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How To: Dim/Blackout Passenger Airbag Light

edrex

Ready to race!
Location
NorCal
Here’s a quick walkthrough on how to black out (or access the LEDs to use your own method of dimming) the Passenger Airbag lights in the center of our dash.

1. Remove Hazard/Airbag trim piece. I used a trim removal tool and lightly pushed it under the ridge on the outside of the trim. It snapped out fairly easily


2. Remove blue Hazard switch connector (1 clip)
3. Remove Airbag connector (pull up on red piece until it clicks then use tab to release connector)

4. Disconnect the female Airbag connector (shorter) from the main trim piece. I used a small screwdriver to pull back the wall from the connector then pull up to release

5. These are the LEDs. You can use any method of your choosing to dim or black them out. My original idea was a thin layer of plasti dip to dull the brightness but once I got in and saw what I was dealing with I changed direction and used electrical tape to block out the lights

6. This is the area the LEDs light up. Cut a piece of electrical tape to fit this area. I also cut a small slit into my tape so it wouldn’t bunch up against the small bar that runs down through this area

7. From here it’s just a reversal of the removal process - insert female Airbag connector into trim piece, insert both connectors from the dash, push trim piece back into place until it clicks in snug
 

lou06483

Go Kart Newbie
Location
East Coast,USA
Car(s)
Audi and VW
NICE

Thanks for sharing-simple solution !
JUST did this--Just be sure to cut the tape to the correct size or light will leak and you'll have to mask the offending leak---10-min job!
 
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jimboski10

Ready to race!
Contact Matt.....makes a simple cover up and also decals for the ugly warnings on the sun visors.

We are doing $8 shipped on the airbag light cover stickers (we include two) and $30 shipped on the visor coverup stickers (or $35 if you want both as a package deal). You can paypal matt@motogfx.com when you’re ready then email me with your shipping and which logo (gti or R) and color logo you’d like (white, black, red, blue - r only)

We have both and both are ready to ship right away.


Matt Fishler
Owner - www.MotoGFX.com
matt@motogfx.com


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

edrex

Ready to race!
Location
NorCal
Contact Matt.....makes a simple cover up and also decals for the ugly warnings on the sun visors.

Probably going to get the visor ones but I didn’t like the look of the airbag light stickers. Searched around for detailed info on OEM looking solutions and there wasn’t too much out there so I figured out my own.
 

adam1991

Banned
Location
USA
LEDs do create heat...

There's a story somewhere about a Jetta (?) owner who blacked out an exterior bulb because he didn't like it being there; it ruined the wiring harness big time. For some reason or another, that story just popped into my mind.
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
I don't like the idea of blacking it out completely-- it is a safety feature, but I agree that it's the most glaring warning light in the entire interior, and it doesn't dim like the other interior lights. I wonder if instead of electrical tape, you used a small scrap of dark tint? The tint wil block out some percentage of the light, and it should be pretty heat resistant if it can withstand 150F glass temperatures.
 

edrex

Ready to race!
Location
NorCal
Just curious, but why bother? The lights go out after a few seconds of starting the car?
On NA cars it stays on the whole time. I would love to program it off after a few seconds but I asked if that was possible over on the obdeleven forums and didn’t get a reply. The lack of official support is the most frustrating thing about using obdeleven to me.

I don't like the idea of blacking it out completely-- it is a safety feature, but I agree that it's the most glaring warning light in the entire interior, and it doesn't dim like the other interior lights. I wonder if instead of electrical tape, you used a small scrap of dark tint? The tint wil block out some percentage of the light, and it should be pretty heat resistant if it can withstand 150F glass temperatures.
Might try this next. I wouldn’t mind it if it was dim but electrical tape is what I had on hand. I’ve also read of someone using black fabric.
 

IWMTom

Autocross Newbie
On NA cars it stays on the whole time. I would love to program it off after a few seconds but I asked if that was possible over on the obdeleven forums and didn’t get a reply. The lack of official support is the most frustrating thing about using obdeleven to me.


Might try this next. I wouldn’t mind it if it was dim but electrical tape is what I had on hand. I’ve also read of someone using black fabric.

I'll have a look into that for you - I presume it's the same part on my ROW car, so it should just be a coding value somewhere.

EDIT:

Yeah.. I was wrong. It's not an adaptation, so logically it's probably a coding value... which VCDS and OBD11 can't change for the airbag module.

My next question is this - you only have AIRBAG OFF lights where us ROW folk have AIRBAG ON and AIRBAG OFF lights.. if your AIRBAG OFF light is lit, wouldn't it just make sense to uh.. switch it back on?
 
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edrex

Ready to race!
Location
NorCal
if your AIRBAG OFF light is lit, wouldn't it just make sense to uh.. switch it back on?
We don’t have a switch for it. As I understand it, the car detects if someone is sitting in the passenger seat and turns the airbag on accordingly.
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
Ah America...

Yeah, our passenger airbag light is different from ROW. We have a completely different regulation, and it's much more of a nanny control than in ROW. Apparently the US DOT considers Americans too stupid (and many are) or careless (many are) to remember to turn the passenger airbag off if we're transporting a small child, or turn it back on if we're transporting an adult. So the car has to do it for us! There is a passenger weight sensor linked to the airbag control. Any person under something lick 80-90 lb (or an empty set) will trigger the airbag system off, and that damn light comes on full brightness, day or night. The weight sensor is stupid because some adults are light enough that it triggers the system off!!! And the warning light is not even tied to the dimmer switch. How idiotic!!!!!
 

IWMTom

Autocross Newbie
Yeah, our passenger airbag light is different from ROW. We have a completely different regulation, and it's much more of a nanny control than in ROW. Apparently the US DOT considers Americans too stupid (and many are) or careless (many are) to remember to turn the passenger airbag off if we're transporting a small child, or turn it back on if we're transporting an adult. So the car has to do it for us! There is a passenger weight sensor linked to the airbag control. Any person under something lick 80-90 lb (or an empty set) will trigger the airbag system off, and that damn light comes on full brightness, day or night. The weight sensor is stupid because some adults are light enough that it triggers the system off!!! And the warning light is not even tied to the dimmer switch. How idiotic!!!!!

Buy a ROW airbag controller ;)
 

dlhoovler

Go Kart Champion
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport 6MT
Today I successfully dimmed this light by coloring the face of the LEDs with a black Sharpie. The light is still visible, but much dimmer - and should be much less obnoxious at night. Free fixes are good!


Posted from my phone.
 
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