£500 Or £45?

[mrhappy]

This may be of interest to those outside of any warranty

Had trouble with air-bag module [lights on dash would not go out]

Tried to get a second hand part, Toyota wanted £500 for new one, not including fitting

Even looked across the pond [uSA] no joy even posted on this site!

Was just checking eBay when I noticed a company that reset these kind of modules, in fact they fix any type of problem regarding

these gadgetry bits... posted it to them on Friday they called me on Saturday all done! received it Monday at 10.30am, fitted and completed

£45 including post and packing from there end...Didn't want paying till it was fitted and working, WOW!

They are 'air bag-module-reset-company' guys name is mark, great service, even emailed me with detailed answers to my questions

p.s one second hand parts company wanted to sell me not only the module but also all the air-bag bits as well... £900

A now, very happy, Mrhappy

[Parts-King]

What was re-set the ECU? I'm not sure that I would want any old re-set done on an ECU, there would be a reason the light came on the dash in the first place, what was that reason? The answer is probably that you dont know. What was done to re-set it? again, we dont know, and with such a critical piece of kit such as an air bag, I'm not sure I would want to rely on sending it to somebody (whom you know nothing about) to fiddle with it. Will he have sufficient indemnity insurance if (god forbid) anything went horribly wrong? I somehow doubt it

Sorry to dampen you Mr Happy, but similarly, removing a bulb to switch off a warning lamp is in the same league in my eyes

Kingo

[mrhappy]

Hi kingo

Yer your right, there's a lot more to this event, car had some front damage, simple unbolt and bolt-on stuff, however air-bags did not go off but seat belt tensioners did, this told the ecu 'crash damage' and could not be reset by main dealer,[they normally replace module for speedy repair].

so.... I found out that the chip that had the code can be deleted from memory and a new file [for that year and model] downloaded back on to chip, I think they can do this from a Toyota site designed for supplying info' on fault codes etc. [i think you have to pay for the privilege though?] it's a bit like the breaking problem they had, it was a software chip that was reloaded???? [anyway all this is lost on me], all I know is; the air-bag light comes on on initial start up and goes out after 3 second as it used to.

I guess for me it was research, I found people who had successfully rebuilt a prius from scratch-everything from wiring looms to hybrid system and still own the car today, they gave great advise in all aspects and helped sort out some of the myths about what can and can't be done. A real eye opener!

Thanks

Mrhappy

[Parts-King]

That info would certainly NOT be available to download from Toyota, if it was, it would be available to the dealer network and it isnt. My only worry is it's OK to get some marketing flannel about downloading the flash files from Toyota but I'm sure that is an untruth, how do you know what was done? You don't. What do you say to them in the event of an accident and the air bag doesnt go off? That is if you get the chance to explain!

Kingo

[Jan&tone]

I'm not involved on this, but I think the point that king is making is that -yes, Mt T sometimes charges what we think is over the odds for somethings, BUT the repair/replacement would be guaranteed and, we hope, fitted properly and to the manufacturers specifications.

certainly the way I would tend to go.