AirBags

B

BlueMamba

Member
:
Mazda 5 Sport 2.0L
Hi All,

I have an 06 Mazda 5 Sport and having just brought child number 2 into the world i want to be able to disable my passenger airbag to be able to put his car seat in the front.

The car doesnt have a built in switch to turn it off so i contacted my local Mazda dealer but they have said that they refuse to disable the airbag on safety grounds. I applaud their morals but i am disappointed by their lack of understanding.

Does anyone know how i can disable the bag temporarily? I asked about installing the switch that is an optional extra but again i was told that this was not an aftermarket option and i should have chosen it at purchase. Got to love hindsight

Any help gratefully rceived as my perforated eardrums from not being able to reach my son to re-insert the pacifier/dummy have had enough.
 
isn't passenger airg bag self -deactivate one?
it measures the weight of the passenger and does not deploy if the weight is less than 60lb(?)..

correct me if i am wrong..
 
It disables the passenger bag on 06's as well with any weight under (50?)lbs. It will disable automatically and you will see a big orange light on the dashboard in the middle cluster to tell you it is disabled. Another option is to physically unplug the bag but it would require some dismantling of the dash to get to it if it cant be reached from underneath.
 
Even though it is self-deactivating, I wouldn't recommend taking a chance doing it. An infant or child will not stand a chance against the brute force from the airbag should it deploy during a minor impact. Either completely disable the passenger airbag or make every attempt to put your kids on the 2nd row.
 

Attachments

  • Mazda5 OM.GIF
    Mazda5 OM.GIF
    18.3 KB · Views: 357
Thx for the info back guys.

I apprecaite the link to the stats and i understand why the child should be in the back for stats purposes....more worryingly is the theory that if my airbag was to fail to deploy as the driver then i am dead as i will be the first thing to hit the dash board. Being 6ft 3 maybe i should sit in the back where it is safer also....and what happens if it is a rear or side impact.....arghhh so many computations it hurts my head. :)

The child seat we have is designed to be used in the front of a car as long as the airbag is disabled in the front. On my previous cars i have never had an issue with getting the passenger airbag disabled so i am more interested in whether this is purely a Mazda thing or not. They offer a optional extra of a key operated switch to turn the passenger airbag on and off but dont seem to be able to offer this as an after market option.

Again the safety of all my passengers is paramount here.

I am interested by the weight switch..not sure that my car has that at all...i may need to add that this is a Euro based model so may explain the difference.

cheers all
 
All you have to do is set something heavy on the passenger seat and start driving, more than likely it will start beeping at you for them to buckle up even though its a box and it will also have a big orange light that says passenger air bag disabled on the dash near the radio. Set a bag of dog food on it and test it to see if it does. I think we are making this a bit more complicated than it should be.
 
I wish it was that simple...the UK models do not have the weight detection system on the passenger seat...plus a 20kg ( max weight of the seat) baby plus the seat itself would be heavy enough to make it think there was someone there.
 
Your being in the UK clarifies things. Passenger air bag disabling switches in the U.S. are only found on vehicles that don't have a rear seat. There's no way to get one otherwise and I highly doubt anyone in the U.S. would put one in for liability reasons. When passenger air bags first became common in the U.S. there were some highly publicized cases of kids being decapitated by air bags. Since then it's pretty much become taboo to put kids in the front, even though air bags have gotten smarter (although whether parents have is debatable).

The weight sensor is really designed for a small forward facing child. I believe the weight limit is 66 pounds (30 kg). I would wonder how the sensor would figure out a child seat that was properly cinched down. Every owner's manual I've seen, whether it be car seat, vehicle, or otherwise, says not to even consider putting a rear facing car seat in the front because of the airbag issue, which makes me think it isn't foolproof. We also don't have any car seats that are designed for the front seat.

Basically I don't think any of us in the U.S. will be of any help to you. I have no idea about the Canadian folks but I imagine their options are similar to ours.
 
