# DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

Do It Yourself for changing the Pass Airbag Off light from Orange to Red.
Required parts/equipment:
(3) LED's (3mm, Low Intensity, T-1 size - Available from Radio Shack)
Fine point soldering iron and solder.
Small jewelers screwdriver or equivalent for prying apart light assembly.
Needle nose pliers.
Wire cutters.
Patience and a steady hand. Prior circuit board soldering experience recommended.
Start by removing the frame at the top of the center console. It just pulls straight out. You can open the storage tray and pull the upper right corner to start it or carefully pry it from the sides. Then pull out the left-most blank button so it's easier to grab and pull the ESP switch out, which in turn makes it easier to grab and pull the Airbag light out. Again, just pull.
Now that you have the light assembly loose, press in the tab on the side of the blue plug and remove the light assembly. I didn't really have to do this on mine. The plug just came loose by itself but required the tab being pressed after I reassembled it properly. Note: The blue plug will tend to fall back into the dash but you can just pull the ESP button towards you and the other plug will come towards you as well since it is on the same wiring harness.
Once you have the button free, you will see that it has a black section and a blue section. You split the two apart by prying up the black plastic with the jewelers screwdriver at the tabs while pulling it apart. Here's a picture with one side loose:








Now you should have something that looks like this:








The little circuit board with the LED's is not attached to the blue plug but it may be easier to keep them together for easier handling.
Now remove one of the side LED's, not the middle one. Heat both leads at once while pulling the LED with the needle nose pliers or you can heat one lead and pull on it with the needle nose pliers until it gives a little, then do the same to the other lead, and work back and forth until it is removed. Straighten out the leads and try to get it back to roughly the same shape it was before we started as this will be used as a pattern for the new LED.
LED's are polarized! They must be installed correctly to work! The new LED will have one leg longer than the other and this leg must be mounted so it is on the passenger side of the light assembly when it is installed. With this in mind, grab the leads with the needle nose pliers and bend the leads to match the old LED. If you point the LED towards you, the longer lead should be on the right. Now cut the leads to the same length as the old LED. Here's what we've got so far:








Now to install the first LED. If you have a solder sucker, clear the solder out of the existing holes. If not, you can do the same thing using wire or the leads you cut from the LED. Heat up the wire or LED lead by holding it against the soldering iron with the pliers and inserting it into the hole that is blocked with solder. The solder should attach to the wire/leads and clear the hole. You should now be able to insert the new LED into the existing holes. Position the LED at the same height as the existing LED on the other side and solder in place. (Soldering tip: Apply the tip of the soldering iron to the LED lead and solder pad around the hole at the same time, then melt the solder onto the lead and not the soldering iron.)
After installing the first LED you should plug it in to check that everything is okay. It should look like this:








Now remove the other LED's just like you did the first. The middle LED has shorter leads so you will have to heat both leads at the same time while pulling it. Bend the leads of the new LED's and cut to match the old ones. Solder the remaining LED's in place and it should look like this:








Just put it all back together and enjoy a more harmonious dashboard illumination display.


----------



## limesparks (Apr 15, 2004)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (MisterJJ)*

very nice, thanks.... adding to the sticky. now THIS is OCD at its finest lol







*sparx*


----------



## snaprhead7 (Apr 2, 1999)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (limesparks)*

nice DIY, but did the color difference really bother you that much?


----------



## buddahvw (May 4, 2004)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (snaprhead7)*

I LOVE IT
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


----------



## aeitingon (Mar 21, 2005)

I hate to go OCD on your OCD, but is it too bright?


----------



## jeru (Jun 27, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (MisterJJ)*

80 degrees!!? damn hot!








very nice though- I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has OCD about this type of thing


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

*Re: (aeitingon)*


_Quote, originally posted by *aeitingon* »_I hate to go OCD on your OCD, but is it too bright?

It does look a little bright in the pictures. But take a picture at night of the orange light.








