I'd like to turn off the passenger-side airbag in my 2006 Prius. I have a dual swing arm laptop mount that rises from the seat bolts on the passenger side seat and the apparatus sits clearly in front of the airbag. To help give a visual of what I'm talking about, some pictures of the laptop mount can be found here. For safety's sake, I need to turn off the airbag to prevent the possibility of crushing the passenger's chest or face in the event of a frontal collision. Can anyone help me? I'm trying to avoid a trip to the dealership as they can be pretty hesitant to do something like this. (Which is understandable, but in my case, I need to have this modification done.) Thanks! Bryan
Update: I just stopped by a Toyota dealership and the service manager said it would be illegal for them to turn it off. I showed him the laptop mount and just how dangerous it would potentially be if the airbag fired. He agreed, but said they could get in trouble if they turned off the airbag. I can understand why Toyota would not want to turn off the airbag, but I doubt that it is "illegal" to do so. If there is anyone that can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated (even if it was privately through email and completely off-the-record). As it stands now, having the airbag on is a serious detriment. Thanks, Bryan
making a wild guess here, but if there is nothing on the seat the airbag wouldn't go off since the occupant classification system doesn't pick up on a passenger.
This is true. There needs to be a weight on the passenger seat in order to "turn on" the airbag. And if you disable the airbag and have an accident with a passenger in the front seat, the mount will cause serious injury to the passenger. I think you either need to have a laptop in your front seat or people, not both. Also I really hope you're not using your laptop while you're driving. Because it's not fair to the other people who get injured or killed in the accident you're going to have.
I very strongly doubt that it isn't illegal for them to do it. If it is legal at all, it will have to be your own work, not theirs. All they can do is encourage you to put your passenger in the rear seat. When owners of pickups and other vehicles without alternate locations to install rear-facing infant carriers first needed to get airbags turned off, the regulatory hoops were considerable before dealers and manufacturers could get federal permission to help. That permission did not extend to any vehicles with meaningful rear seats.
I guess I should have given some background with my post. I'm a full-time storm chaser and I'm on the road for the next 6 weeks. You are absolutely correct. If there is nobody in the front seat, then the airbag will not go off. Right now, I'm chasing solo, but my wife will join me in a couple of weeks. I'm looking to disable the airbag once there are two of us in the car. As long as you're not in an accident where the cabin is crushed into you, I don't think it will cause serious damage. (provided you're wearing a seat belt, which we always do) Absolutely not. Anytime I have to use the trackpad or type, or do anything that requires heavy focusing on the screen, I pull completely off the road. I do have a mapping application that I glance at, but it's no different than having a nav. I would never try to "use" the laptop while driving down the road. In my opinion, for my particular application, I feel an airbag would do more harm than good...which is why I'm trying to find a way to turn it off (for the next 6 weeks). Bryan
Storm chasing can be done very safely, if you know what you're doing and make sound decisions. Unfortunately, recent videos of folks driving into tornados can lead people to believe that we're all a bunch of yahoos looking for a thrill. When I storm chase, I do so very cautiously. And I do it for 2 reasons: 1) As a public service. I'm always in direct contact with the NWS (National Weather Service) and I provide them with ground truth compared to what they are seeing on radar. This helps the NWS issue warnings and gives people more lead time, which can help save lives. And occasionally, they may not issue a warning based on what I'm seeing, which helps to reduce the false alarms. I also carry a full array of first responder equipment in my Prius (it really can hold a lot of gear) so I can abandon the chase and help rescue people and provide first aid if they are adversely affected by a tornado or other damaging event. 2) The other reason I do this is fine art stormscape photography. The majority of supercell storms take place away from populated areas and they are strikingly beautiful. For me, there is nothing greater than capturing the power of mother nature. So while yes, there are associated risks, such as lots of driving and lightning (these are the biggest two), I go to great lengths to minimize these risks and I take this activity very seriously. Which is why I want to turn off the passenger airbag (only during the chase season). It's also a very important piece of minimizing our risk. Bryan
I don't suggest you do this but you can disable the airbag by unplugging the harness under the passenger seat. You may get some error but the car is operable.
The only way to do it and still have the rest of the Airbag system functional is to disconnect the passenger airbag and install an "airbag simulator" in it's place. It's basically a resistor of the same value that the airbag inflator is and it tricks the airbag computer into thinking that the airbag is still connected.
I found the following ' a resistor,1/4 watt 2 ohm, works for the seat air bag in my 04. The passenger airbag connector would probably be more difficult to find , possibly underneath the dash which seems difficult to get to, though access behind the glovebox would be my first look. from the following thread fyi http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/45229-resistor-value-seat-air-bag.html The other method would be to hack the sensor that shows there is a passenger in your front seat, no weight measured by sensor, no air bag deployment. I would more confident in the first approach, since the air bag is obviously disconnected. Good luck chasing storms.
Shouldn't we be able to turn off the airbags in case a child is sitting in the front? And Bryan, I'd love to see your storm photography!
I was watching the weather channel yesterday and a "pedestrian" storm tracker was providing live video of a tornado in as I remember Louisiana, it was great... Anyway, just park the car in any city overnight, presto, no more air bags The trucks with airbags that can be turned on or off are 10,000lbs and above, been there done that I think an Ipad might be in order
