Volkswagen: airbag light not going out in my n reg vw polo 1.4l, dashboard lights, fuse panel

Question
A short while ago my driver headlight went on me, when this happened, my dashboard lights went off and also the mileage dial went back to zero even though i was still driving, the rev counter stayed the same, showing the revs, also, my car started making a screeching noise, which after 5 minutes stopped, my dashboard lights came back on as did the mileage dial, but now the airbag light is constantly on, i have car mats in my car and noticed that they had moved under my seat, could this be a problem with the electrics or possibly because the sensor under the seat has been set off? Please help!! Many thanks.

Answer
James,
 It is electrical, not likely anything to do with the car mats (that made me laugh, sorry.)  Sounds like you are losing power or ground to the computer, but the possible reasons are too numerous.  The only hope is to troubleshoot it with a good schematic when the problem is "hard".  Intermittant electrical problems are the toughest to pin down.  However, it may be simple as a bad contact in the fuse panel or computer connector.  Try reseating all the fuses and connectors that you can find and go from there.

Rick