550 and 456 Airbag ECUs Defective?

My mechanic, a well respected Ferrari specialist in Los Angeles with celbertiy clients, tells me the Airbag ECU used in the F355, 550 and 456 is essentially defective. He says he's replaced half a dozen of them and that the usual cause is simply trying to start the car with a low battery. Yesterday while at his shop we were cycling the top to eliminate air from the system. He asked me to start the car. It went click-click and he then said "Don't!" but it then started before I could release the key. With the car now running he said starting the 355-456-550 can fry the Airbag ECU. Sure enough, the Airbag light came on. He hooked the computer to the car and tried to reset the light but the error code persisted indicating ECU failure. Has anyone else experienced this? I think it is BS. I spoke to Odessy the battery manufacturer and they told me Ferrari was shipping new Ferraris with bigger batteries because Ferrari knew their onboard systems would drain the battery. I was told that nearly every Ferrari arriving at the dock needs to be jump started because of a low or dead battery! Moreover, as Ferraris are not daily drivers they tend to sit making them even more vulnerable to a low battery condition. If this appears to be a defect, and given my mechanic's information and given the fact Ferrari issued a revised ECU later on, I'm suspecting it is, I believe Ferrari owners should be advised of this very expensive situations and remedies made available. Please let me know if you too have experienced an airbag ECU failure.

 

Yes, but when you jump started your 650i did it blow at a $x,xxxx airbag computer?

 

How do you mean? I guess you are referring to my mechanic who has done Pebble Beach concours restorations and whose work has been featured in Forza? The one who has serviced Pagani's, multiple F50s, F40s and Enzos? I guess he doesn't know what he's talking about. He only makes a living working on these cars.