Restraint System Failure (Passenger)
02-21-2011, 05:28 AM
#141
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Guys,
I am a new member of this club
What the hell is this damn thing, it freaks me out everything I see that message. Damn thing just sits on my idrive, the menu button doesnt make it go away. I have to use the idrive controller to manage my way out.
What the hell
I am a new member of this club
What the hell is this damn thing, it freaks me out everything I see that message. Damn thing just sits on my idrive, the menu button doesnt make it go away. I have to use the idrive controller to manage my way out.
What the hell
06-16-2012, 09:30 AM
#142
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Hey Everyone,
Resurrecting an old thread here. My 2008 BMW 550i threw the infamous "Passenger Restraint System" about six months ago and I've been fighting with it ever since --- can't say I'm super thrilled to have joined this club! :thumbsdown:
The warning message started in December and the dealer has tried to fix it 3 times - we're now on attempt number 4. The dealer has replaced the driver-side air bag sensor (twice) and the main air bag control unit. The tech say the wiring and connectors are working ok.
Now the dealer says there must be a fault in the Main Wiring Harness and wants to replace that. This has me very concerned. The dealer say it will take 10 days to get the part from Germany and another 10 days to do the work. Which sounds like major surgery to the car --- and I am worried that it will never quite be put back together again.
I'm really concerned that the car will simply never be the same after this level of surgery and the car will be off warranty after this and I'm concerned about ongoing maintenance costs.
Does anyone have experience with replacing the whole Main Wiring Harnes? What is involved in this - how much of the car is dis-assembled? Does this sound like a reasonable solution to this issue? Will this doom the car to endless electrical issues?
Resurrecting an old thread here. My 2008 BMW 550i threw the infamous "Passenger Restraint System" about six months ago and I've been fighting with it ever since --- can't say I'm super thrilled to have joined this club! :thumbsdown:
The warning message started in December and the dealer has tried to fix it 3 times - we're now on attempt number 4. The dealer has replaced the driver-side air bag sensor (twice) and the main air bag control unit. The tech say the wiring and connectors are working ok.
Now the dealer says there must be a fault in the Main Wiring Harness and wants to replace that. This has me very concerned. The dealer say it will take 10 days to get the part from Germany and another 10 days to do the work. Which sounds like major surgery to the car --- and I am worried that it will never quite be put back together again.
I'm really concerned that the car will simply never be the same after this level of surgery and the car will be off warranty after this and I'm concerned about ongoing maintenance costs.
Does anyone have experience with replacing the whole Main Wiring Harnes? What is involved in this - how much of the car is dis-assembled? Does this sound like a reasonable solution to this issue? Will this doom the car to endless electrical issues?
06-16-2012, 01:35 PM
#144
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Fortunately, no. I caught this right at the end of the original 4yr warranty - so this is ~$8,000 of work on BMWs dime. The service advisor said the work requires taking the whole interior of the car apart along with front/rear bumpers and replacing the main wiring harness from back to front.
What I am really concerned about is the longer term fallout of having the local dealer take half the car apart and try to put it back together again. What's the likelihood that the car will ever be the same again?!
Will this cause an endless series of electrical problems and creaky interior panels for the rest of the life of the car? And nickel/dime me to death having to troubleshoot issues.
What I am really concerned about is the longer term fallout of having the local dealer take half the car apart and try to put it back together again. What's the likelihood that the car will ever be the same again?!
Will this cause an endless series of electrical problems and creaky interior panels for the rest of the life of the car? And nickel/dime me to death having to troubleshoot issues.
06-16-2012, 01:46 PM
#145
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man this sounds like a scam. I'm not buying it. lol. Seriously? they've replaced the OC3 and then the entire SBE (maybe in E60 it's SGM? I don't remember) and married the unit to your car and STILL have same issue? I have a hard time believing it's a wiring harness issue.
To elaborate on this.... You are correct. Once the car comes apart and goes back together it is not going to be the same as factory. Seriously. UNLESS you scare the SA or SM to scare the techs and have them treat it like it's THEIR car. And hopefully they even are the type of techs to take care of their cars.
I would personally get a second opinion because I'm not buying into easily. I have a hard time believing that it's a wiring harness type of issue man when the problem occured only AFTER a specific amount of time and nothing changed. That's BS. HOWEVER, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I have seen bmw wiring crumble to pieces for the slightest touch just from age. And that being 5-6 years. DEAD serious. But how can they blame a harness, order a new one, (probably expensive) and say that this is it when the fact is they didn't look at the old one?
