I don't remember it doing this before- but the light came on that says
the passanger airbag is off. (the light with the little man sitting in the seat and a big 'x' in front of him where the airbag should be) Anyone have this happen or know why it may be doing this? Thanks!!

 

Do you have anything sitting on the passenger seat?

There's a weight sensor in the passenger seat... if you have something on there that is heavy enough to register a weight, but not enough to be an adults weight, the car will disable the passenger airbag (thinking it may be a kid in the seat).

 

Hrm. That could be it. Right now I just have my stuff for work i bring
everyday there-which has never set it off before- but who knows, maybe
I accumulated more crap over time.

The only thing that has me worried is yesterday, when I carried around a
big safe that weighed about 50lbs. for the majority of the day in the
passenger seat. (I was taking it to the locksmith to get busted open)
I'm hoping that didnt mess anything up...

 

Most people weight more than that.

 

I put my briefcase on the front passenger seat of my Volvo every day, and some days the Airbar Off light comes on, sometimes it doesn't. Seems that just an extra magazine in the bag can make the difference.

 

We frequently have my 4 year old son in the passenger seat in his booster/car seat. The "airbag off" light always comes on. Total weight of my son and the seat is around 50 lbs.

-Keith

 

Thanks for the input guys. Guess I just better lighten the
load a bit
I'll clear out the seat when I go on my lunch today and see
what happens!

 

First time it happened to me, I pulled over and read the manual. I thought I had screwed something up in the 1st week. What a relief.

 

it is my understanding that if the seat senses that the occupant weighs between a certain limit(lets say 40-80lbs) it will shut off the airbag to prevent injury to small occupants. The light coming on is just telling ya that this feature works.

 

The light is on for me as well when I put my briefcase on the seat. That must be it.

 

It also depends on where the weight is distributed on the front seat. When I have my daughter sit in the front sans booster, the light does not go on (the airbag stays active). When I put her in with the booster, which distributes more weight to the sides of the seat bottom, the light goes on (airbag goes inactive).

 

It happens to me every time I'm coming back from the food store... I've even had so many bags on the front passenger seat that the seatbelt chimer has gone off all the way back to my pad. A little annoying.

 

my '04 does not do that ....when was this featur eadded?

my wife's civic has a 'side airbag off' light that goes on if someone in the front passenger seat seat leans their head against the door...do the newer MINIs do that too?

 

The system is designed to register a small adult, 103 lbs, and turn the bag on. For an occupant below that, the system will register a 6 year old, 3 year old, car seat, etc and turn the bag off. Depending on the OCS manufacture, there is what is called an Occupied Threshold that is set to register things like bags, bowling *****, etc. This threshold is set in the 20 to 25 lbs range. Could be lower with some manufacturers. It is at that point and below you can have something in the seat and you will not get a light but the bag is still off.

Hope that helps....

Mark

 

my little sister weighs a little over 100pounds and I had a hard time yesterday trying to figure out what was causing the light to go on. I had to adjust the seat for her for it the light to turn off