Xenonista

The passenger air bag light is incredibly annoying. As is the choice of carpeting material that I'm sure was selected purely based on its ability to retain dog hair in a death grip...

Highpark

What are you guys talking about... the oil change service interval can be reset right through the radio. car off, car, settings. reset.

snagitseven

The discussion is talking about the service interval reminder which can't be changed in the MMI, not the oil change reminder which can.

snagitseven

Considering the current complexity and cost of the car, I doubt it would have been very complicated or costly to wire it into the existing seat sensor. No passenger, no light.

Chewing gum?

Ganny

Does the same issue exist with BMWs (i.e., do you need special equipment to reset service interval and/or to perform routine maintenance such as brake pad replacement)? If so, what equipment is required for BMWs and what is the cost?

spijun

BMW ICOM, ICOM A2, INPA , ISPA-D and ISTA-P ............
The cost depends on whether you are buying the original or a Chinese clone

Ganny

Is it required to reset service interval?

Redd

Not to worry, Ganny. There's a nice Barrett-Jackson Auction in West Palm this coming weekend with nearly 600 nice shiny cars that have (mainly) no computers at all. No metric parts, no trick security screws, no funny reminder lights, no abstract nanny-state nonsense on them.

I'm very tempted to trade my car in for something crude, unsophisticated, and very much late-60's-muscle-car.

Needs oil, gas, and parts that I can get from folks who won't require that I have a special license before installing them.

Very tempted.

And you know, they are all made and sold WITH A DIPSTICK and no argument about it, too.

mhughett

You used to be able to buy a "Peake Research" reset tool for about $50 to reset BMW intervals. Then they changed to their "condition service intervals" and the Peake tool no longer worked. However we did find ways of using the OBC to reset the intervals on these newer cars. The other tool that a lot of BMW owners bought was the Bavarian Technic cable--which works much the same as the VAG-Com tool but I think is more difficult to use. They have one version that is limited to 3 serial numbers for about $350 but the one that works for unlimited cars is about $675. Therefore, I think the VAG-COM tool is actually a pretty good deal.

Xenonista

This is what would make sense:

When the seat sensor detects a minimum weight, activate the airbag.
The driver can manually disable the airbag for various situations, like a piece of furniture, or a bag, or a dog crate, in the seat.
Whenever the auto activation is overridden (whether the seat is empty or not), light the indicator.

From my reading of the regulations above, this should be perfectly in line with the requirements.

I suspect Audi's decision to have it reflect to auto activation rather than override is based a desire to be able to visually confirm that the airbag is enabled with a passenger in the seat and make it less likely a car is driven around for an extended period with a defective seat sensor. (And hence a disabled pass. airbag.)