Hi there. My son has a Grande Punto and the air bag in the roof and drivers side seat went off because of him clipping a kerb.There was only damage to the drivers front wheel and no other damage, so he went off to our local Fiat dealer and they quoted £1000 for replacement.This can't be right that the air bags went off just by clipping a kerb can it? He took the car to a local garage to get the car started whuch it now runs but obviously the airbag light is on,the owner of the garage said that the airbag shouldn't of gone off as did Kwik-Fit who laser tracked the car.The next step is that my son is going to contact Fiat as we have been informed that this has happened to some other owners of the Grande Punto and that there was a recall.Can any of our members please help us,also are there any independent Fiat specialists in the Yorkshire area that can help?
Technical Fiat Grande Punto Air Bags.
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Technical Fiat Grande Punto Air Bags.
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Recall and known fault thread.
If you took it to a Fiat dealer and it was a recall affected car they should have told you.
What did they quote £1000 for? Without knowing what they said they would do, that's just a figure without context.
"He just clipped the kerb", is that what he's told you, or were you in the car? How heavy a "clip" was it?
If you took it to a Fiat dealer and it was a recall affected car they should have told you.
What did they quote £1000 for? Without knowing what they said they would do, that's just a figure without context.
"He just clipped the kerb", is that what he's told you, or were you in the car? How heavy a "clip" was it?
Hi there. Well Stoneacre Fiat Dealer in Doncaster quoted £1000 for fitting the airbags and to check the vehicle over.We had to tow the car from j28 off the M1 to our local garage in Pontefract , where he checked the car over and re-set the car so that it would start.As i said the only damage is a scuff on the drivers side wheel,surely this dosen't warrant the airbags to go off.Have any of our members had the same problem?Stoneacre checked to see if there was a recall on the car which came back negative,but i have little faith in main dealers as i have been stung a few times by them.
.....but is happy to ask anyone on the internet
The side impact sensor has picked up the 'clipping' and detonated the airbags so in effect it has worked.
£1k seems excessive so ask another garage for a quote.
Dont like stoneacre they do not rate highly in my opinion having bought 2 cars from them.
Try a quote from sg petch at York (near monks cross)
or the one In Driffield (beteen Goole and Bridlington (ive not used petch HOWEVER the reason i didnt use them is they were the only fiat dealerships.. taking in stoneacre worksop, scunny, and Donny, Jordans of Ull the One in Pickering.... to be honest about servicing requirements..... and my evo not needing another service due to the service policy on the car....
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Without wanting to cast aspersions on your son, are you sure he just "clipped a kerb"?
I know when I was 17, that's the kind of understatement I'd have given to my parents if I'd slid into or driven over a kerb at high speed (not that I ever did)
It just seems unlikely that a minor impact can trigger the sensor.
As for the cost, it's high, but bear in mind they have to replace the airbags, plus I'd imagine the roof lining and some panels. Plus the airbag ECU itself will need to be checked, cleared of crash data, and possibly replaced - it's not unknown for the surge of detonation to actually kill the ECU itself.
Even if the parts are only a few hundred pounds, dealership labour rates will quickly push you towards the figure they've quoted. I'd ask for it to be itemised if I were you.
I know when I was 17, that's the kind of understatement I'd have given to my parents if I'd slid into or driven over a kerb at high speed (not that I ever did
)It just seems unlikely that a minor impact can trigger the sensor.
As for the cost, it's high, but bear in mind they have to replace the airbags, plus I'd imagine the roof lining and some panels. Plus the airbag ECU itself will need to be checked, cleared of crash data, and possibly replaced - it's not unknown for the surge of detonation to actually kill the ECU itself.
Even if the parts are only a few hundred pounds, dealership labour rates will quickly push you towards the figure they've quoted. I'd ask for it to be itemised if I were you.
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So if I understand this correctly the "clipping of a kerb" was enough to not only trigger the airbag but also activate the fuel cut off switch/immobaliser the engine.....?
Then it wasn't a light tap of the kerb it took quite a heavy whack.
The airbag replacement on its own from a main dealer is likely to cost £700-800 because of the cost of a replacement airbag then you add in damage to the wheel +wheel alignment and getting the engine running again check out any fault codes the engine or airbag ecu decided to store £1000 could be easily about right at main dealer prices
Then it wasn't a light tap of the kerb it took quite a heavy whack.
The airbag replacement on its own from a main dealer is likely to cost £700-800 because of the cost of a replacement airbag then you add in damage to the wheel +wheel alignment and getting the engine running again check out any fault codes the engine or airbag ecu decided to store £1000 could be easily about right at main dealer prices
The fuel cut off is controlled by airbag ECU so this would be correct however I agree......it must of been a heavy whack not a clipping!!
clumybaby
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hi my girlfriend lost control of the car and the airbag went off (basically hit the kerb with minor alloy damage even tho it was a hard impact) and we shopped about and got the airbag fitted for £200 luckily our ecu didnt cut fuel or anything.... this is NOT recommended but if you want a fix you can buy decoded airbags on ebay which will turn the light off but there is no way of knowing if they will deploy safely or at all in case of a collision there is also a service on Ebay which lets you send away your airbag to have it refilled and closed back up but that is only if you haven't cut away the air bag hope this helps
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Well, I doubt they'd be bothered about that, specially if the son is still driving the car around now with the airbags already deployed.
Personally, I'd have the car OFF THE ROAD. Last thing your gonna want is to crash with no protection....
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Won't this void any insurance too ?
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I'm sure they'd have a few words to say on this matter...
Hey I took the entire wing and passengers wheel out on the tangerine after hitting a wall during the bad snow and my airbags didn't deploy......I actually reckon there is a fault with the op's sons motor.....either that or there was a fault with the tangerine.
air bag control units are funny things and rather smart. they measure gforces / rate of deceleration to decide when to fire.. they are even smart enough to deploy the front bags in the best way they see fit dependent on the severity of a head on... *(dual stage)
You mean decoded airbag ECU's ?
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They asked for help nota grilling some forum people can be complete pricks, id say the car was faulty and if it is a common thing or recall like mentioned then id get straight on to fiat not that theyll entertain you like but worth a go
And you are refering to...........?
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