Airbag Light and Autel MD802

[Mr176]

I had the airbag light come on in my '01 while teaching my nephew how to drive a stick (he had to move the driver's seat quite a ways forward). I figured it was probably caused by the seatbelt wiring being moved. I stopped by my local independent to pick up some oil change supplies and they happily read the codes and reset the light, no charge. To my surprise, the code was actually the passenger seatbelt buckle. A day or so later, the light came back on. I was thinking, it would be nice to be able to try cleaning the buckle and connections and reset the light myself before replacing the buckle.

I thought about purchasing the Durametric, as it has such great capabilities, but instead decided to try the Autel MD802. My reasoning was to be able to use it on multiple vehicles, and the ability to throw it in the frunk and not need the laptop. I purchased one on Amazon for $205.

I received the Autel, did the online updates and headed out to the car. Plugged it in, did the scan and found the same passenger seatbelt buckle code. Reset the light with no issues (It's actually been off for 3 days now and not come back on yet). I also played around with the Autel to see what it could do. It was able to read several modules including DME, Airbag, ABS, A/C, Alarm, Instrument Cluster and Tiptronic (if I had one). The DME data included tons of info including camshaft deviation and advance, maf values, etc. I was quite impressed with amount of information available.

I know I was nearing the Durametric price, but the Autel being self-contained and the ability to use it on multiple vehicles (including my diesel truck) is a bonus for me.