I wanted to post my success story hoping it might help someone else out. I had the dreaded passenger airbag warning lights illuminated both dash and above, first they were intermittent then about six months ago they became permanent. For the uninitiated the convoluted system is designed to turn off the airbag when it detects a small child (or baby seat?) in the passenger seat with a mat between the foam cushion and the seat material, they go bad! Not only is it an annoyance but I live in Virginia where we have yearly State safety inspections and the airbag fault light would fail the car so it needed to get resolved. I think this is a fairly common issue after reading various older threads. One option, replace the sensor mat by taking the seat completely apart, spend a lot on a seat sensor replacement or find a mat in the junkyard and put it in a bag under the seat. I'm 64 with grown adult children and other vehicles to drive so don't be alarmed a small child, baby or a baby seat will never be in the front seat of my Mini Cooper.
I decided to try an airbag emulator found on ebay from the U.K. from srsdrive.com. $57 with shipping. I assume they are illegal to sell in the U.S. because no one seems to offer them here. The first one that I received did not work, I was heartbroken thinking that the product just didn't work on our cars but after relaying my dilemma to srsdrive.com they happily sent me a replacement. Bingo, the lights extinguished. In order to fool the system it has to look like the passenger seatbelt is fastened so a resistor is included in the package to achieve that condition. The mat emulator and seatbelt resister module both just plug in under the seat and tucks between the seat springs and seat foam. I am completely satisfied with the product and srsdrive.com's customer service for their willingness to promptly send a replacement. The cost, time and effort involved to actually repair the problem is ridiculous especially to someone like me who will never have a small child (or baby seat) in the car. Beware, if you're going to put a small child or baby seat in your car this product is not to be used because the airbag will deploy in an accident.