Air bag light
 

Help! I took out the passenger seat of my '09 Clubman S to install a seat cover. When I put it back in, I forgot to plug in the electrical connector, and the airbag light lit up immediately after starting the car. I tried using my old OBD II reader to re-set the light but no luck. The dealer won't re-set it under warranty and wants $200 in shop time to do the 5 minute job. Is there a short cut to re-set this light? Yes, I did plug the connectors back together after I quickly shut off the engine. All suggestions are welcome!! Thanks.

Sorry but NO this is a dealer only reset. Since this is caused by you unplugging it I can see why this would not be a warranty issue

The dealer is not the only one that can reset that light. There are lots of independents with scan tools that can do that work. you just need to call around and find one.

I was refering to the OBD reader that light is not resetable thru the OBD port

Yes it is , but you need a scan tool that can read all the systems. Not just OBD II, like this one. http://www.bavariantechnic.com/

A standard READER will NOT reset it , Yes the Tool you posted CAN but an OBD READER will not reset it

No one said it would. My point was that you don't have to take it to the dealer to get the light turned off. There are lots of shops that would do that work .The one I work for is one .

Air Bag Light
 

Thanks guys. I did take it to an independent shop who reset it for free. Due to legalities of it being the airbag light and their requirement to completely go through the system, I cannot mention their name. But they have a customer for life now for my MINI and my wife's BMW wagon. Thanks for the feedback. To clarify things, my basic OBD II READER will only scan the engine management computer and show fault codes and reset basic engine warning lights. It takes a really expensive scanner and reset tool to dig into the ABS, airbags and electrical system. Independent shops can buy or lease them for big bucks. The dealer is privilaged with the factory scanner that will diagnose every electrical device on the car, like the rear hatch switch if it is out. Everything is easy if you have the right tools.

its nice to know that you got your work done in free..also, the advices posted here are too good!

I suspect a thunderstorm and lightning strikes on the outside mirror of my 2004 mini cooper and broke it, and maybe all the lights came up on security shock and ran the battery down. A day after I got a new battery and fix but no light on the dashboard shows except that of the airbag. And the car won’t start. However, the headlights and the fog lights came up on their own and an error massage that flashes, “Disable” shows on the radio. What could have gone wrong?