I'd love to be able to help you out with this one do you care to share some paperwork or something from them so i can look and see how they're coding this with BMW? But you have to have 10 posts at least I think to use private messaging.
To elaborate on this.... You are correct. Once the car comes apart and goes back together it is not going to be the same as factory. Seriously. UNLESS you scare the SA or SM to scare the techs and have them treat it like it's THEIR car. And hopefully they even are the type of techs to take care of their cars.
I would personally get a second opinion because I'm not buying into easily. I have a hard time believing that it's a wiring harness type of issue man when the problem occured only AFTER a specific amount of time and nothing changed. That's BS. HOWEVER, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I have seen bmw wiring crumble to pieces for the slightest touch just from age. And that being 5-6 years. DEAD serious. But how can they blame a harness, order a new one, (probably expensive) and say that this is it when the fact is they didn't look at the old one?
I'd love to be able to help you out with this one do you care to share some paperwork or something from them so i can look and see how they're coding this with BMW? But you have to have 10 posts at least I think to use private messaging.
06-16-2012, 02:27 PM
#146
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Hey AchtungE60, I'd love any help that you can give me. Here is the text from the service reports that I've gotten from the Dealer:
First time in:
faulty front air bag sensor diag.. D6577_00000000_25_002 verified. found fc 93C8ACSM/MRS: Airbag front sensor, driver's side.. performed test plan.. found module ok.. power and ground.. per diag.. removed front bumper.. replaced driver sensor.. ok now.. cleared all faults.
-----
I drove the car about 2 weeks and a couple hundred miles and the warning popped again.
Second time in:
Internal failure in air bag control unit verified complaint. Performed ist a vehicle test. interrogated fault memory. found fault in ACSM-MRS:93C8 air bag front sensor, driver side. performed test plan. as per test plan inspected all wiring and connectors to left front airbag sensor. found all wiring and connectors check out ok. found internal failure in airbag control unit.
diag code:d6577_acsm0000_90_002. replaced airbag control unit. program/encode complete vehicle with ista/p:46.5.000 and cas. test drove vehicle. verified fault did not return at this time.
-----
I drove the car home and the warning popped again the next day as I was driving to work.
Third time in:
They kept the car for 3 days and said it was fixed. Though I can't find any notes from dealer on 3rd time to see exactly what they fixed.
-----
I drove the car out of the dealership and about 4 blocks and the warning popped again - just turned around and took it back to the dealer for attempt #4. Now I'm getting this song and dance.
Just on the face of it, the idea that it would be the Main Wiring Harness strikes me as improbable - I wasn't getting any other random error messages, just the Passenger Restraint System. It seems like I would be getting multiple system errors if the main harness were involved.
First time in:
faulty front air bag sensor diag.. D6577_00000000_25_002 verified. found fc 93C8ACSM/MRS: Airbag front sensor, driver's side.. performed test plan.. found module ok.. power and ground.. per diag.. removed front bumper.. replaced driver sensor.. ok now.. cleared all faults.
-----
I drove the car about 2 weeks and a couple hundred miles and the warning popped again.
Second time in:
Internal failure in air bag control unit verified complaint. Performed ist a vehicle test. interrogated fault memory. found fault in ACSM-MRS:93C8 air bag front sensor, driver side. performed test plan. as per test plan inspected all wiring and connectors to left front airbag sensor. found all wiring and connectors check out ok. found internal failure in airbag control unit.
diag code:d6577_acsm0000_90_002. replaced airbag control unit. program/encode complete vehicle with ista/p:46.5.000 and cas. test drove vehicle. verified fault did not return at this time.
-----
I drove the car home and the warning popped again the next day as I was driving to work.
Third time in:
They kept the car for 3 days and said it was fixed. Though I can't find any notes from dealer on 3rd time to see exactly what they fixed.
-----
I drove the car out of the dealership and about 4 blocks and the warning popped again - just turned around and took it back to the dealer for attempt #4. Now I'm getting this song and dance.
Just on the face of it, the idea that it would be the Main Wiring Harness strikes me as improbable - I wasn't getting any other random error messages, just the Passenger Restraint System. It seems like I would be getting multiple system errors if the main harness were involved.