Every car I have seen has the airbag harness in yellow. Dig under your dash up where the airbags are and look for the wiring harness that goes to the airbag. Simply unplug it. That will disable it. No wires means it cannot be triggered.
 
jeg0024 said:
You have a van and cant fit 2 kids in the back seat? Strange.
Click to expand...

It's not that he can't fit them, he just can't reach back there to put his kid's binky back in his mouth. I guess that's actually a good indicator of how much legroom there is in that middle row.
 
Driver Seat reclines, lean back, put kids binky back in mouth at a stop light, I have done it and Im only 5'10" on a good day. Buy the little mirror for the headrest so you can see. Usually the car puts the kids to sleep, but you know if they wont stop screaming, I can always crank up the rammstein and try to remember a time when they didnt exist :)
 
The weight detector is electronic and computer controlled, and electronics fail. Mazda won't guarantee that it will work, so I wouldn't put critical cargo (i.e. children) in there. The manual says something along those lines.

Put the kid in a rear-facing seat in the middle or rear row according to the regulations. They have your best interests at heart.
 
themagni said:
The weight detector is electronic and computer controlled, and electronics fail. Mazda won't guarantee that it will work, so I wouldn't put critical cargo (i.e. children) in there. The manual says something along those lines.

Put the kid in a rear-facing seat in the middle or rear row according to the regulations. They have your best interests at heart.
Click to expand...

Right, the manual kind of implies that the airbag may deploy despite of the self-deactivation light being lit - see the paragraph I took from the manual a few posts up. I don't think it is good idea to bet your kid's life on it.
 
Got to love the sales guy ayt my local Mazda dealer.


I have 2 options apparently...

1) Buy a new car as the newer version as the isolation key switch as standard - although he did say he would have to check with Mazda technical on this as he didnt really know and they were not open until Monday and so i would have to wait !!!! ((Still waiting 4 days later))

2) Buy a MAZDA car seat which has an ISOFIX type attachement that when engaged in the front seat will disable the air bag....obvioulsy this has a cost implication in the region of $1000 !!!! ( Uk coversion on price).

Unfortunately the wife overheard and now wants a new car with the natty sliding doors !!!

thx for all the help guys i find this forum ever useful ans will continue to post odd questions from blighty.....(drinks)
 
BlueMamba said:
Thx for the info back guys.

I apprecaite the link to the stats and i understand why the child should be in the back for stats purposes....more worryingly is the theory that if my airbag was to fail to deploy as the driver then i am dead as i will be the first thing to hit the dash board. Being 6ft 3 maybe i should sit in the back where it is safer also....and what happens if it is a rear or side impact.....arghhh so many computations it hurts my head. :)

The child seat we have is designed to be used in the front of a car as long as the airbag is disabled in the front. On my previous cars i have never had an issue with getting the passenger airbag disabled so i am more interested in whether this is purely a Mazda thing or not. They offer a optional extra of a key operated switch to turn the passenger airbag on and off but dont seem to be able to offer this as an after market option.

Again the safety of all my passengers is paramount here.

I am interested by the weight switch..not sure that my car has that at all...i may need to add that this is a Euro based model so may explain the difference.

cheers all
Click to expand...

If safety of your passenger is paramount, then you WON'T put a car seat in the front seat, not only is it dangerous,m but in my part of the world, it's illegal! You'll get a hefty ticket for doing that!

The front passenger seat automatically disables the the airbag if the weight on the seat is less than 60lbs. but I still won't put a car seat in the front passengers seat. just tooo dangerous!
 
all automatic mazda5s (in europe) from the very first year onwards have the airbag cutoff switch. Why they did this only to automatics but not manuals, I don't know... but perhaps you can figure out how it works and make it work on yours... I don't recommend it... it's safer to either put the child seat on the 2nd row seat (which is also ISO-fix), or unplugging the passenger side airbag (which could very well disable all the other airbags which is not good)...
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Mazda5 2006 - Code 19 airbag
Replies
8
Views
3K
Regal Eagle
R
C
Locating a drain or short (2012 Mazda5)
Replies
0
Views
668
Caseyc
C
J
Front crash sensor problem
Replies
4
Views
1K
negusm
N

Latest posts

Back