After 142,000 miles, the leather on the driver's side shoulder bolster wore through on my Audi A6 2.7T. I had it repaired with some new leather, and the upholsterer did a terrific job. The only problem is that the "Air Bag" problem indicator light now brightly shines continuously. He claims, and I tend to believe him as having been in his shop the man is neat and detail oriented, that he correctly reconnected all of the wires under the seat and did not impair the air bag unit itself. His knowledge clearly stops somewhere short of air bag electronics.

I am not concerned about that particular air bag operating. I am concerned that my car will not pass NJ inspection.

1. Is there some type of electronic reset that needs to be done when the seat is removed and replaced and all connectors undone and redone? Can the indicator light be deactivated, or is it hard-wired and uninterruptible?

2. There is a plastic tab on the original upholstery reading "Air Bag", but has no connections behind it. It is riveted to the leather. It does not appear to have any function other than to indicate that an air bag is in that bolster. The tab was not, and likely could not be, tranferred to the new upholstery. I guess if it needs to be there other than for "aesthetic" reasons one can be purchased from Audi.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

keno55

 

you need VAG to reset the airbag system and check for codes,
I dont think the airbags need to be there or working because its not mandatory to have them ( might be different in the US though ) only problem with that is how would they check the system if the bulb was pulled?,
the SRS badge is only aesthetic so not required