[Somerset Jim]

We'll today I've had a go at fitting a paddle shift steering wheel. The wheel looks great and the shifter works to up the gears but not down so need to check the connections again me things.

The problem is once I'd finished I connected the battery and forget to plug one of the cables in and the airbag light has now come on along with the associated warnings on the idrive even though everything is plugged in now. Will have another bash tomorrow afternoon to find the loose wire and fix it.

Is this something that can be fixed by coding (along with the SOS warning which pops up every time I start the car) or does it need to be sorted another way?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Tipper]

I had the same problem when I fitted a sport paddleshift wheel to my SE 320D.

It was eventually fixed by replacing the airbag connecting cable(s) within the wheel below the airbag. The cable connections are not designed to be reused and they do not connect securely if the have been removed. A locking tab is probably broken off. A new cable at £20 fixed it.

No coding is needed as far as I can remember.

[Somerset Jim]

Thanks for the update. I have inspected the cables and the attachments but there don't seem to be any issue with the clips which are fragile. Did you break your clips when you did yours Tipper?

[SMOKE EM IF U GOT EM!!]

Sometimes the clockspring gets spun around too far and gets damaged. If that happened during installation there is no getting around replacement. Good luck. Best bet is to get it scanned to be sure.

[Tipper]

Originally Posted by Somerset Jim

Thanks for the update. I have inspected the cables and the attachments but there don't seem to be any issue with the clips which are fragile. Did you break your clips when you did yours Tipper?

No not me!

It was the cable that came with the paddle wheel. The one on my SE wheel was not a direct swap so I couldn't use that.

[Somerset Jim]

Well I've tried playing around with the airbag and reinserted the connections but nothing has changed so its going in to a local Indy tomorrow for a reset of all the systems to see whether the warning light comes back on.

Here's a photo of the warning

[Somerset Jim]

Car been in for a reset of all the systems and it now works without any warnings :-)

[RajB]

I believe that once the airbag light is tripped (battery connected with one connection still not connected) the warning light will remain on even if all reconnected properly.

You have to reset using the relevant software. That's certainly the way it's always been on past bmw's I've owned.

[Bmw4lifejoc]