I have a Fiat Ducato MWB 2012. I have fitted 2 Ford Galaxy seats and the Seat Belt light is on all the time and Air Bag warning light is flashing.

Oct 6, 2022
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“Tale of woo”. I have a 2012 Fiat Ducato MWB Minibus 22000Mls. Beautiful condition. I have had it converted to a motorhome.

I found an upholsterer of Ford Galaxy seats; I understand they are renowned for being comfortable. Looking on the website, the last sentence of the instructions for ordering are as follows,
It is the customer’s responsibility to be sure they are capable of fitting these seats before they purchase them. They gave all hole measurements, lots of other information etc.
No mention of Pretensioners, Ecru units, Seatbelts, Airbags etc. I must have totally missed the last sentence. So, I appreciate I did not take enough care before ordering. I have to say they are beautiful, very comfortable and much admired.

The issue now is that the seatbelt warning light is on, and a warning message of passenger airbag is flashing. I realise this is an MOT failure. I have been quoted £1000 by local mechanic who tells me I need a pretensioner. I understand the part will be over £500 plus 4+ hours labour.

I have read so much information that I feel I need to be very sure before moving forward. I live in the North, there seems lots of companies in the London area who deal with Seatbelts and Airbags, some of which have been helpful on the telephone. I have also been advised that the only safe way is to have Fiat seats put back in. This will be a backward step when the ones I have are so good. Plus, it will cost a lot of money.

I am a single lady intending to take a friend with me on trips, but I can only do that if I am confident, I am taking her safely. Help!!!
 
Nov 11, 2009
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These days the seats are an integral part of the cars dynamic safety sytems, and are integrated along with other dynamic and static safety features. You need to be very careful spending £1000 to ensure that it will all work correctly. I think had it been me I would have retained the Fiat seats and perhaps had them reupholstered rather than fit completely different ones. But that’s water under the bridge.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I have to concur with Otherclive,

I'm absolutely sure it must be possible to make the Ford seats compatible, but it will require someone who fully understands the process. Sadly I suspect it would need a specialist, and that is likely to cost specialist's money.

Is it worth finding some more Ducato seats and getting those reupholstered? which might have a more predictable outcome?
 
Jan 19, 2002
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I suspect you have already contacted the company/persons who did the conversion for you - might anticipate that they could advise or offer a fix?
 
Oct 6, 2022
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The super guy who did the conversion normally has the original seats re-covered and does not get into the finer points of changing manufactures.
 

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