just a quick question, the srs lamp on my 95 540i illuminates at start up ( as expected ), but is starting to take longer and longer to go out- when I bought the car last year , it stayed on for about 15-20 seconds, now it has started to stay on for between 1-2 minutes. I find it weird that if I shut the car off and then restart it, it still takes just as long to go back off as when it was cold. any thoughts?

Had the same problem on mine. Turned out to be debris in my seatbelt switch. I took mine apart and cleaned the microswitch. You might be able to get away with blowing it out with compressed air before going to that extreme.

I have the same problem and my driver's seat belt takes a little "fiddling" to get it to click and latch. How do I get the belt latch apart for a cleaning? I don't see any fastners...

we are now at 2 minutes and climbing, and I don't see how the seatbelt switch could be the cause as it doesn't make a difference if I'm using it or not. It is now due for inspection, and I afraid that the damn airbag light not turning off right away is going to be a problem. Are there any other thoughts other than the seatbelt switch?- I did clean them out- is there a seat sensor that could cause this?

The light will not be a problem for inspection. Trust me. If someone is inspecting your car and fails you because of the srs light. I'd take it somewhere else.

Mine stays lit for about a minute upon startup.

Mechanic diagnosed as a faulty passenger seat sensor or something like that, $190 to fix. It doesn't bother me at all so whatever.

I have the same problem and my driver's seat belt takes a little "fiddling" to get it to click and latch. How do I get the belt latch apart for a cleaning? I don't see any fastners...

It's glued together. You have to be brave and split the two pieces apart and then glue them back together. Either that or you'll have to buy and replace the whole assembly.

we are now at 2 minutes and climbing, and I don't see how the seatbelt switch could be the cause as it doesn't make a difference if I'm using it or not. It is now due for inspection, and I afraid that the damn airbag light not turning off right away is going to be a problem. Are there any other thoughts other than the seatbelt switch?- I did clean them out- is there a seat sensor that could cause this?

If it's that big of a deal take it to the dealer or buy the reset tool to diagnose it.

It's glued together. You have to be brave and split the two pieces apart and then glue them back together. Either that or you'll have to buy and replace the whole assembly.

THanks. Sounds like I get to use my hammer and chisel...

Thanks for the input guys. I'll just wait and see what happens and hope for the best. It just might be a seat sensor, and I've been toying with the idea of replacing the seats as the drivers seat has several adjustment cables gone bad- kinda stuck just slightly out of the most comfortable position. Anyone have recommendations for an affordable aftermarket sport seat- I would imagine the fitting the seat tracks are the hardest part. I'll tell you, this is my first BMW and you could fill a book with what I don't know about my 540, this site and the people in it ( 'specially the people ) go a long way towards lowering my anxiety.