2000-2001
Golf/GTI/Jetta/Beetle Airbag System (important!)
There have been a
few isolated reports of Air Bag Warning Lights staying on permanently
after scanning with VAG-COM. The Air Bag Controller
shows DTC number 65535, indicating an internal error which cannot be
cleared. Now there is no way that scanning a
controller should cause it to become dysfunctional in this manner, even if
the scan-tool fouls up in some way. I suspect there is a bug
in the firmware in some of these controllers. I also believe VW knows
this, but isn't admitting it. Most replacement controllers I have
seen have a suspicious new label over the original, as if they had been
updated in some way. I have a brand new controller here (with the
new label over the old one and cannot reproduce the problem.
Suggestions:
-
If your car is still under the bumper-to-bumper warranty, scan the airbag controller repeatedly. If your get DTC 65535 and your airbag light stays on, take it to your dealer and play dumb: "My airbag light is on, please fix it!". They will scan the car themselves, find the DTC indicating an internal controller error and replace the controller, no questions asked. Get the updated controller now while the car is still under warranty!
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If your car is no longer under the bumper-to-bumper warranty, avoid scanning the airbag controller in these cars, unless you are prepared to buy a new one! Please note the disclaimer on the Download Page.
1997 Passat B5
Central Convenience System
These controllers
seem to have a bug that causes them to drop the communications session
when VAG-COM requests the door-slave controller "Extra"
info. A work-around is available in Version
0.70e which simply does not request any "Extra"
info. If you have a 1997 B5 Passat (non-US models only), use
0.70e on the Central Convenience system. 1998 and newer Passats
do not have this problem.
1990-1992 2.0L
16V Engines
Set the Start Baud
on the Options Screen to 4800
to get these to work. If you have anything else in Starting Baud
Rate, the ECU will "choke" and you'll need to turn the ignition
OFF and back ON again before you can communicate.
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