In the attached picture, you can see two square cross-section electrical pins and one slightly angled down, flat piece of metal under each pin. Are those flat metal pieces springs that compress when the connector is pushed into the matching plug, or do they serve another function? Thank you!

 

The lower bent tabs certainly do look like they would be a spring force to hold the mating socket tight to the square pins. The amber color of those pins looks like a lubricant of some sort, which would follow on to a spring action to help the mating item slide past the tabs.

Have you pushed down on them slightly to see if they 'spring' back to the original position? Do you have a mating component/connector to see what the other side contains?

 

I'm so sorry for the late reply. My fault for not using my main email account for notifications. I didn't get the notification of a reply until today!

Thank you for your response. You are correct, and, as I had suspected, the bent "pins" turned out to be just springs. Interesting - I have never seen this design.

Of the three connectors that are all located in the same connector housing, two connectors have these springs. The third and largest connector does not have springs. These are connectors under the passenger seat that have the connectors for
- passenger airbag module (small, rectangular connector)
- seat buckle switch (small, L-shaped connector)
- large connector for remaining seat-related electronics (large multipin connector)

A large connector mates to the three smaller connectors that share the same connector housing.