Why does the '10 PRIUS have an airbag on light when there is a passenger in the front seat? It is annoying and distracting to look at it. Any suggestions other than the unglamorous black electrical tape to hide this glowing annoyance?
None that I can think of. I don't even notice mine anymore. I would get a piece of black/grey or depedning on your color sponge and just cut it for the size of the lamp area and out it there when your having an adult in the seat. I have got used to it so it doesn't bother me now. The light is there so that it detects if a child is in the seat and will de-activate the front airbag but sustain the use of the side curtain bags. It's based on weight and displacement on the seat area. It has a purpose and like I mentioned, I am used to it. It does remind the occupant (Adult) to buckle up too. In NYS it's Click it or Ticket.
All of the other air bags are always active. But the passenger front and side air bags may be deactivated when the front seat passenger does not meet the minimum weight requirement. The passenger side pretensioner is deactivated as well. There is a sensor built into the passenger seat to determine what the passenger weight is. In my car: GF sitting in passenger seat > Airbag is on and Airbag ON light is on. Dingo (25 lbs) > Airbag is deactivated, Airbag OFF light is on, and Passenger Seat Belt flashing red warning light is on along with a warning beep for the front passenger seat belt. Eventually the warning beep is silenced, but the flashing warning stays on as long as Dingo is in the seat. Digby (15 lbs) > Airbag is deactivated, No Airbag light or Seat belt light is on because Digby doesn't weigh enough to trigger the system.
15 lbs must be close to the limit then, my dog (Willy) lights the Airbag Off light sometimes and sometimes not, he weighs about 17 lbs. I read somewhere that the requirement for the Airbag On light was about 80 lbs but that seems high? I didn't like the Airbag On/Off lights at first either but I guess I have gotten used to them. I don't think they can be turned off anyway unless there is someway to do it with the Techstream software but then you would have to pay a dealer to do it for you.
I kinda appreciate the light - my middle daughter is 8 years old and ~50lbs (she's short like me) - when the rear seats are down for cargo, she can only fit up front (seat all the way back). It's piece of mind that I *know* the airbag is off for her. My oldest daughter (who's old enough to not share weight), however, activates the system - and is of an appropriate age/weight to be sitting up front.
So what piece of information does the light give you? Does it's presence alter your use of the car in any way? Point I make is I can't alter the air bag in any way, why do I need a light telling me it's status? I think it's there from some lawsuit and gives no useful information whatsoever
If there is an adult sitting in the passenger seat and the status is Airbag OFF or unlit (unoccupied) then the owners manual suggests that you should take your car in for service.
My parents have an '08 and I have a '10. In either case, my Mom turns the airbag off (she's small and light). We've taken them to the dealer for calibration, recalibration, frustration, etc., and no satisfaction. Their advice (good, given the circumstances) is to jam the seat as far back as possible. I do not know if other cars have this same problem; itseems in tractable in the Prius. Just my $0.02. Tim
If it were me I would contact Toyota and tell them about it. Maybe there is a fix the dealer isn't aware of. It is a safety problem they should hear about. Of course if your mother is very fragile (as my mother was for a few years before she died) maybe she is better off without the air bag?
I love my wife :hug:, but we have a running joke with the kids :lol::lolwho dont activate the light) that, It is an airbag detector warning :blah: .... when she is sitting there. Good thing I don't ride there too often. Even better thing that she doesnt read these forums :brick::hippie:
Reading all this it looks like my sensor is broken, the Airbag On light is always on, wheather or not there is somebody in the passeger seat. The dealer says thats normal behaviour.... Mike
It isn't normal behavior for the North American Prius. You should look at your owner's manual that came with your car. In the NA version, the owner's manual has a section to explain the use and operation of the supplemental restraint system including the passenger seat airbag sensor.
I solved the problem (which annoyed us both, particularly on night drives) by cutting an appropriate piece of window tint foil (can be had for free at any shop doing window tint) and applying it (using a little water - same principle as when applying tint to the windows) to the area where the lamps are. They remain visible, but much more discreet.
I like the way my Honda Odyssey handles the warning better. There is only one light (pass airbag off) and it stays off all the time, unless I put some weight in the front seat that didn't meet the minimal requirement, just to let me know that even though I’m carrying something or someone in the front seat, the airbag is OFF. Bottom line, the OFF light rarely comes on... just a smarter way to do it... kudos for Honda in this one... :clap2::clap2::clap2:
It seems to me that the passenger air bag function is correct BUT that once you have been driving for a minute or so the light could go off until there is a system malfunction or the passenger gets out and back into the car. Yesterday I had two friends in the car for the first time. Both in their 90s. One was below the weight threshold so the airbag light stay on but said it was OFF. The other was heavy enough and the light stayed on but said it waw ON. Both situations would have been very fine with me if after a minute or so the light had just gone out. I'm going to make a bigger deal out of this and see where it goes.
