Airbag and aftermarket seats

[kolourhero]

Guys, hopefully someone can shed some light on this..

On the Corolla sportivo, there is a weight sensor on the passenger seat. If i was to put in an aftermarket seat, would the airbag still deploy if that weight sensor was unplugged, but the seatbelt is in? (the seatbelt has a sensor too).

[CHA54]

Bridge the sensor wires.

[kolourhero]

How do i bridge them?

[CHA54]

with wire, terminals and whatever components required to match the stock seat output with someone sitting in the seat.

Eg, use a multimeter to check what the connection does when there's weight in the seat, the replicate that to the leftover plug once the stock seat is removed.

[Guni]

with wire, terminals and whatever components required to match the stock seat output with someone sitting in the seat.

Eg, use a multimeter to check what the connection does when there's weight in the seat, the replicate that to the leftover plug once the stock seat is removed.

Hmmm .........

I know Subaru has one of those for sale somewhere for their side airbags sensors built into their front seats as removing the seats, disconnects the sensors and thus prevents any airbags from deploying when the airbag sensor light comes on.

Wonder if there is a same for Toyota......

[spillige]

dont c-one sell those seat over ride modules

[supra25]

Hey,

I'm looking into the exact same things these days with my T-Sport.

According to Toyota, if you disconnect one airbag it will shut down the entire system. Not a good idea. If you unplug one airbag the light in the dash will flash, but nothing else happen when you fire up the car. I just did that the other day while I had my passenger seat out. I did not, however, try to put the seat belt in, but I can't for the life of me imagine that anything would happen. As far as the car is concerned there is nobody in the seat anyways.

TRD has airbag warning canceller plug thingy, but this is not listed as being compatible with the T-Sport/Sportivo. But..I have a couple of them TRD plugs on the way in the mail, and I think they will arrive tuesday or wednesday. Then it will take me about 2 minutes to find out if those plugs will do the trick or not...

Alternatively you can, as mentioned, measure the impedance in the seat in order to make your own canceller, but you do run a risk of blowing the airbag. At least that is what everybody has warned me about...

EDIT: I ordered the cancelers from Greenline Motor

Edited October 3, 2009 by supra25

[kolourhero]

Where did you order those plugs from? I might give it a try.

[supra25]

Where did you order those plugs from? I might give it a try.

Greenline MS. If you hold off a couple of days I can give you the answer, and possibly save you some money.. ;)

[the_random_hero]

Honestly dewds, be VERY BLOODY CAREFUL when playing around with airbags - I've seen them deploy and break somebody's wrist before.

[supra25]

We're not playing with the airbags...just disconnecting them! ;)

I got the plugs in the mail today from Japan. Unfortunately it's ****** down with rain here at the moment (could have been worse and be snowing!), and since I don't have access t a garage big enough for me to properly open the door I have to wait until tomorrow to see if the plugs have the right impedance. That is...if they even fit...don't know the connectors are the same either. At least they have the same color...hehe.

All will be clear in about 22-23 hours from now :)

[kolourhero]

Can't wait to find out.

Could you please take a pic of the plug in your car too just so i can see whether it is the same connection as mine?

[supra25]

Backed the Rolla out earlier, unhooked the airbag plug from the seat, plugged the dummy plug from TRD in, put on some hear protection (you never know what might happen), safety goggles and turned on the ignition. Airbag bag went on....then....whaddayaknow...it WORKED!!! The airbag lamp went out and all was honky dory.

Do I'm defo putting Sparco seats back on my mod list!!

Here is the pictures you wanted, with partnumber and all :) I got my plugs from Jason at Greenline Motorsports - http://www.greenline.jp/

[DJKOR]

We're not playing with the airbags...just disconnecting them! ;)

Disconnecting them can be considered as playing around with them if you didn't do it properly.

Backed the Rolla out earlier, unhooked the airbag plug from the seat, plugged the dummy plug from TRD in, put on some hear protection (you never know what might happen), safety goggles and turned on the ignition. Airbag bag went on....then....whaddayaknow...it WORKED!!! The airbag lamp went out and all was honky dory.

When you did this, I hope you disconnected your battery first then waited 90 seconds before touching the airbag wiring. If not, consider yourself lucky. Even thought they have measures in place to try and reduce the risk of accidentally setting it off, disconnecting airbags with power still applied to the airbag ECU has the potential to cause them to be set off.

Just giving a heads up to anyone else attempting this.

[supra25]

Appreciate the heads up. Duly noted till when I replace the seats. Although it does sound somewhat off that unplugging the airbagharness from the seat can cause it to set off the seat airbag. Not that I doubt your info (cuz I don't), but the plugs are readily accessible without doing any disassembly of any sort and that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen... ;)

Either way the dummy plugs worked....for me! Test at own risk on your own cars...

