Pixo
Ted Brathwaite
A couple of months back, less than a month after the warranty expired, the airbag light came on and refused to go off. Manual says issue with either airbag system or seatbelt pretensioners. Took car to dealer, they could not find the fault but cleared the light anyway. They reckoned it was triggered on by an object [rolling] under the seat(s) and advised that should the light come on again the car would require a new airbag unit @ c. 1,200.
On the same day, as I was parking the car on the driveway at home, some 7 miles from the garage, the light briefly came on and disappeared. Did so on the next day, in exactly the same circumstances, with the steering wheel almost at full lock - but came off again. Called Nissan customer services on the Monday, the chap that called me back was adamant that the cause was as said by dealer - even though they admitted that they could not find the fault cause.
Ok, for nearly two months drove carefully, ensuring that car floor was clear of any objects and that I did not turn the steering wheel into a full lock position. Finally, the other day as I was parking in my drive, the light came on again - and stayed on.
This is just a quick post as im at work will try to add more later, I have had the same problem but since you posted you topic nissan have recalled some cars for this problem but the pixo isnt listed as yet.
My airbag light has also come on recently and now my horn has stopped working and have been told this could be due to the airbag expanding which also causes the flashing on/off as you go round corners and the airbag 'moves' my car is out of warranty by about 2 months :( and only thing i think will fix it is a new airbag
I had access to an obdii interigation tool for airbags which quoted code B1031:- Drivers air bag (1st stage) circuit high resistance. Stripped out steering wheel air bag and clock spring squib after disconnecting battery. When disconnecting the two components it appears that the connectors automatically put a short across the electrical pins. While testing the resistance of the air bag the short has to be manually removed, small jewellers screw driver with a keen eye. Air bag resistance appeared to be good at around 2ohms. What I did find was that there was 15-20 ohms of resistance across the clock spring, two small pieces of wire require to be inserted into the clock spring/air bag connector which you then attach to your ohm meter. Watching the meter, I manually operated the moving part of the clock spring vigorously and the resistance dropped back to around 1-2 ohms. Success.
I counted the total turns of the clock spring simulating full lock to full lock and then centred it to match the already centred wheels/steering wheel. The clock spring, steering wheel and air bag was then reconnected/refitted and battery reconnected.
This really was an unexpected bonus which obviously is something to remember....if the lights lit there is a fault and if you clear the fault it goes out itself...so if it's still lit after you think you have repaired it's still busted. I was under the impression from here and other sites that if the light was lit it would need reset via Nissan or using another reset tool after repair but obviously not.
Just an update on my finding, it would appear that when you rested the light you get so many auto resets then the light stays on. I have traced the fault to an internmittant break in the ribbon cable in the clock spring but had to get the light reset as it had came up a few times then stayed lit.
I have just bought a Pixo and was told by the seller that the airbag warning light was on but had been checked during service and they were told the airbag was fine although there is a fault with the warning light and not to worry about it. However I found that the horn does not work so I suspect the clock spring is faulty. This car passed an MOT like this just before I bought it so maybe a dodgy MOT test or perhaps they fixed an intermittent fault that has returned. I am trying to contact the last owner to see what they say. As far as I know an airbag warning light is an MOT fail and no horn is defiantly a fail.
An after thought.....Judging by the amount of views this topic has had it must be a regular fault with this car. Looks like Nissan could be fitting a faulty clock spring and perhaps should be doing a recall. Or maybe they prefer customers coming in and spending lots of money on repairs.
First disconnect the battery negative terminal using 10mm spanner. Then you have to wait for ten minutes to allow any residual electricity to drain from capacitors. If you don't do this you risk detonating the air bag!
On each side at the back of your steering wheel there is a hole just big enough to get a screwdriver through. If you look in the hole with a torch you will see the top of a torx bolt (Torx bolt has a six pointed star like recess in it). Undo both of these bolts. You will need a torx screwdriver for this. These bolts are at an angle slightly pointing back towards the car driver. The bolts are retained, they do not come right out so just keep undoing them as far as they will go.