06-16-2012, 03:15 PM
#147
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Just to get an idea how much that main harness cost they're looking at $8K-$10 I'm sure they get it cheaper but imagine that and all the warranty. Dealers are not BMW, they are BMW "franchises" so to speak so they do have the authority to call this out based off the fact you've been there so many times. However, they can also intentionally NOT fix a problem forcing you to come back building a mound of paperwork and documentation proving their "claim" very classic white collar fraud. Not saying this is going on but it happens frequently on a smaller level. The cost of parts plus labor @ $125 an hour does add up nicely for a franchise. In the end who pays for that? You and I. ALL OF US.
06-16-2012, 11:09 PM
#148
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Thanks for the information and suggestions, AchtungE60.
While that is the direction that I had already been considering with the Dealer - and most likely how I will move forward - that may have been exactly what the Dealer did on the 3rd visit. If that was indeed the case (and the fault was triggered again almost immediately) what would you do next if it were your car?
In addition, I've started to reach out to BMW North America in order to get their help with this issue as well. I'm hopeful that they would be able to help me find a good tech to solve the issue with a simple fix - or to help reach a good resolution in some other way.
While that is the direction that I had already been considering with the Dealer - and most likely how I will move forward - that may have been exactly what the Dealer did on the 3rd visit. If that was indeed the case (and the fault was triggered again almost immediately) what would you do next if it were your car?
In addition, I've started to reach out to BMW North America in order to get their help with this issue as well. I'm hopeful that they would be able to help me find a good tech to solve the issue with a simple fix - or to help reach a good resolution in some other way.
06-17-2012, 11:27 AM
#149
Senior Members
Thanks for the information and suggestions, AchtungE60.
While that is the direction that I had already been considering with the Dealer - and most likely how I will move forward - that may have been exactly what the Dealer did on the 3rd visit. If that was indeed the case (and the fault was triggered again almost immediately) what would you do next if it were your car?
In addition, I've started to reach out to BMW North America in order to get their help with this issue as well. I'm hopeful that they would be able to help me find a good tech to solve the issue with a simple fix - or to help reach a good resolution in some other way.
While that is the direction that I had already been considering with the Dealer - and most likely how I will move forward - that may have been exactly what the Dealer did on the 3rd visit. If that was indeed the case (and the fault was triggered again almost immediately) what would you do next if it were your car?
In addition, I've started to reach out to BMW North America in order to get their help with this issue as well. I'm hopeful that they would be able to help me find a good tech to solve the issue with a simple fix - or to help reach a good resolution in some other way.
Anyway I would also reach out to BMWNA about this and press that issue. It's a safety issue and fine if it could get fix right away but an extended period of time is a problem. Also they should warranty the issue for no less than 10 yrs from the time they fix the actual issue.
Just explain your logic to either dealer. Speak to the Service Manager about it not a Service Adviser.
06-17-2012, 01:44 PM
#150
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AchtungE60,
Your post and logic on dealers' intention makes perfect sense, and very good to keep it in mind for dealing with dealers, in general, in the future.
To help new member here, please let me share my experience how to resolve this Passengers' Restraint System issue.
By using pre-built VMWare DIS, I was able to diagnose what the issue is, and it was frontal crash sensor.
I took out headlight housing on pass. side and inspect the sensor and wiring connects to it. Nothing was wrong. I cleared the code, and just disconnected connector to the sensor. The exact error came up. What I saw was the wiring harness is kind of dangling around, so I used wire-tie and tie it to some stationary wire. Cleared the code, and it's not been coming back since.
Hope it contribute a bit to this thread.
Best Wishes
Fred
Your post and logic on dealers' intention makes perfect sense, and very good to keep it in mind for dealing with dealers, in general, in the future.
To help new member here, please let me share my experience how to resolve this Passengers' Restraint System issue.
By using pre-built VMWare DIS, I was able to diagnose what the issue is, and it was frontal crash sensor.
I took out headlight housing on pass. side and inspect the sensor and wiring connects to it. Nothing was wrong. I cleared the code, and just disconnected connector to the sensor. The exact error came up. What I saw was the wiring harness is kind of dangling around, so I used wire-tie and tie it to some stationary wire. Cleared the code, and it's not been coming back since.
Hope it contribute a bit to this thread.
Best Wishes
Fred