There must be something about the light wavelength that gets picked up better by a digital camera. It actually matches the brightness of the hazard button and climate control lights. You can see from the fourth picture how much less brightness you get from the red LED. Of course you could add some resistors in-line to reduce the brightness. Talk about OCD!
The real difference is that now it blends in. Before I would occasionally catch the orange light out of the corner of my eye and think that some serious warning light was on. Now I don't see it at all unless I'm looking for it.


----------



## KnockKnock (Jun 30, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (MisterJJ)*

I am IMPRESSED. I hope you get well compensated for this OCD thing somewhere in life.


----------



## AZA3 (Apr 29, 2006)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (KnockKnock)*

Quick question: How are the LEDs for the pass. airbag different than the one for the ESP? Can you not order the part for the ESP and replace the pass. airbag and get the same effect?


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (AZA3)*


_Quote, originally posted by *AZA3* »_Quick question: How are the LEDs for the pass. airbag different than the one for the ESP? Can you not order the part for the ESP and replace the pass. airbag and get the same effect?

Well, for starters, the plugs have slightly different strips of plastic on the side that prevents the plugs from being swapped. Of course you can cut it off and it will probably fit. Also, the ESP switch only has one LED in the center. Yes, I took it apart just so I can answer this question. I'm sure the reason is that you only need one LED to evenly illuminate a switch that says "ESP OFF" while you would need three for "PASS AIR BAG OFF".
It could work well enough though, assuming the pin-outs are the same and the system doesn't register a fault because it thinks a light bulb is out. Not sure how much the ESP switch would cost but it might be a viable option for fellow OCD sufferers that aren't handy with a soldering iron.


----------



## AZA3 (Apr 29, 2006)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (MisterJJ)*

Not so much of an OCD issue... trust me I'm as crazy and obsessive as the next guy! I'm just not a DIY'er. This kinda stuff scares me!


----------



## amartinez (Jul 25, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (AZA3)*

Looks like you just gave me something to do next weekend.


----------



## a3anson (Sep 15, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (amartinez)*

I love it! I've looked at the orange light and thought it out of place, too.
Alternatively, if you don't like the light coming on at all, you could just remove the LED board completely, no? I wonder what that does to the circuitry...



_Modified by a3anson at 10:00 PM 5/18/2006_


----------



## kennyA3 (Jan 14, 2006)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (a3anson)*

i just put black electrical tape on the inside of the pass airbag light to black it out....
great diy joe...i may attempt this one day


----------



## yugodutch (Aug 9, 2004)

Can't you just put a blank in its place? (but with a right side tapered edge)


----------



## nolita (May 12, 2006)

*Re: (MisterJJ)*


_Quote, originally posted by *MisterJJ* »_... Before I would occasionally catch the orange light out of the corner of my eye and think that some serious warning light was on. Now I don't see it at all unless I'm looking for it.

yeah, that's my issue with it too. i'm kinda fussy about various light levels at nighttime. (also bugs the heck out of me that the dashlight dimmer acts on the button illumination but doesnt affect the any of the lcd display backlighting. and don't get me started on my #1 gripe: how the fancy automatic interior mirror is so completely useless at night)
since you've been inside the switch housing there, do you think there's room in there to merely drop in a little square of dark crimson filter gel and achieve much the same effect (less bright + more red) without all the soldering?


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

*Re: (nolita)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nolita* »_
and don't get me started on my #1 gripe: how the fancy automatic interior mirror is so completely useless at night

Are you talking about the auto-dimming rear view mirror? I un-auto-dimmed that a long time ago. Check this thread:
http://forums.fourtitude.com/zerothread?id=2335600

_Quote, originally posted by *nolita* »_
do you think there's room in there to merely drop in a little square of dark crimson filter gel and achieve much the same effect (less bright + more red) without all the soldering?


Yes. There's actually a mostly clear lens that you could replace or cover. Someone at the last SoCal GTG had wrapped black electrical tape around it to completely black his out.


----------



## nolita (May 12, 2006)

*Re: (MisterJJ)*


_Quote, originally posted by *MisterJJ* »_Are you talking about the auto-dimming rear view mirror? I un-auto-dimmed that a long time ago.

