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General Steering wheel split!

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General Steering wheel split!

austenw90

austenw90

'13 Punto MultiAir 105
Parked in the garage
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
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Southampton
Hi

I am hoping to take my Bravo into the dealer tomorrow and be told that this will be repaired under warranty. I wouldn't put money on that though!

Just got in the car to discover this.... how could this happen?! Material fault for sure. I don't go around banging on the horn :bang:

Car is less than 3 years old, in warranty until March 2013 and has 16k on the clock. I can just see them telling me now that this is wear and tear!
 

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does seem a wee bit strange how you have an airbag sensor missing and now the cover is spilt on the wheel, as andy said does the airbag light come on and go out, or do you not get a light at all?

i cant see how it would split any other way, i mean it seems to be perfect dead center aswell
 
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This is really strange, as you mention the sensor and the split together... It looks like a knife slit, but you would need a seriously sharp knife to cut through the plastic.

I'll let you know what the dealer say tomorrow! Hmmmm
 
cainy1989 said:
does seem a wee bit strange how you have an airbag sensor missing and now the cover is spilt on the wheel, as andy said does the airbag light come on and go out, or do you not get a light at all?

i cant see how it would split any other way, i mean it seems to be perfect dead center aswell
Click to expand...

Haven't seen any airbag lights at all. This is quite weird..... surely the dealer would have known if there was anything missing / any issues relating to missing sensors or entire systems?
 
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this is starting to look sus now. Some airbags lift the centre section of the wheel. the bravo is designed to burst through. image shows fired bravo bags.

There three scenarios here

1) its been in a shunt and not repaired properly and whoever did it managed to trick the airbag system to ignore the missing sensor. This is harder than you think to do and the steering wheel whould be torn a lot worse if the bags fired (see below)

2) This is a massive coincidence- your model/year may no longer carry this sensor, and the wheel has split as its faulty. it will be a predetermined weak point for the airbag pop.

3)Its had an airbag system problem and whoever fixed it, buggered up the repair or bodged it- once again, the sensor thing would be hard to bypass to get no errors, the wheel could have been weakened in a refit

What we need is someone with the same car model and year as you to check theirs to see if the same connector is unplugged.

before kicking off with the dealer, what about an AA report just to check.
 
Big Black Stilo said:
this is starting to look sus now. Some airbags lift the centre section of the wheel. the bravo is designed to burst through. image shows fired bravo bags.

There three scenarios here

1) its been in a shunt and not repaired properly and whoever did it managed to trick the airbag system to ignore the missing sensor. This is harder than you think to do and the steering wheel whould be torn a lot worse if the bags fired (see below)

2) This is a massive coincidence- your model/year may no longer carry this sensor, and the wheel has split as its faulty. it will be a predetermined weak point for the airbag pop.

3)Its had an airbag system problem and whoever fixed it, buggered up the repair or bodged it- once again, the sensor thing would be hard to bypass to get no errors, the wheel could have been weakened in a refit

What we need is someone with the same car model and year as you to check theirs to see if the same connector is unplugged.

before kicking off with the dealer, what about an AA report just to check.
Click to expand...

As you say it is either a coincidence or starting to look very suspect. I will call my breakdown provider tomorrow and see if they are able to come and inspect and advise. Thanks (y)
 
austenw90 said:
Haven't seen any airbag lights at all. This is quite weird..... surely the dealer would have known if there was anything missing / any issues relating to missing sensors or entire systems?
Click to expand...

i know this is a grande punto but it should do something like this (check your hand book for exact sequence when you turn the key to MAR

the air bag warning lamp and the passenger deactivation light come on briefly then go out.. (the yellow and red ones just under the rev counter) others that stay lit under there are seatbelt undone, oil pressure, battery, engine management and the amber immobliser light that flashes on very briefly)


 
The Fiesta my mate had with the cut off air bag wires to the wheel and the missing passenger airbag didnt make a peep or flash a light... Yet the Bulb still worked when you tested the dashboard lights using a self test built into older ford cars dashboard god knows what they had done to it.....
 
austenw90 said:
Hi

I am hoping to take my Bravo into the dealer tomorrow and be told that this will be repaired under warranty. I wouldn't put money on that though!

Just got in the car to discover this.... how could this happen?! Material fault for sure. I don't go around banging on the horn :bang:

Car is less than 3 years old, in warranty until March 2013 and has 16k on the clock. I can just see them telling me now that this is wear and tear!
Click to expand...

I know this might sound stupid....but a friend of mine had this problem with his car (not as serious tho) and some engineer at the dealer told him that the steering wheel is weaker at its centre (something to do with the airbag) so he shouldn't press it from the center regularly, and instead only press it from the sides.
 
Andy Monty said:
The Fiesta my mate had with the cut off air bag wires to the wheel and the missing passenger airbag didnt make a peep or flash a light... Yet the Bulb still worked when you tested the dashboard lights using a self test built into older ford cars dashboard god knows what they had done to it.....
Click to expand...
.

if its an older fiesta, an the only warning is a light, you can be cheeky and wire the airbag light to another dash light, like ABS or engine management light so it comes on and goes off, or wire a relay into the light.

in the case of the bravo, (really speaking for mine here as its the sport with a different dash to most) i have a warning light, alarm sound and i lose the digital display too. with fiat, from my experiences with the airbag system on the stilo, getting round an airbag fault on the seats often meant hard wiring but if you changed the seats to aftermarket ones, you couldnt get shut of the airbag message. i prsume the bravo would be the same
 
KHALED25 said:
I know this might sound stupid....but a friend of mine had this problem with his car (not as serious tho) and some engineer at the dealer told him that the steering wheel is weaker at its centre (something to do with the airbag) so he shouldn't press it from the center regularly, and instead only press it from the sides.
Click to expand...

Not strictly true about only pressing in the corners, middle is fine (y)
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
Not strictly true about only pressing in the corners, middle is fine (y)
Click to expand...

well tbh it does seem a bit easier to press from the sides. maybe the material isnt that great and cant handle a lot of stress at the centre, but again maybe its just a one off.
In all cases u should be careful when u remove the steering wheel. I left you a guide for handling the airbag that i got from the forum a while ago.
 

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Lol you guys be tripping
363lol.gif

My car is 60reg 1 owner from new and it has done the same, its the air bag seam, lot thinner material, im gonna leave mine late as possible because it is a new steering wheel job+all programmed in, which something is bound to not work afterwards
363lol.gif
 
GrandeGuy said:
Lol you guys be tripping
363lol.gif

My car is 60reg 1 owner from new and it has done the same, its the air bag seam, lot thinner material, im gonna leave mine late as possible because it is a new steering wheel job+all programmed in, which something is bound to not work afterwards
363lol.gif
Click to expand...

It looks like they are going to replace mine after all. Just waiting for confirmation. It's just a new airbag unit in the middle of the wheel, no need to replace the entire wheel. Would get it done sooner rather than later if I was you.
 
austenw90 said:
It looks like they are going to replace mine after all. Just waiting for confirmation. It's just a new airbag unit in the middle of the wheel, no need to replace the entire wheel. Would get it done sooner rather than later if I was you.
Click to expand...

It's not even the airbag unit, it'll just be the cover they replace probably :)
 
Ho there. Was there any outcome to this. Mines do e exactly the same. 61 reg 25000 miles. Vospers fiat Exeter tell me that my warranty claim has been refused? I certainly ly haven't done this on purpose and car is immaculate as ex fiat company car. Not my first poor experience with them but any help would be great
Cheers chris
 
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