a Renault or Citroen". Repairer laughed and said " You have already got The Most Breaking Down Make In The World. If you want the second most breaking down car in the world, get a French one. You should get a Japanese one. We repair all electronic modules from all makes, and for example we have never had any item from a Suzuki Swift brought in".
Anyway I refitted the reprogrammed ECU and it was absolutely fine. £100 including VAT as opposed to Fiat's £1122.
 
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gasgas said:
This theory of 'repair' the ECU brings back memories. My daughter had a Fiat Sciento and it went cough cough splutter. I diagnosed the engine ECU as faulty, as it delivered volts to four spark plug coils. Two of the coils had no volts. Daughter rang Fiat dealer who said £85+VAT to diagnose the fault, plus £850 + VAT for a new ECU. Daughter said "presumably then you wouldn't charge for the diagnosis?" 'Oh yes, that will be extra'. So she said harrumph or something like that and started searching the internet. She found a small business in a building like a village hall north east of Nottingham somewhere that would repair the ECU for £100 including VAT, and give a 2 year warranty instead of Fiat's one year. We took the ECU there and I said "how can you repair it? It is a block of electronics sealed with araldite in a cast aluminium case". They said the components never go wrong, just the software program. We have studied Fiat's software and corrected its weaknesses so we just upload our software and we know it won't fail". Next day we returned and collected the repaired ECU. Daughter said "I don't like this Fiat breaking down, I am thinking of getting a Renault or Citroen". Repairer laughed and said " You have already got The Most Breaking Down Make In The World. If you want the second most breaking down car in the world, get a French one. You should get a Japanese one. We repair all electronic modules from all makes, and for example we have never had any item from a Suzuki Swift brought in".
Anyway I refitted the reprogrammed ECU and it was absolutely fine. £100 including VAT as opposed to Fiat's £1122.
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Excellent post. Lets hope when i get my ECU back all goes to plan. The old analogy Fix It Again Tomorrow comes to mind 🔥
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Just to clear a nagging point in my tiny little mind, is this a self build? did you swap the dual seat for a single? I did that and the airbag light came on until I put a resistor where the van was expecting to find two seat belts, simple to sort if so but I have no idea what you have hence just checking it out, also wondering if the converters do a similar thing and still the problem.
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Hey Pudsey Bear, I'm super new here and still figuring my way around, so sorry if this isn't how it's done, but I need your help! I've got a 21 plate boxer that we've self converted and need to put the resistor in, but there's a 10 pin plug and no one seems to know which pins I need to put them in. Any chance you can help? There's beer tokens in it for you!

IMG-20240313-WA0005.jpg
 
Hi, mine was a 07 relay with a small yellow plug under the seat, so no help to you, however get over to www.fiatforum.com all made in the same factory and search or ask for help on your model.

Good luck
 
Question - is there an airbag on the passenger side? lots of vans probably don't have one and so no need for any complications?
Just a thought.
 
thejackleggett said:
Hey Pudsey Bear, I'm super new here and still figuring my way around, so sorry if this isn't how it's done, but I need your help! I've got a 21 plate boxer that we've self converted and need to put the resistor in, but there's a 10 pin plug and no one seems to know which pins I need to put them in. Any chance you can help? There's beer tokens in it for you!

View attachment 71787
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When I done m8ne 10years ago I just fix the third seat belt tensioner to the underside of the passenger seat and it been there ever since lolol
 
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