Uh, yes, but for completely the opposite reason. At night i like it *more* dim; like a manual mirror on its "dimmed" setting. Outside of city traffic, I find that the glare from headlights is a big distraction in my peripheral vision, and more than offsets any benefit of seeing more detail behind me. I prefer the disembodied blobs of dim light and over the years have become quite used to interpreting their movement. (Now I'm even *avoiding* studying anything in the mirror at night, and instead just make a binary decision; if i catch glare coming from mirror, something is somewhere behind me)
heh. talk about OCD behaviour. i should check myself in somewhere...
Anyway, I notice there's a forward-facing sensor on the back of this mirror as well; does it supply data to any other components besides itself? I would gladly swap out with a manual mirror *if* i didnt lose any other photosensor functions in the process (e.g. auto headlights, coming-home, etc)


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

*Re: (nolita)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nolita* »_
Anyway, I notice there's a forward-facing sensor on the back of this mirror as well; does it supply data to any other components besides itself? I would gladly swap out with a manual mirror *if* i didnt lose any other photosensor functions in the process (e.g. auto headlights, coming-home, etc)


I'm not certain, but I believe the sensor in the mirror is only for the mirror. I think the sensors for the other stuff is in the two bumps on the sides of the mesh that is in the center-top-forward part of the dash by the windshield defroster vents. I completely disconnected the plug that goes to the mirror and my auto headlights still work. I never use the coming-home feature.


----------



## amartinez (Jul 25, 2005)

*Re: (MisterJJ)*

OK, following your instructions took me about 30 minutes to get it all done, Thanks for the write-up. That amber light had been bugging me since day 1, but I never thought of doing this until you posted it. It looks a lot better, and matches the rest of the dash nicely. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


----------



## yugodutch (Aug 9, 2004)

Rather than go the red way, I did the black option. I took the button apart, it just pops loose from the assembly and placed electrical tape on the backside as well as the over the clear plastic piece between the LED's and the button. No chance for any light to come through. Now, no light at all and looks great!


----------



## TD22057 (Jun 20, 2006)

*Re: (yugodutch)*

Thanks for the write up! I just finished this and I have to say it is a HUGE improvement over the stock lighting. The 3 RS low intensity LED's match the interior almost perfectly.
FYI for anyone w/ nav, the trim piece around the buttons can be removed w/o taking off any other parts by pulling directly outward. You should be able to use the card tray as a starting point. I picked up an Audi repair tool for about $30 from ebay that makes removing trim pieces a lot easier. Looking through the Bentley manual, this tool is used for a lot of items so I figured it was worth the $30 to remove the chance of screwing up my trim


----------



## Ridgeback65 (Sep 1, 2005)

*Re: (nolita)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nolita* »_
since you've been inside the switch housing there, do you think there's room in there to merely drop in a little square of dark crimson filter gel and achieve much the same effect (less bright + more red) without all the soldering?

I tried this with 3 layers of red photographic gel and you never get to fully matching red. Basically it takes down the brightness quite a bit and turns it to more of an orange tone. Sort of a quick fix that takes you 50% of the way there without turning to the soldering iron or blacking it out completely.
It might be a good solution if you do replace the yellow diodes with red and find that it's too bright. Just pop al layer or two of the gel into reduce the brightness to taste.


----------



## TD22057 (Jun 20, 2006)

*Re: (Ridgeback65)*

In MisterJJ's pics, it definitely looks too bright but that isn't how it really looks (I think he's right about the digital camera affect). I used the same LED's and if I had to guess, I'd say it's maybe 10% brighter than a perfect match w/ the ESP switch light. I actually thought about pulling it and lightly sanding the clear LED housings to diffuse the light some but getting the circuit board out of the switch was a pain the butt and it really isn't that noticeable.


----------



## OCaudi (Nov 16, 2006)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (MisterJJ)*

Hey when you did this, did you notice if its possible to make a button out of the blank ones. (like the esp switch). in other words, Is there a way to make a switch botton out of the blank one next to the esp switch?


----------



## RyanA3 (May 11, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (OCaudi)*

the blank is just a blank. it's just a shell. no internals. you can easily pop yours out by opening the tray, pulling back that trim, and tugging on the blank.


