Posted: 5/18/2013 4:25:57 PM EDT
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I'm looking at having to have a 4-year old ride in the front passenger seat of a 2001 Honda Civic. That model year didn't have a passenger air bag cut-off switch like newer vehicles do. According to the NHTSA website, it's OK to install a cut-off switch...but the local Madison Honda dealership won't do it, and neither will the car audio shop I contacted. Anyone have a reputable source for doing this? If it were anything else, I'd give it a try, but the idea of getting myself blown up trying to wire this just isn't appealing...I'd rather have a commercial business do it.
Suggestions or ideas? |
| For liability reasons the dealer can't disconnect it or alter it an anyway without a written reason to do so and all the bases covered legally. I have seen letters from Doctors for various reasons allowed in conjunction with approval from the maker before such alterations were done. If your going to do it correct call the manufacturer and get further guidance on the matter. |
| I understand what you're saying. NHTSA actually sends you a letter authorizing the work when you submit the proper government form. When I contacted the dealership I said I would provide the NHTSA letter that authorized and approved the work. Dealership still said they wouldn't do it. That's why I'm looking for someone who will. |
The dealership has made it quite clear that they're not interested--the service associate said that was the word from the service manager. I'm not anxious to involve the national corporate office trying to override the local dealership's policy and convince them to take my money. I'm looking for other solutions or vendors, if anyone knows of any. 
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With ted on why cant the kid ride in the back? One of the things I had to do building conversion vehicles was replace steering wheels (air bag equipped). I wouldnt even try to modify the SRS system. Pulling the fuse will work. Just make sure its just handles the airbags. One place you could try is the mobility places that install handicap equipment in vehicles. They sometimes have to disable airbags in vehicles for handicap drivers controls.
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Regarding questions why the kid doesn't ride in the back seat, I know the back seat is safest. My two kids rode in the back for 4 years. Now I need to fit 3 kids in the car (the 3rd isn't mine, so no congrats necessary ). In a perfect world we'd buy a bigger vehicle, but that's not financially possible, so 3 need to fit in this vehicle. The backseat isn't wide enough for 3; therefore the oldest must ride in the front passenger seat.
I'll check the fuses, although that's my last option. While we all survived in non-airbag vehicles for years, I've been to a LOT of car crashes and have seen firsthand how effective airbags are. I'd prefer the driver still have an operable airbag. I appreciate the idea about mobility van manufacturers--never thought of that. I'll check around. Other ideas? |
| My advice, try mobilty works in waukesha. I think Terry is the service manager if he is still there. Otherwise disable the air bags or remove passenger air bag. We have 2 young grand children in our back seat and we have enough room for a third kid if needed and we have a compact car. I assume you have baby seats? |
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i found some links for you. you'd have to email them and see about installation if your are uncomfortable doing it yourself. I work with airbags occasionally at work and have a healthy respect for them.
The "proper" way is to disconnect the battery for at least a half hour. there are capacitors in the airbag that will allow it to deploy in the event of power loss and a signal required for detonation. Airbag connectors are usually YELLOW i have yet to see another color connector for them. your passenger seat should have a weight sensor in it. it seems like it would not deploy on less than 65 lbs. of weight, but i would give it a pound or two difference on how it would sense. they arent' the best since if you move around in the seat a bit it it will turn it on or off. here are some links that i read up on for you. http://www.airbagonoff.com they seem to sell kits for this weight sensor info link on were somone had it done |
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Might be cheaper and easier getting different baby seats. We have a 4 year old in booster, 2 year old in baby seat and 12 year has room in our back seat. I'm sure the 12 year old takes up as much space as a baby seat. Our baby seat isn't very wide. All in a Civic? |
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Suggestions or ideas? As it was mentioned above, these guys sell a plug-and-play switch. . . . http://www.airbagonoff.com/drive_pass_airbag_switch.asp |
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Some sort of switch with a light would be best (I didn't click the links).
