I don't know if it is different on certain vehicles but I had an airbag light on my 09 civic and was told my both the dealership and online that my airbags would not deploy at all in the event of an accident if the light is on.Originally posted by RickDaTuner
They will most certainly deploy with a code present.
The only thing that will take place with an airbag light present on the dash or cluster during an accident is the elimination of the faulted module or circuit, all other airbags and supplemental restraint systems will function as normal.
There is alway the option of removing the airbag modules from your stock seat and attatching them to the buckets. Many of the after market apolstry shops will do this when fabricating new seats.
You are required to transfer over the SRS tag from the seats and use airbag approved thread to stitch the seam where the airbag is in place as well.
People who remove them and leave them out typically defeat the warning light by placing a resistor in the circuit but being BMW, that side airbag more than likely has a logic board built in, and will need to be bypassed by another method.