'98 bmw 318i

ok, when i got in this morning, there was a '98 bmw sittin' in my bay....as usual, i grab the work order, walk around it noting scratches, dents, stained leather inside, etc.....and it's a typical beammer as far as the damage goes.....so i tape off the felts, pull the headrests out of the back seat, tint the car as usual......the 'boss man' pulls the car out.....when he returns from the lot, he asks me....
"did you do the check-in on that car?"

"i did the walk around, outside, why??"

"did you notice if the check engine light, the brake light, and the AIR BAG light was on?"

"no i didn' tnotice, are they on now?" (duh, he woldn't be asking me if they werent)

"yeah.....dammit....go across the street and get the scanner and let's clear the lights"

no big deal, i walk across the street and get their code scanner tool, plug it into the car, clear 2 codes that are 'manufacturer specific" and that's it......i turn off the key, wait a few, re-start it, adn the brake light is on (big deal) and the AIR BAG LIGHT IT STILL ON.......so i look over and there are air bags in the front doors......UH OH.....did i do that??? 'boss man' doesn't seem to think so, but we did clear the check engine light for the guy....might come back on, hope he doesn't b***h about "WHY'S MY AIR BAG LIGHT ON????????"

Let us know what happened.I hate it when that happens...

I had that very same thing happen to me two weeks ago with the airbag light. I removed the fuse for the airbags, because I removed the door panels on this one. I know I put the fuse back in, because I had it lying on the floor under the glovebox with the cute little fuse puller supplied by BMW. The owner goes around the block and returns, concerned about his airbag light. The first thing I do is open the fusebox. The cute fuse puller is there in it's little spot, but the fuse isn't. I couldn't find the fuse anywhere! I just replaced the fuse and all was well.

so in a case like that, should i just pull the fuse before i tint the car and do the doors first, let dry while i do the back glass, then before pulling car out, insert fuse...maybe that'll help ???

I just make sure the fuse is removed the entire time I am screwing with the door panels. The last thing I need is to activate an air-bag, and then pay to get it replaced! All of these that I have dealt with have a nice, simple to read, fuse chart on the fusebox cover. And, most only have one fuse for the entire airbag system, but I always read the entire chart to make sure.

I couldn't tell you if that is what caused your specific problem though. The customer that I dealt with when the fuse was missing only had two idiot lights on, the air-bag light and some safety-system warning.

guess we'll just have to wait and see eh?

ok, been 2 days and no phone call i don't think i set the airbag light

I always check lights when I do a walk around!!!!!!

usually that part is done for me, as the car was already in the shop....oh well...i'll make sure next time

Could be the customer has disconnected them on purpose, maybe they have kids that have to ride in the front occaisionally. I used to have them pulled on my old suburban for that reason, the air bag light was always on.