Some things to note- If the battery is disconnected, the airbag won't go off, so you can mess around with pugging, unplugging it with the batter disco'd and you won't die Second, if I were to do this (which you have a completely valid reason to do so, in my opinion, I would install a light on the dash somewhere that lit up when the airbag was OFF. That way if your wife or another adult is in the seat, you will remember to turn it on. If the kits aren't appealing, a simple lit switch can be installed with ease. |
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Some things to note- If the battery is disconnected, the airbag won't go off, so you can mess around with pugging, unplugging it with the batter disco'd and you won't die You still need to wait about 20-30 minutes after disconnecting power from battery to let the air-bag capacitors discharge! It's the charge in the capacitors that fire it. |
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Some things to note- If the battery is disconnected, the airbag won't go off, so you can mess around with pugging, unplugging it with the batter disco'd and you won't die You still need to wait about 20-30 minutes after disconnecting power from battery to let the air-bag capacitors discharge! It's the charge in the capacitors that fire it. Completely forgot about that. 100% correct. |
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Now I know jack all about cars, but wouldn't it make sense to have separate fuses for each airbag? Redundant safety systems and all that? Or am I an idiot here  The computer communicates with each component and will disable the system if all components are not functional. |
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If you have wiring diagram, you, or I, can install a rocker switch in teh dash (it is a 10+ yo car) which will interupt power/ground. This will disable the whole system and put the driver at increased risk of injury. Only if your passenger bag fires out of the steefing wheel as well. Since it doesn't, the pass. Bag has it's own wiring, and thus can be interupted. It's the basis on which those switches that you yourself reference operate. |
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If you have wiring diagram, you, or I, can install a rocker switch in teh dash (it is a 10+ yo car) which will interupt power/ground. This will disable the whole system and put the driver at increased risk of injury. Only if your passenger bag fires out of the steefing wheel as well. Since it doesn't, the pass. Bag has it's own wiring, and thus can be interupted. It's the basis on which those switches that you yourself reference operate. No, it isn't. 
The switch tricks the system into thinking that the air bag is still functional. 
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The airbags are hooked up to the SRS system. All SRS wires (at least those that aren't in the main harness bundle) are covered in yellow loom and have yellow connectors. Finding them is pretty easy. There's two wires that go to the bag you want to get rid of. In the case of the passenger bag, all you need to do is pull your glove box off (just open it, you should see the two screws to do it), and look up under the dash. Find the yellow loom, pull it down and wire in the relay. I would unplug it from the bag before you touched it. When you do this, throw some tape or something over the connection on the bag. I usually tape a piece of static bag over it. You need to be careful about not sending current down the wire, so don't use a multimeter on it. In theory, there's wives tales about static electricity setting it off, but the last time I manually chose to activate an airbag to dispose of it, I had to actually use some decent amperage to get it to pop.
Edit: I think the biggest issue would be remembering to turn it back on. Wiring in some naggy light would probably help in that regard. The advantage of having the key switch (like in Interceptor's link) is that you could physically have a connection to that key that would get you to turn it back on. |
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No, it isn't.
The switch tricks the system into thinking that the air bag is still functional. This. The SRS system is designed to detect faults and shorts, both for safety reasons and to reduce accidental discharges. If it detects a fault, it shuts the whole system down and pops up a nasty nag light that requires some shenannigans to reset. For him to bypass it without taking down the whole system, he needs to install a SPDT (or DPDT which would make the wiring easier and save you a diode) relay. On the default (unpowered) connection you just run it straight. On the powered line, you need to wire a short between the two wires to the bag and add a resistor to act as the correct load for the SRS to think the bag is functioning correctly. I've seen it range from 2 to 2.2 ohms. This page suggests 2.2 ohms.. So once done, the switch is actually controlling power to the relay, as opposed to actively switching the SRS line (which is.. a lot more dangerous). He still needs to be very careful about packaging the whole setup so it's electrically sealed from any other short or static, and I'd probably pull the relay and test/replace it every few years just to be extra careful. I would power the relay with a battery instead of the car. That way if the relay dies and you get a coil short, you don't have a 12V source to ground and pop the bag. You'd probably need a light(LED) on the coil lead to detect if it's still working. While I think I'd feel comfortable building this for my car (if it wasn't already built in), I think if any of the above sounds like gibberish to you, the correct answer would be to buy the bypass switch. An airbag deploying, even if it doesn't hit anyone, will disrupt the driver enough to possibly cause injury or accident. It is not a subtle failure. |
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How about you just get a couple of these? http://www.bubblebum.co/us/booster-seat/
They're 12.5" wide and we've fit 1 baby seat and two of these in our 2005 Civic, which I believe is the same design as the 2001. My son still uses a Graco Turbo (backless) booster that fits a lot better than most others we've found. They measure 15" wide, I believe. It's the style with upright arms and they run around $20-$25 each. |