AIRBAG ECUs DEFECTIVE!

Read your owners manual folks!! What year is your 355? The newset model is 11 years old now. Does Ferrari not recommend air bag replacment every 10 years?? You can be seriouis about this. Your case will be tossed out.

 

Thank you Tom, that is really interesting.
The probability of a faulty sensor or microcontroller is low IMO.
I can't read the voltage rating of the capacitors. Can you tell what is the value, please?
I agree that the most suspicious part should be the volatge regulator, and mainly the one which is in charge to generate the "high" voltage to store enough energy in these capacitors.
May be it can be fixed ...

 

It's like any other life safety equipment. It has to be serviced and has a shelf life....if you want it to save you when the time comes. Just because our used cars cost a lot, it doesn't mean that they aren't used cars. Would you sue GM if your 1999 Buick's airbag light came on? Go after Toyota. That's a good class action. This fix for the gas pedal is going to be their Pinto moment. How about brakes that don't engage for a full second? Now those are defects to complain about.

 

My opinion, judging from the cause / symptoms, is that the analog components are likely the culprit of the failure. They are most sensitive to power supplies. The good news is they can all be replaced quite easily. If "loser" wants to do an experiment for us, I suggest you replace all the voltage regulators, and that 8-pin analog chip sitting in the corner of the board there and see if the problem goes away.

If it does, then we all have found a $20 fix for a $1500 board.

You can order from Digikey, or buy from Fry's all those components.

Good luck,

 

We're talking about the ECU not the actual airbag. Airbag's are good for 10 years, ECU's don't have a stated life limit.

 

LOL!

 

Why not just pay attention to your battery condition, and avoid jump starting your car.....????

 

I could go around putting electrical stress on stuff in my office, and f*&^*&k up a lot of things!!

 

Oh Tex. There you go again. Don't you know common sense and personal responsibility have no place here.

It is someone elses fault and they should pay.

 

sorry......

*back to my room*

 

Ferrari extended the airbag change interval to 15 years for all models in 2007 or so. I posted the bulletin in the 355 and 575 forums if you want to do a search.

The cars about which you are griping are out of warranty.
If you trash your ECU, fix it. Worse things happen to 360 and 575 owners who jump their cars.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I believe now there are jumper cables available with built-in surge protection which is supposed to protect against a lot of these issues.

 

Probably cost as much as a trickle charger though....... [I know I wouldn't trust 'em!]

 

Since swapping a battery, especially on a Ferrari, can be difficult as an "in the field" operation.

And, since killing a battery can happen (leave the lights on etc...), it seems ridiculous to have to flat bed a modern car because of a dead battery...

Why can't surge suppressors be built into the cars electrical system. Even a "jump-start" port could be created if necessary.

With every new model more electrical gear/ecu's get added, so every year the cars are more and more susceptible to this problem.

It just isn't practical to limit a car owner to swapping a new battery or using a flatbed.

I've got jumper cables in little roadside kits in all my cars, but I can't use them for fear of blowing something... It wasn't like this in the 80's!

 

35 bucks, free shipping at
http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-5100-Smart-Jumper-Cables/dp/B002RRZX06

Disclaimer: I have no stake in these cables, this retailer, etc.

 

And the charger is 46 bucks

http://www.pacificbattery.com/batterytender0128.html

I know which I'd trust more when hooked up to my battery.....

Having said that, *if* those cables work as advertised they may be a good idea - Gotta be easier/cheaper than a flat bed etc in an emergency.... Anyone know if they "work"?

Cheers,
Ian

 

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249955

 

I hope this works! I love it when the Fchat braintrust fixes Ferrari's lame engineering. What a joke. A ferrari is like an awesome looking girl but with smelly armpits. I'm pretty good at replacing parts on circuit boards. I've done alot of that in my years. If someone procures parts I'll be glad to help with the project if you guys need it.

 

She's italian, what do you expect ?

 

The capacitors are 1800uF, 35V

The entire board is plastic coated on both sides. The plastic appears to have melted a bit over the Analog Devices OP 295 (1st pic, lower right 8 pin component).

The main issue with this project is the cost of resetting the air bag light with the SD. It is going to have to be reset each time I try a new fix. Then my new one will have to be reset when I put it back in. Since I don't have access to a free SD nearby, I don't think I will be able to afford this experiment.

 

FBB:

You are the proverbial HOT ****. That's one of the funniest things I've ever read on FChat.

 

I doubt that opamp is the cause of the failure. It is probably just a downstream component that fried. I still suspect that voltage regulator. I see a thickish trace coming from the OP295 that goes towards the voltage regulator, but can't follow the trace very well.

You need the part # of that regulator and then the car's wiring legend to check the pinout of the connector. Since you have a melted part, I would suspect a major power fault which is good for troubleshooting.

Attach a bench supply to the battery inputs per the wiring legend and check the operation of the voltage regulator to see if it is behaving.

If you need any help let us know.

 

surge suppressor installed
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Oh I'm not arguing against a trickle charger, but I'm the kind of guy that carries cables, full tool set, emergency supplies etc., so I figured the jumper cables would be a good idea too.