Hi there,

I've just taken ownership of a year 2000 X reg Polo GTI, and it has a few problems.. One of which is the drivers seat has a tear down its side closest to the door. Yesterday whilst my local mobile mechanic was taking a look at another issue he commented that the damage to the seat was caused by the seat air bag going off (also, the yellow air bag\seatbelt light is lit on the dash).

I've researched online and I can't find any reference to a GTI of this age ever having an air bag in the seat. I also contacted a few breakage yards looking for a new drivers seat and they've never heard of this model having a seat air bag. The seats are grey with the standard red detailing.

Can anyone confirm if this was an option on this model? And if it was, will I be ok MOT wise fitting a standard non-air bag seat in it's place. There are several with the same trim for sale on Ebay.

Thanks

Steve

Right, I've solved the first question - It definitely has airbags in the front seats as per these photos (my defence for not figuring this out before is the seats had seat covers on them which I've only taken off. Pretty lame I know)...

The next question is what can i do about this? Do you think I need to get the air bag replaced and get the seat repaired / get another seat with an airbag intact. Or can I get another seat without an airbag / just get the existing one repaired? Where do I stand with the MOT?







This is the passenger seat which is fine-

Obviously the car has detected an impact severe enough to set the airbag off.

Have you had the car HPI checked at all?

First of all you need to get the airbag fault codes read and see 1. If the impact that was detected is still on the system and 2. If it can be cleared from the ECU. If it can be deleted then you may be lucky and it is just a case of buying a new seat with an airbag and fitting it.

Bare in mind though air bags are explosives and can be very nasty. Personally they scare the crap out of me. I would seek advice from a body shop that does insurance repairs as they are likely to have dealt with cars where air bags have been deployed.

In regards to MOT just now it is a fail as the airbag has been deployed and the light is on.

Thanks for the info, plenty there for me to think about.. Finding a drivers seat with an airbag is proving tricky.

You can fit a non airbag seat, but you'll need to then fit the correct airbag ecu as yours will throw up a fail warning as it won't see the seat airbag squib resistance, and as it's blown the seat bag there will be a hard code set in the ecu that will require a specialist to reset

Thanks, I like that idea - I could replace the ecu, and just sew up the seat.

I've also found a replacement seat airbag via https://www.1stchoice.co.uk/, as another option, but I would still need to get the code cleared and seat sewn up.

Getting the ECU reset will mean sending it off to a specialist and it won't be cheap, you cheaper option would be getting a s/hand unit from someone breaking a 6N2 on here or ebay/gumtree

Never knew this model was equipped with a seat airbag! Perhaps just the 5door models? Mine is and x reg 3 door and as far as i know, no seat airbags

I've missed out on the replacement seat airbag.

Is there anyone local to me in South-East London who be able to help me source and replace a suitable ECU? I would be happy to pay for your time, and travel to you, as getting a bit desperate to get this sorted.

My local garage, wont touch it for 'liability reasons' unless I get a new part from VW. Alternatively, does anyone know a garage in London\Surrey\Kent that would be willing to do this?

replacing the ECU should just be a case of unplug and replug, i might have one lying around, not from a GTI though so probably not suitable. find out the part number (should be printed on the outside of the ECU) and someone should be able to locate a suitable replacement

You can get the part number by using VCDS as it's bit of a strip down to get @ the ECU, I did one 2 years ago