I have the same problem and have been comprehensively researching the various methods to sort this out without spending a fortune on it.

I am in the UK, these are no BMW recalls which would relate to this. Its usually the seat occupancy sensor (mat) in the passenger seat which is known to fail easily and gives this warning. The mat itself costs around £80 from BMW but its the fitting / labor which ranges from £200 to £350 !!! The problem is that the mat is rather sensitive and prone to failure and someone putting their knee in just the wrong place on the seat causes it to break. So I don't really want to spend £££s and find the same problem happens again. I am looking at BYPASS UNITs on Ebay and elsewhere which can kill the problem forever. They seem to be readily available for all other BMWs apart from the E60 but some can apparently work on the E60 too. The whole point of this seat occupancy sensor is that if there is no passenger, the passenger airbag won't inflate in a collision saving on repair costs. The way I see it is that if the collision causes the airbag to inflate, the car might be ending up as a write off anyway. So The Bypass Unit makes the system think a passenger is always seated and therefore the airbag on the passenger side find will inflate in a collision.

The other solution I have heard about is 'coding out' the seat occupancy sensor. This would also get rid of the warnings (on I-Drive and the dashboard) and cause the airbags to inflate even when no passenger is seated. This is a bit like 'coding in' things such as enabling the CD player to play mp3 except this would be coding out the occupancy sensor.

Seems like the Seat Occupancy Sensor breakdown is such a common problem on all BMWs that there are many retailers out there supplying these emulators / bypass units to address this issue without having to blow ridiculous amounts of money on it.

Anyone here who has a bypass unit fitted already ? Has someone 'coded out' the seat sensor ? I'd be very interested in finding out your opinions on this.

 

I've the Restraint problem too. A mechanic who was doing some other work for me plugged the car in and diagnosed it was a faulty Passenger Seat Occupancy Sensor Mat.

Is there any DIYs on removing the faulty mat and replacing it with a new one from BMW. Folks suggest a new mat is £80 here in UK. If I could get it fitted I'd probably just get the same guy to reset the warning. I'm just a bit unsure about getting into the leather of the seat. I have access to a verison of the 2007 TIS software but its defaulting to German and reinstalling the English database doesn't seem to change it to Englsh :-(

Anyone any advice?

 

I haven't found any DIYs as yet on replacing the seat mat. What I do know is that its far from straight forward. It almost requires stripping the seat down / ripping it apart and explains the 2 to 3 hours labor for which I have been qouted ! I can't be asked to attempt this myself. I have bought the bypass unit from ebay and will be installing it soon. Just praying it works on the E60. I posted about the Bypass Unit in a different thread.

https://5series.net/forums/topic/939...&#entry1110942

Yes you are right, the mat is £80 but the fitting by the stealer is atleast £300 to £400.

Members in the US & Canada are lucky as this seat mat nuisance is covered by a "safety recall" and is fixed free of charge for all in North America as I understand. Funny that BMW didn't bother extending this to ALL E60s where ever they are in the world. Economics I guess. Good luck with your seat mat....let me know how you get on. I'll certainly be here reporting my progress with the seat mat bypass unit. I'm determined not to spend £500 on this. Found an interesting thread elsewhere for those not covered by the safety recall.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1024109

 

Hi there, I'd a look at the procedure for taking out the passenger seat sensing Mat on an English version of the 2007 BMW TIS and indeed it would be a big job so I'll probbaly leave it to see how the £15 bypass unit 530dE60 is proposing to use.

I await your report back! In the meantime I might give teh guy on eBay a shout to see exactly how it works. i.e. has it ever been tested properly?

 

Sounds like a very common problem. I bought mine with that fault but the dealer fixed it before I drove it home. Ended up being the passenger seat sensor.

 

Fitted the bypass unit under the passenger seat. Cut the seat mat's blue and white wire just before it disappears into the seat base. Stripped the ends and attached them to the bypass unit.

Before I installed the unit, the restraint system error message had been cleared / reset as I had to get an unrelated error message reset. Had I not installed the bypass unit, the restraint system warning would have reappeared as soon as someone would have sat in the passenger seat. Anyway, normally you'll need a reset AFTER you install the unit. It just happened the other way round for me.

The end result is that there is no longer a Restraint System Failure warning on iDrive. The red airbag and seat belt warning lights have also gone. £20 and problem solved....well pleased that I didn't follow the stealer's recommendation and follow the "normal" way to fix this VERY common problem. Now I can smash as many knees as I like on that passenger seat as I know I don't have to worry about the damn SEAT MAT !

 

ease dropping ,,,,my name is Sal ,out from North County San Diego Ca....I have a 04 530i sport package with 87000k,,,,I've gone through that air bag/ seat belt issue ..Mine turn out to be the passenger side seat belt buckle that was causing all my issues....Old post but just just keep seeing it still
surfacing...

 

Hey all... new to this forum, but wanted to share my story and get some advice...

About a month ago, I was on a long distance drive in Canada. With about 500KM to go, my cruise control suddenly malfunctioned and stopped working. Within another 10 minutes, I got the "Passenger Restraint System Malfunction" warning and instantly, I lost all controls to my steering wheel buttons (radio volume, phone, etc) and my damn windshield wipers came on and could not be stopped! Nothing bothered me as much as watching the wipers going non stop! I finally made it home and remembered "the letter" from BMW about the passenger restraint system recall. I promptly called my local dealer and they brought me in and fixed it for free.

All was well for about 2 weeks, then suddenly, without warning, all hell broke loose again! This time the progression was instant. First, cruise control malfunction, about 5 seconds later, loss of steering wheel buttons and non stop windshield wipers!!!

I called the dealer again and they checked it out. The manager called me and said my computer said I drove the car under 8km a day, 30 times in the last 60 days and that was not charging the battery, which was probably causing this malfunction! I was pissed, I mean the exact same scenario and now it's my fault? The same errors and now it's an issue with the battery not charging... Okay, paid the $110 for them to tell me it was my fault. They said they charged the battery and I drove 200km in the next day and a half.

Not even 2 days since they charged my battery, I'm diving along and out of nowhere, the same error and the god-damned windshield wipers again!!! I am sooo turned off my 5er right now! The worst part is, my next appointment is on Monday and I asked the dealer to pull the wiper fuse on Friday so I can at least drive in peace for the weekend. But they couldn't even locate the wiper fuse!!

Has anybody heard of these three specific faults occurring at the same time? And if the error says "passenger restraint system malfunction", doesn't that mean there is a fault with the sensor???

As a bare minimum, can anybody please help me locate the wiper relay fuse? I'm going out tonight for a big celebration and I am so embarrassed about the wipers going off on such a beautiful weekend!

Any help/inputs is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Ok... in case anybody is interested... the dealer told me it sounds like a faulty battery. $350 installed for a new battery. The issue is, they replaced the battery about a year and a half ago but said it might not be covered under warranty. I'll keep this thread posted after I find out what BMW Canada says...

 

Dealer just called and said it could be one of two things: a control switch (within the steering column?), $750 + 2 hours labor or an air bag control unit, $1500 + 1.5 hours labor... I said I would get back to them before they did any work... any advice peeps?