WatchfulEye

There is an independent ballast on each side. While the ballast is attached to the outside of the sealed headlamp unit, it is not easily replaceable. The high voltage wire that goes from the ballast to the bulb is screwed and clamped inside the sealed unit so you can't remove it. As a high-voltage wire, it is moulded onto the ballast, so can't be disconnected. The best way to replace it is to cut-open the sealed headlamp unit, remove the screw clamp holding the ballast wire. Replace the ballast, reclamp the wire and glue the headlamp unit back together. This is a tricky repair, risks damaging the headlamp unit, and you are unlikely to be able to get a factory quality glue seal, so risk water ingress. It might be possible to cut the ballast wire off; remove the ballast, cut the connector off the new ballast, and splice. However, you have to modify an expensive brand-new ballast; and making and sealing a 30,000 volt connection so that it is water proof and vibration proof is very difficult and requires special materials (you won't get a satisfactory repair with a bit of solder and some electrician's tape). However, the only other option is to replace the sealed unit, for which a genuine part will set you back £750+.

Yup. That's basically an exact mirror image of the wiring on the RHD models. The squib is on the door side of the DLC. I can reliably trigger the air bag light if I unclip the under dash and let it sag under its weight (unfortunately, the retaining clip is broken - it looks like whoever I bought the car from had been tinkering in this region, probably he'd had the air bag light on, and sold it fast after propping up the dash). I first realised there was a problem after hooking up a techstream cable; the act of plugging it in, had dislodged the dash from it's flimsy support, and that was sufficient to trigger the light. Once I prop it up properly, and use a string or something to attach it to something more rigid, the light goes off and stays off. So it's obviously the connector, or the wires immediately up to it - possibly, they've been strained by a broken dash attachment clip, or possibly the clip was broken by someone trying to investigate the air bag. I don't know which.

The code is B1861 - drivers side knee airbag squib open circuit.

I've got the same cable. The thing is though, you don't need the cable to clear the light. The light goes off automatically when the fault disappears. It's possible for bottles and stuff under the seat to press on the wires, but the air bag connectors are very carefully designed, so unless you actually dislodge or damage the wires it shouldn't be much of a problem. In my case, the problem is a well known design fault in the wiring; there's too much tension on the wire that goes to the driver's knee air bag and it cracks. I've checked the codes (and it's this circuit) and I've inspected the wire, and I can see that it's under tension and pulling out of the connector. (This design flaw affects the 2005-2007 2nd gen IS models, but is fixed in the 2008+ models; the repair involves replacing the air bag wiring with the redesigned wiring loom). Technically, it's a trivial fix - just replace the wire, or solder in an extension to take the tension off. But, there's no way I'm touching an air bag system while it's in the car; and I don't have the experience, or tools, to strip down the entire cabin to get the loom out, so that I can repair the loom in a safe environment when it's out of the car. So, as it's not a DIY job, I'm just going to have to pay someone to do it. I'd rather pay an independent mechanic to strip down the cabin, and pull the old loom out, and install the genuine lexus replacement loom (which has been redesigned to take the tension off the knee bag wire); than pay the dealer to do the same job at twice the price. I suppose, technically, I could hire someone to pull the loom out, and the I could repair it, and then refit it - but I doubt I'd find someone who'd agree to that, and if I'm going that far, I might as well get the genuine upgraded part.

Hi. My 2006 edition 220d has got the air bag light on intermittently. It's the well known manufacturing flaw on the wires to the driver's knee airbag squib. This was subject to a dealer alert. The problem is that the car has got a ton of miles on it, about 120k and it's now 6 years old, so well out of warranty (although these are getting warranty repairs in the US, where the air bag warranty is 7 years). Basically, the airbag wiring loom needs replacing; this is the only repair the dealer will offer. It's a £2k part, and about £2k labour. I'm wondering if anyone has had this repair done independently. The part should be purchasable by any garage, and it just needs an auto electrician who can strip down the car to replace the loom; who I'm hoping will be rather cheaper than the dealer - who estimates it to be a full 2 day job. Anyone know of someone in the Greater Manc area, who'd be up for this sort of a job?