Unclip and disconnect these wires. The horn wire can be disconnected at either end. I disconnected it from the big plug rather than the spade connector. The air bag wires disconnect in the centre of the air bag with a strange looking locked plug. You need a small electrical screwdriver to prise up the yellow locking clip (a small square shape) on top of this plug. Once that lock is popped up the plug can be pulled out.
When the airbag has been removed from the steering wheel you can see the 17mm nut holds the steering wheel in place on the splined steering column. Centre the steering wheel so your car wheels are pointing forward and the steering wheel is not turned left or right. When you are reassembling the steering wheel you want to push it back on to the splines in the same place that it is now so before you remove it mark its position with a thin marker pen to draw a line across the centre of the splined column and continue the line onto the steering wheel metal frame.
Now undo the 17mm nut in the centre using a socket spanner and an extension bar. I had a friend hold the steering wheel for me to stop it from turning while I undid the nut. You could try using your knees or turning the wheel until it is on the steering lock but I don't think steering locks are very strong so if you do use the steering lock to hold the wheel still try and hold it with your knees as well to reduce the force on the lock.
Once the nut has been removed you can pull the steering wheel off. I managed to do this quite easily with a little jerking pulls. I left the 17mm nut on a couple of turns so that when I tugged the wheel off it did not fly off and smack me in the face. If you are having problems pulling the wheel off the splines then (I read on another site) you can get a special steering wheel removal tool. that will pull it off.
OK, next step ... The plastic steering column cowling has to come off before you can remove the clock spring. It is not so hard once you have found the Phillips screw. It is hidden under the little lever on the underside of the column that adjusts the steering wheel height. Near your knees when you are driving.
....
If you are going to be using the same clock spring rather than buying a new one then it is a good idea to put some sticky tape on it so that it does not spin around while you are removing and handling it. Inside the clockspring there is a long ribbon cable like the ones you see in computers. Whwn you are driving and you turn your steering wheel this ribbon cable winds up and unwinds inside the black plastic housing much like a "Clock Spring" does . If you have set your car wheels pointing straight forward then the cable will be half wound up, keep it like this for reassembly. If you are buying a new clock spring then it doesn't matter if your old one moves. The new one will already be set in this wheels straight position at the factory. There will be a small clip on the new clockspring that stops it from turning until you are ready to fit it.. You have to remove this clip before you fit the new clockspring.
The steering column cover is in two parts. When you have removed the Philips screw (hidden behind the steering height adjustment lever) from the lower half of the cover it can be separated from the top half of the cover. The two halves are clipped together.
My local Nissan garage wanted 165 plus VAT just for the part...nearly 200 quid for a coiled up ribbon cable in a plastic cover! I phoned a few breakers yards and was quoted between 40 and 65 for a second hand part.
Then I phoned a Suzuki dealer and asked them for the price of one for the Suzuki Alto (an identical part)...It came to 42 which included the VAT!! Yes, Suzuki you rock! Nissan, hang your heads in shame. You rip us off by fitting a dodgy part and them milk it when we have to replace the crap part you supplied in the first place.
I had to take a registration number from a car in their showroom for them to locate the part. I checked the picture of it on the computer against the one I had removed. All looked good and all was good. Remember the new on will have an anti spin clip on it so that will look slightly different.
One interesting point. When it all went back together the horn worked at last but the airbag light still stayed on. I was expecting that and I was told that this has to be reset using the fault reset codes with a computer. I figured I would leave it on until I got near a friendly mechanic or AA man with a computer. It is a 5 minute job to plug in and reset. However a few weeks and about 500 miles later I noticed that the airbag warning light has gone out by itself. Read Turnbulla's posts on this thread above.
I hope this is a help to someone. I wish there was a detailed description on the internet for every job I need to do and an easy way of finding that description. If you have trouble finding it then you can be sure others will have had trouble too. So next time you do a job with no clear instructions please make a note of what you did and upload it for others.
d3342ee215