Seat Occupied Sensor

[uteman]

2003 L322 Diesel
The airbag warning light has recently been coming on.
Sometimes when I am alone in the car it will come on during the first few hundred metres of travel and then go off
With a passenger it may stay on for the complete trip but may also go off at times.
My FAULTMATE provides the following:
"Seat Occupied Sensor" (Resistance too small. Intermittent)

My judgement on that is that it could be "Seat occupancy sensor" circuit built into the seat cushion or "Seat Occupancy Module" which is at fault.

How to determine which is the question. I do not want to remove and dismantle seat to fit a new "Seat Occupancy Sensor" only to then find that what was needed was a "Seat Occupancy Module"

The other thing that I believe is connected to this issue is the car alarm will sound for no obvious reason.
Of course if the system got a message that there was weight suddenly on or off the seat that would sound the alarm so I am quite confident that with one or the other seat components fixed the alarm issue will go away.

Anyone had this experience and identified the culprit?

There are many small electronic bypass devices advertised which are simple to fit and would simply mean that the airbag would go off in an accident regardless of no passenger in that seat.
Not a big issue and quite a money saver. Has anyone fitted one of these?

[Roverlord off road spares]

re the alarm sounding . Have you checked your battery voltage, I found when battery voltage when it's been sitting gets to a low reading the alarm will sounding. These vehicles re very power hungry and low battery voltages can bring up all sorts of faults. Sometimes unplugging stuff and re plugging in can help if it is a dirty connection on a sensor causing a problem.

[uteman]

re the alarm sounding . Have you checked your battery voltage, I found when battery voltage when it's been sitting gets to a low reading the alarm will sounding. These vehicles re very power hungry and low battery voltages can bring up all sorts of faults. Sometimes unplugging stuff and re plugging in can help if it is a dirty connection on a sensor causing a problem.


Roverlord: No issue with battery voltage as the car is in regular use right now and the battery is quite new. Besides this car has often sat for weeks with the battery going flat and the alarm has not sounded.
As for unplugging, cleaning and re-fitting contacts from the seat mat that will require removal of the seat which I cannot do right now. If I get to that stage I will replace the sensor mat or fit a bypass. Thanks for your ideas.

[Laurie]

Uteman
Have a look where the wiring harness meets; and on the seat for chaffing. Sometimes a piece of trim or a
clip rubs thru and causes problems. Early cars did have this problem especially with the rear sear rubbing thru a harness.

Laurie

[uteman]

Uteman
Have a look where the wiring harness meets; and on the seat for chaffing. Sometimes a piece of trim or a
clip rubs thru and causes problems. Early cars did have this problem especially with the rear sear rubbing thru a harness.

Laurie

To all responders:
I have not had an alarm go off for a few days now.
All I have done is to connect my FAULTMATE and switch the seat sensor system off momentarily (it automatically comes back to "connected") and the alarm has not gone off since and all is working as it should.
Did my action fix it or did the issue just go away? Don't know but heck it works ok.
Should it occur again I will inspect and report further but right now I will leave it alone.
Thanks for your input folks.

[rar110]

I had airbag light come on as a result of a loose wire at the seatbelt pretensioner. I moved and fixed the wire to prevent it moving. The seat moving forward or back would dislodge the wire.