[supra25]

......, consider yourself lucky. Even thought they have measures in place to try and reduce the risk of accidentally setting it off, disconnecting airbags with power still applied to the airbag ECU has the potential to cause them to be set off.

ps....why do you think I put safety glasses and hearing protection on Looked like an idiot standing outside the car looking at the dash!

[Guni]

Appreciate the heads up. Duly noted till when I replace the seats. Although it does sound somewhat off that unplugging the airbagharness from the seat can cause it to set off the seat airbag. Not that I doubt your info (cuz I don't), but the plugs are readily accessible without doing any disassembly of any sort and that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen... ;)

Either way the dummy plugs worked....for me! Test at own risk on your own cars...

Cools ....

I'm getting one too.

Thanks for that mate.

[kolourhero]

Thanks for the pics! Turns out those plugs only work for side airbags, and won't fit the ones on my car.

Female plug

Male plug

Anyways, tonight i unplugged the sensor on the passenger seat and then sat on it. The warning light on the centre console obviously didn't turn on. Also, the airbag light on the dash was on for 6 secs and then turned off which is normal, and means airbags will still work.

From this scenario, it looks like as though having the weight sensor unplugged on passenger side the driver's side airbag would still deploy, but my question is will it deploy the passengers airbag if an accident was to incur?

Edited October 8, 2009 by kolourhero

[DJKOR]

Anyways, tonight i unplugged the sensor on the passenger seat and then sat on it. The warning light on the centre console obviously didn't turn on. Also, the airbag light on the dash was on for 6 secs and then turned off which is normal, and means airbags will still work.

From this scenario, it looks like as though having the weight sensor unplugged on passenger side the driver's side airbag would still deploy, but my question is will it deploy the passengers airbag if an accident was to incur?

From what I have heard about how it all works, the passenger side occupant sensor is there so that in a crash, if there is no one sitting in the passenger seat, the passenger side air bag will not deploy. This also means that if you remove this sensor and a passenger is sitting in the seat, they may not have the airbag deploy in a collision.

[kolourhero]

Anyways, tonight i unplugged the sensor on the passenger seat and then sat on it. The warning light on the centre console obviously didn't turn on. Also, the airbag light on the dash was on for 6 secs and then turned off which is normal, and means airbags will still work.

From this scenario, it looks like as though having the weight sensor unplugged on passenger side the driver's side airbag would still deploy, but my question is will it deploy the passengers airbag if an accident was to incur?

From what I have heard about how it all works, the passenger side occupant sensor is there so that in a crash, if there is no one sitting in the passenger seat, the passenger side air bag will not deploy. This also means that if you remove this sensor and a passenger is sitting in the seat, they may not have the airbag deploy in a collision.

Is it still unlikely the airbag will not deploy even if the seatbelt was in the passenger side? There is a sensor on that as well.

Do both components (weight & seltbelt sensor) need to be active for the airbag on the passenger side to be deployed?

[spillige]

personally i think your playing with fire dude.....why not just get your original seats reshaped/repaded.

the seat belt sensor would be simply a warning light to tell you your passanger is not wearing there belt, nothing to do with the airbags.

your best bet would be to do what some one said and bridge the wiring, at least you know it will work 100%

[Hiro]

the seat belt sensor would be simply a warning light to tell you your passanger is not wearing there belt, nothing to do with the airbags.

I wouldn't be so sure, there's a good chance that if the weight sensor is tripped but the seat belt not on, the airbag still won't deploy as any object that is in the seat triggering the sensor (be it a passenger not wearing seatbelt, case of beer, whatever) will be propelled forward during a crash only to then be launched backwards quite dangerously (and deadly for people) by the airbag deploying.

This is a big problem in America where a lot of people used to not wear their seatbelts (force of habit) and just assumed that the airbag would still save their lives - however headbutting the dash then having your neck snapped back by an exploding airbag proves to be quite fatal, so car manufacturers would only make certain airbags deploy if the seatbelt was connected- there is a reason why airbags are called SRS = SUPPLEMENTARY RESTRAINT SYSTEM - the seatbelt is the primary restraint system and the airbag compliments it

[kolourhero]

So from the above replies the impression im getting is: The airbag will still deploy if the weight sensor is disconnected, but the seatbelt is in (passenger side)?

[Guni]

You seem to confuse yourself further and further Alex ....

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[kolourhero]

I'm just not getting a solid answer for my question.

- Some say it would still work with the passenger weight sensor disconnected and the seatbelt buckled in.

- Some say it won't work for the above.

- Some say it needs to be bridged to work (complicated ground there)

I'm confused because im getting different responses.

From my understanding it won't deploy if all components arn't active. i.e. seatbelt sensor and weight sensor.

Why? because from looking under the seat - There is a wire going from the car(airbag ECU) to both the seatbelt sensor and the weight sensor, and a wire that connects from the seatbelt sensor to the weight sensor, so think of it like a 'Triangle' Connection.

Edited October 9, 2009 by kolourhero