----------



## a3lad (Aug 6, 2005)

*Re: DIY - Pass Airbag Light change to red (RyanA3)*

i want a FUNK switch, i dont know what for thou


----------



## OCaudi (Nov 16, 2006)

Nice, It took me 15 mins to change the LED. Looks really nice. THanks.


----------



## jbA3 (Nov 25, 2006)

*Re: (OCaudi)*

I wasnt up for changing out the LEDs so I just used a piece of tape to cover most of the backside of the button. There is a frosted plastic light difuser thingy in there and I covered all but the edges with tape. That way some light still makes it though but it is WAY dimmer. Its still yellow but not bright at all, looks like is should have looked from the factory.


----------



## Golgo-13 (Aug 20, 2003)

*Re: (jbA3)*

any suggestions on how to disable the light altogether?


----------



## TorqueMonger (Jul 28, 2006)

*Re: (Golgo-13)*

somewhat off topic, but regarding the mirror....you know what really erks me? no compass, anywhere...i recall reading a thread where a compass-equipped mirror was installed..i believe from the A4 parts bin...any links?


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

*Re: (Golgo-13)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Golgo-13* »_any suggestions on how to disable the light altogether?

Go back several posts and you'll see that others have mentioned that you can just use a piece of black electrical tape to block it out completely.


----------



## RyanA3 (May 11, 2005)

*Re: (Golgo-13)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Golgo-13* »_any suggestions on how to disable the light altogether?

I left it wired up but behind the climate control and installed a new switch to replace it. thanks to mister JJ for the led bulb info.
DIY replace the entire airbag switch


_Modified by RyanA3 at 3:55 PM 1/2/2007_


----------



## Kamesen (Mar 25, 2010)

*Re: (RyanA3)*

Mister JJ, or anyone,
Do we know what the "low intensity" value is approximately? LEDs come with 2 mcd (millicandela) to 6000 mcd values... Does the "low" stand for 3 or 30?


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)




----------



## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

MisterJJ said:


>


you would. Although i like this.


----------



## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

Bump for update to DIY listings.


----------



## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

Bump again because someone asked and the link in the DIY thread is not working... still.


----------



## 2006_A3_2.0T (Jan 11, 2013)

man nice mod didn't know that this existed I want. just need to source the leds .. mmm here in Chile, maybe from Ebay?


----------



## AngryGiraffe (Sep 21, 2014)

Thanks for reposting this Mister JJ. I was hoping it was going to be a lot easier(just swapping bulbs) but I checked out once you started talking about soldering in new LEDs. :facepalm: I don't need to screw it up and have to find a new/used passenger airbag light. Might just have to go the black out route.


----------



## ceese (Jul 2, 2011)

The lazy alternative is just to order a switch from carstyle4you and swap out the cover plate. They offer red, white, blue, green and yellow.


----------



## npace (Sep 3, 2012)

MisterJJ said:


> Bump again because someone asked and the link in the DIY thread is not working... still.


There's a few DIYs that were supposed to get added to the sticky and the mods never did it. IIRC there were a couple that were done for the suspension, there was the TT seat swap that JRutter did, and there was the one that I did for the MFSW retrofit. I don't know if the mods are lazy, forgetting about us, or what.


----------



## AngryGiraffe (Sep 21, 2014)

ceese said:


> The lazy alternative is just to order a switch from carstyle4you and swap out the cover plate. They offer red, white, blue, green and yellow.


Nice. There are a few that aren't to bad and would look better than the blacked out light. Just wondering how the red cover would look with a yellow led shining thru it.


----------



## ceese (Jul 2, 2011)

npace said:


> There's a few DIYs that were supposed to get added to the sticky and the mods never did it. IIRC there were a couple that were done for the suspension, there was the TT seat swap that JRutter did, and there was the one that I did for the MFSW retrofit. I don't know if the mods are lazy, forgetting about us, or what.



They need to make one of the forum old timers a mod for this forum. I nominate Ponto, JRUTTER, Krazyboi or TBOMB


----------



## AngryGiraffe (Sep 21, 2014)

ceese said:


> They need to make one of the forum old timers a mod for this forum. I nominate Ponto, JRUTTER, Krazyboi or TBOMB


I second this! Let the voting begin!


