Passenger Seat

[Beagle]

Hi,

I know this has been talked about quite a lot, but I am still a bit confused ☺
"jbailer" had some very good ideas for running aftermarket seats
and still have all the air bags functional with no blinking, bell's or
codes.
I want to install some Corbeau seats in my 2005 GT, ( no side air
bag )
The drivers side doesn't seem to be a problem, just hook up the wiring
harness from the stock seat, I will be using stock belts for
now.
It's the passenger side that is a bit of a mystery, " jbailer "
reported that if you hook up all the stuff from the stock passenger
seat, and just leave the bladder on the floor, you will get no alarms
and the passenger side air bag is active.
I have been told that if the bladder only " feels " a small amount of
weight, such as a child, it will not fire, but if it senses a adult weight
it will. ( smart air bag )
So if it senses no weight, it won't go off.
Which is correct?
So, if anybody can clarify which way it works i would be very thankfull.

Bob

 

[Philostang]

Damn, I was hoping someone would answer this Q...

I have the suspicion that if there is no weight on the seat, then the passenger bag won't deploy. At least, that seems to be industry standard, no? Say in my daily commute (driving alone) I get in an accident, isn't only the driver side bag going to deploy? I seem to recall seeing accidents in which only the driver bag deployed. After all (aside from making more money on replacement parts) what's the point in having to replace both the dash cover and the steering wheel hub if nobody else is in the car?

It seems plausible that the bladder has the role of activating the bag only when sufficient weight is on (thus preventing it from going off otherwise).

In the end, I just planned on slipping mine in under the seat cover rather than leave it on the floor (Kirkey seats have a flat bottom and super easily removed cover). I hope someone with actual knowledge on this matter can chime in.

Best,
-j

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Disclaimer: I don't know this for FACT, but I believe that the passenger-side bag is a 3-stage design, using the bladder to classify occupancy. For no load, the bag will not deploy, as there is no occupant. For a light load, as you see when you toss a briefcase or whatnot on the seat, it goes to a slower-deployment scheme, to reduce the possibility of a light passenger (think child, or sub-norm sized adult) being injured by a high-speed bag deployment. With a "normal" passenger load, the bag will deploy at higher speed to help cushion the anticipated additional mass of the passenger. IMO, if you're doing race seats and harnesses, skip the bladder completely. I *think* that will disable the bag, which is preferable given the harness system you're using. If you still run 3-point belts, AFAIK, you NEED to take the car to Ford to have them recalibrate the bladder for proper airbag deployment. I honestly don't know if they'll touch the car or not, but... Even if you just replace stock with stock, or re-upholster the OE seat, you're supposed to get the bladder sensor recalibrated.

 

[Beagle]

PS Air Bag

Thanks Dave,

You are correct.

FACT:
The air bag will not deploy with no or only a wee bit of weight on the seat.
Just leaving the bladder hooked up on the floor, the air bag is deactivated,
it will never go off.
This is a problem if you want to switch seats and keep the air bag functional.
I am not sure how effective rolling the bladder up and tie wrapping it is.
Does anybody know if that actually works?

When I get the car out ( shortly ) I have a idea on how to compress the bladder to simulate adult weight, it will be active all the time.
Don't know if I can do it, but if it does work, i will report the results.

When I bought the seats I had no idea of the high level of technology
that have been put into air bag systems, my last car was a 1990 Mustang, no problem changing those seats ☺

Bob

 

[Thinkkker]

I moved the bladder over in mine. Before I took out the factory drivers side and I had no codes thrown when I had the bladder installed. I have not hooked up the drivers side yet, since I swapped it out *laziness, sorry* so I have a code now. But it looks like all is good though if you move the bladder and hook it up.

I havent wrecked the car to fully test it though....and would rather not.

 

[DusterRT]

I havent wrecked the car to fully test it though....and would rather not.

We need to put a pool together to buy a couple crash test cars for things like this...

 

[94tbird]

fold the bladder in half and shove it between the seat and the metal wire under the seat, same as it was on the stock seat. this will enable the pass air bag 100% of the time. Thats how mine is and i have no codes

 

[Kaldar142]

I really need to do this... especially since my car is still a street driven car