Problem with airbag detector for front passenger

Hi,
yesterday I had a long drive with my wife and we noticed how the passenger airbag was off (the sign next to the clock was on). I've had the CX-5 for about 5 weeks and it's possibly the second time someone had sit on the passenger seat, so I can't really tell when the issue started. Last week I had a hitch and a T-connector to tow a trailer installed on the car and I'm very worried now that either the wiring has messed up with the airbag sensor or that the problem was already there and Mazda will say I'm out of warranty because I had the wiring installed in the car.

Do you guys have any idea if the wiring (a T-Connector from Curt, installed by a professional auto service) could have caused this? Should I have the wiring removed before I take it to Mazda? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I have two questions. When was the last time your wife had a sandwich. I don't mean it to sound mean, but is she really light? The seat has a weight sensor in it to turn it on or off.

2nd is have you had heavy objects on your seat for extended periods of time? It self calibrates itself and if you have heavy items on it for a while it will "zero" those out effectively needing a lot more wight needed to set the sensor off.

The dealer should be able to zero it back out correct for you though.

I found this on a government safety website. Maybe it will help. I also seem to remember somewhere in the instruction manual it saying something about not placing anything under the front seats as it may affect the sensors.


Your manual may recommend you check the following:
◦Occupant seating posture. Occupants should be seated upright, centered on the seat cushion, with their backs against the seat back and feet on the floor. Leaning too heavily on an armrest, for example, could take pressure off the seat bottom and result in occupant misclassification.
◦Seat loading conditions. Depending on the type of sensing system, extra weight from items such as bags of groceries and children's toys hanging on the seat back can add to the sensed weight of the occupant in the seat.
◦Around and under the seat. Items trapped or jammed around or under the seat can contribute to occupant classification problems.
◦Passenger stature. The vehicle's occupant sensor may have difficulty in detecting a small-stature adult. Slight movement may also momentarily illuminate the "PASS AIR BAG OFF" (or "PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF") indicator light.
◦Aftermarket seat covers or other aftermarket seat devices. The presence of these items can also contribute to occupant classification problems.
◦Air bag readiness indicator light. The air bag readiness indicator light illuminates or flashes when the air bag diagnostic system detects a fault in your vehicle's air bag system, such as a system or component failure, informing you that service is immediately required.

Hi,
my wife had in-n-out yesterday She's a normal adult in weight (I guess 140-150 pounds), so I don't think it's related to her being too thin. She was seated normally and there was nothing under the seat that could have affected the sensor.
We'll check again later today and hopefully the issue will be gone...

Thanks

jajur said:

Hi,
yesterday I had a long drive with my wife and we noticed how the passenger airbag was off (the sign next to the clock was on). I've had the CX-5 for about 5 weeks and it's possibly the second time someone had sit on the passenger seat, so I can't really tell when the issue started. Last week I had a hitch and a T-connector to tow a trailer installed on the car and I'm very worried now that either the wiring has messed up with the airbag sensor or that the problem was already there and Mazda will say I'm out of warranty because I had the wiring installed in the car.

Do you guys have any idea if the wiring (a T-Connector from Curt, installed by a professional auto service) could have caused this? Should I have the wiring removed before I take it to Mazda? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Adding a hitch won't void your warrenty for an airbag.

I ran into this alot last month when we were test driving about 30 diffrent suv's. My wife weigh's apx 105 lbs and some of the cars we were in she would not register for the pass airbag. So as stated above it might have to deal with the weight sensativity.

Rob

The airbag detector seems to be working fine again. With the Uhaul wiring attached to my Mazda, none of the lights of the car or the trailer were working! So most likely there were some grounding issues in the Uhaul trailer or my wiring installation is not properly done. This is quite ridiculous, since I spent over $100 to have the lights working on the trailer for one time in my life (I moved from northern to south california, I don't plan to move with a trailer ever again) and the lights didn't work for the whole/most part of the trip...

I'm still afraid there is something wrong with the Mazda, hopefully I'm wrong.

Thanks!

Picked up my CX-5 yesterday and had this problem today. There is a service bulletin for this problem, so next time I'm at the dealer I'll get this addressed. I'm don't have access to full TSB's, so I don't know the fix. Maybe someone else can post that.

SERVICE BULLETIN:SB-08-002-12 NHTSA ITEM NUMBER:10045022
MFG Bulletin Date: 06/29/2012
Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
Bulletin Summary: MAZDA: ON CERTAIN VEHICLES, PASSENGER AIRBAG DEACTIVATION (PAD) INDICATOR WILL ILLUMINATE DURING SERVICE.