Disable Passenger Air Bag

[Vegas Runner]

How do you turn off the passenger air bag? When I run with my computer in my car I would like to turn off the passenger air bag.

[AlexJet]

Good thing to know...

[bulldog]

IIRC the passenger seat has a weight sensor that activates the airbags. Check the manual. Both front seats has weight sensors to determine the weight and force of deployment.

I can double check if you want.

[Vegas Runner]

My problem is sometimes I have a passenger in the front seat but I still want to disable the front passenger airbag becasue the computer would end up between the airbag and the passenger. So I need to manually disable the airbag. I have noticed that many cars have a switch that allows the airbag to be disabled but I have not found one on the 4Runner.

[bulldog]

When they got weight sensors in the seats the switches were removed. You might want to add a switch in the weight sensor circuit. Try first by unplugging it and see what happens. You might get a CEL though.

Well I cheked and it seems that if you disconnect the seat sensors you will get a DTC (Trouble ocde) that needs to be reset with a scan tool. So it might not be th emost elegant slution. I wasn't able to find a way to disable the airbag legit without a DTC and affecting operation.

Unscrewing the sensor from the seat is probably not a good idea either, as it needs to be reassembled to the specific torque and a new bolt is required (guess for calibration purposes or something).

[Vegas Runner]

It sounds like the sensor is not a simple switch (on/off). Perhaps it sends a differnt voltage when no one is sitting in the seat than when someone is sitting in it. Or perhaps it even sends a range of voltages depeding on the weight it senses. If that is the case it might be possible to install a SPDT switch with a resistor or voltage regulator to send a signal that emulates the sensor output when no one is seated. I will have to look into this more it sounds like.

[bulldog]

It sounds like the sensor is not a simple switch (on/off). Perhaps it sends a differnt voltage when no one is sitting in the seat than when someone is sitting in it. Or perhaps it even sends a range of voltages depeding on the weight it senses. If that is the case it might be possible to install a SPDT switch with a resistor or voltage regulator to send a signal that emulates the sensor output when no one is seated. I will have to look into this more it sounds like.

Might be something to look into, switch over with the ignition off and then bypass the sensor circuit. Only thing is that it will most likely disable the pretensioner for the seatbelt as well on the passenger side.

Other solution would be to tap into the firing circuit for the actual airbag, but that is a very dangerous proposition. Apparently those circuits are supersensitive for correct operation.

[Yabedude]

In our Corolla, it takes something like 50 lbs to engage the air bag seat sensor. In my '03 4Runner, my little dog of 10 lbs will cause the dash seat belt warning light to engage. I'm not sure if the seat belt sensor is linked to the air bag sensor cause I don't actually have an air bag warning light in the 4Runner. So knowing how to disable this would be handy.