----------



## TBomb (Sep 23, 2009)

AngryGiraffe said:


> Nice. There are a few that aren't to bad and would look better than the blacked out light. Just wondering how the red cover would look with a yellow led shining thru it.


The cover itself isn't red, the lettering is clear and just allows whatever color LED is behind it to shine through. He's saying pop off your "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" cover and put it on an arbitrary switch/whatever (doesn't necessarily have to have any switching capability) from CarStyle4You that has a red backlight, and then put that in place. I can say you will get an airbag error code on a VCDS scan if there is not something hooked up in the "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" indicator position, so you can't just remove it. Let me know if that makes sense or not...


----------



## TBomb (Sep 23, 2009)

ceese said:


> They need to make one of the forum old timers a mod for this forum. I nominate Ponto, JRUTTER, Krazyboi or TBOMB


Lulz just saw this...and appreciate my name being thrown in the hat but I must graciously bow out. We need someone more even tempered than me, otherwise I would probably just end up banning everyone and talking to myself in here.


----------



## AngryGiraffe (Sep 21, 2014)

TBomb said:


> The cover itself isn't red, the lettering is clear and just allows whatever color LED is behind it to shine through. He's saying pop off your "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" cover and put it on an arbitrary switch/whatever (doesn't necessarily have to have any switching capability) from CarStyle4You that has a red backlight, and then put that in place. I can say you will get an airbag error code on a VCDS scan if there is not something hooked up in the "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" indicator position, so you can't just remove it. Let me know if that makes sense or not...


No I am fully aware of the light. I have removed the cover several times. The covers they sell come in different color(the lettering) so I wonder how red lettering will look with a yellow led shining thru.


----------



## TBomb (Sep 23, 2009)

AngryGiraffe said:


> No I am fully aware of the light. I have removed the cover several times. The covers they sell come in different color(the lettering) so I wonder how red lettering will look with a yellow led shining thru.


I'm not sure that's correct. The lettering itself is clear, the color comes from the LED behind the cover. That's why in the original DIY you replace the LED itself to change the color from yellow to red. If you don't want to desolder the old LED and solder on a new one, you can buy a new light/cover assembly from CarStyle4You with a red LED and swap out the covers to get a red backlight behind your original "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" cover, getting rid of the yellow LED altogether...


----------



## ceese (Jul 2, 2011)

TBomb said:


> I'm not sure that's correct. The lettering itself is clear, the color comes from the LED behind the cover. That's why in the original DIY you replace the LED itself to change the color from yellow to red. If you don't want to desolder the old LED and solder on a new one, you can buy a new light/cover assembly from CarStyle4You with a red LED and swap out the covers to get a red backlight behind your original "PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF" cover, getting rid of the yellow LED altogether...


Nice explanation. Although, I never understood this mod. The light is yellow to mean caution where as red is warning. I'd love to figure out a way to have ESP turned off by default when I start my car then swap the back of the ESP switch so that it lights up green when I want to turn it on.


----------



## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

ceese said:


> They need to make one of the forum old timers a mod for this forum. I nominate Ponto, JRUTTER, Krazyboi or TBOMB





TBomb said:


> Lulz just saw this...and appreciate my name being thrown in the hat but I must graciously bow out. We need someone more even tempered than me, otherwise I would probably just end up banning everyone and talking to myself in here.


Haha If I'm an old timer A3 guy now you definitely are Jim! And TBomb that would be fine, Npace already talks to himself in his thread. 

Sent from my Igloo


----------



## ceese (Jul 2, 2011)

Ponto said:


> Haha If I'm an old timer A3 guy now you definitely are Jim! And TBomb that would be fine, Npace already talks to himself in his thread.
> 
> Sent from my Igloo


I think it's coming down to KB or TBOMB


----------



## Ponto (Jan 11, 2012)

ceese said:


> I think it's coming down to KB or TBOMB


I say KB only because he's probably spent enough to own all our A3's lol.


----------

