Air Bag On-off Switch problems of the 2010 Mini Cooper

While on a recent road trip, passenger airbag warning lamps began to come on intermittently while the seat was occupied. At first, the system seemed to reset when the engine was switched off, but over the course of 2 days, it stopped resetting and the warning lights, as well as the warning tones, would just go on and off spontaneously with the seat occupied. Now the "passenger airbag off" indicator lamp above the rearview mirror, warning lamp near tachometer (area 1 as indicated by Mini owner's manual), and airbag system failure lamp (area 2) are continuously lit when passenger seat is unoccupied. I have not had the system checked by a mechanic yet; currently, the nearest Mini dealership/service center is 202 miles from me. I have noticed that this is very common issue reported here and on several online forums. The timing chain tensioner also failed and had to be replaced in spring of 2015.