First the background: I have a 2002 Honda Civic with standard transmission. I also have three children aged 4 months, 2 years, and 6.5 years. I also have a wife who refuses to learn how to drive stick (she drives the Odyssey). Occasionally I have to drive all three munchkins around town and my wife hates being stranded.
So the question comes to my oldest sun sitting in the front seat with his booster (which he barely needs). Since there is a front passenger airbag (no side curtain) I looked up how to disable it. There are two connections under the seat: yellow and blue. From what I read the blue connection is the seat sensor that tells the car, ?Hey someone is sitting here! Activate the airbag if there?s a crash!? So I pulled it and the SRS light comes on which according to the manual indicates an issue with the airbag.
Fast forward to taking in the van for yearly state inspection (in PA) at the Honda dealer and I asked the service guy how to disable the airbag short of removing it. He said there is no way short of removing it, but I think he was just covering his tuchis. I would hate to remove the airbag since that is expensive, and I would like to protect any passengers I happen to take in my car. Can anyone confirm about the connectors or have a better idea?
Why disable it?
If you are very short, I believe 5 feet or less, you can have the airbag legally disconnected (for safety reasons)in most juridictions. Yes, your Honda dealer is covering his buns with boiler plate and wants nothing to do with your proposal.
I would go to a good body shop which would have all the relevant info on what to do. My ex-neihbor who is barely 5" had her CRV aibags disconnected.
I think they can be…not sure how…
One nice feature on my Toyota and Lexus…when our nephew and niece are in the car…the airbag automatically turns off because they are too lite.
Becasue if the airbag deployed it could suffocate a small person aka my son.
I don’t believe suffocation is any concern. The bag will rapidly deflate afterward and hang from the dash area. The hazard is in impact force to small people. As long as the booster seat is belted in and the child restrained in the booster seat, this shouldn’t be an issue. Small passengers can slide under/past the belts and receive the full impact force of the bag inflating. Being securely belted into a booster seat should eliminate this from happening. Make sure the seat is positioned as far back as possible from the dash area.
The problem with disabling a bag where there was no provision designed in to do it is, the SRS light will always be on. Then, you will never know if the rest of the system has failed.
Why can’t all three kids sit in the back seat? Put the wife in the front seat and the three kids in the back seat, the 6 year old with his booster, the 2 year old with his carseat, the 4 month old in the infant carrier/seat. Rocketman
The booster does not fit between the infant seat and the car seat.