C5 airbag fault

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Ginge1959
Posts: 1
Joined: 25 May 2020, 16:16
Location: Normandy, France
My Cars: Citroen C5 estate

C5 airbag fault

Post by Ginge1959 »

Hello everyone, I have a problem with my 2004 C5 estate and hope somebody out there can help. It failed its French MoT for an apparent airbag fault which manifests itself as an "airbag fault" warning on the dash display and an illuminated "service" symbol on the speedo. I've taken out the seats and checked all the connections to the seat mounted side airbags and all seems well. Therefore, drove to a Citroen main dealer for a diagnostic test which produced a P1211 fault code. I was told this pertains to the small, sill mounted sensor (part 8216 Z5) on the passenger side. This part is no longer supplied by PSA and the only ones available are second hand from e-Bay, etc. I bought a pair from a local scrapyard but neither have solved the problem as the fault display is still there. I was wondering whether if the replacement part was indeed functioning, does the fault code need to be cancelled/erased by a diagnostic computer?

If that's not the case, where do I go from here - the main module, wiring from same to the 2 sensors or what?

It's a real bummer that the MoT rules changed in France recently and now this message is a mandatory failure point whereas for the past 4 years I've owned the car it's only been a point of note!

Hoping somebody can shed some light on this as, apart from this issue, the car is absolutely fine!

Best regards from Normandy
Gibbo2286
(Donor 2020)
Posts: 7170
Joined: 08 Jun 2011, 18:04
Location: GL15***
My Cars: 2006 C5 2.0 Litre HDI VTR Automatic Estate.(now sold on)
Currently Renault Zoe 2014 ZE
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Re: C5 airbag fault

Post by Gibbo2286 »

I take it that as you are in France the car is left hand steering, a common problem on the RH drive cars is the wiring behind the trim where the passenger's feet go, maybe something similar in your case.

The most common air bag fault though is the comm 2000 unit behind the steering wheel which has at its centre a flat cable that looks like a clock spring, it's delicate and can break after long use or if mal-adjusted.

This is an example picture of the unit but you need the exactly correct part for your car by ordering from the car's vin number or if going for a used one the exact number from the old one to match.

https://peugeotpartsforsale.com/citroen ... no-6242h4
Man is, by nature, a lazy beast, he does not need twice encouraging to do nothing.
johnny625
Posts: 45
Joined: 21 Jun 2017, 21:31
Location: Prilep
My Cars: Citroen Xsara 1.9 td
x 5

Re: C5 airbag fault

Post by johnny625 »

I would be strongly inclined to check the wiring that goes to the sill sensor. It might be broken somewhere so even if you had changed the sensor itself the airbag unit doesn't still 'see it' properly and you still have the air bag warning.

Word of warning:

DO NOT check airbag wiring continuity with an ordinary multi meter unless you are absolutely sure in what you are doing. The multi meter leads might provide enough voltage/current to set the airbags off.
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