Airbag warning D.I.Y. repair attempt

So a couple weeks ago my '05 612 threw this frightening error message at me. (Aren't they all frightening?):

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I didn't want to dive in disassembling the entire interior and poking around (blindly) with my multimeter, to try to find the source of the error. So I asked Ferrarichat member Brogenville what diagnostic tool he recommends. He pointed me in the direction of a software called FiCOM, made by a Czech outfit called SeCom. FiCOM runs on Windows 10 or earlier, and I, a Mac guy, had to buy a machine on eBay. I found an auction of a 2012 Sony 13" notebook, with a new battery and 500 gig SSD hard drive, for $86.45 delivered. I also ordered the FiCOM package, which includes an OBD II to USB connector and a license to download the software. The cost is $419 delivered, which even with the $86 Sony computer is about the same price as an entry level tablet scanner, like a Launch x431 Mini.

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Next I accessed the OBD II port on my 612. It's behind the panel at the driver's left knee area. In the second photo below you can see it, the slightly out of focus black plug thingie to the right of the fuses and relays and above the blue connector. I plugged the FiCOM USB connector into the OBD II port and the software automatically hooked up with the 612's systems.


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Here's the FiCOM's explanation of the error code: "B100C Passenger preten[sioner] resist[ance] Above Maximum Threshold."

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To my mind this is good news. I expect the seatbelt pretensioner is easy to get to, probably requiring only the removal of the passenger seat.

 

I reviewed the Ferrari parts diagram for the 612's front seats and I can't identify where is the seatbelt pretensioner. Can anybody help? I am hoping that all I will need to do is to find the connectors for the pretensioner harness and clean them up with some contact cleaner. Does this sound likely?

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I think I've located the pretensioner. It's integral with the seatbelt winder, #19 in the parts diagram. Here are two relevant pages from the 612 Workshop Manual:

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I got back to work on this project yesterday and it ended well. Step-by-step for the seat removal, first I motored the seat all the way forward and removed the three bolts in the rear part of the rack. Then I motored it all the way back, to do the two bolts in front. In my car there are black plastic trim pieces on the front edges of the racks, that you first need to remove. (By the way, the Workshop Manual shows similar trim pieces on the rear edges of the racks, but my car doesn't have these.) Each trim piece is held in place by a small screw.To get at these screws I had to remove the square carpeted piece that serves as the floor of the passenger footwell. It's secured by a Philips screw on each corner. With the trim pieces out of the way I removed the two screws. Now I was able to rock the seat backwards and undo two of the three connectors. (First I turned off the battery switch in the trunk.) The third connector -- which is the most complex one -- I just could not figure out how to separate the two halves. So I went ahead and sprayed contact cleaner -- a watery solvent -- on both halves of the connectors that I was able to separate, with my thinking being that if this fixed the problem I would not need to figure out the third connector. In fact this did fix the problem.

Here are some relevant images. The last one shows my TFT display with the airbag warning lot gone:

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