How to disable passanger airbag on commercial vehicle?

M

me,me,me

Guest
Hi, I wonder can anyone help me. In order to carry a baby seat occassionally in a small commercial vehicle - the type that has no seats in the back - is it possible to disable the passanger airbag in the front ? I understand it would not be safe to put a baby seat in the front passanger seat because of the airbag. I have looked up the vehicle manual and cannot see anything - maybe it is because 99.9% of the vehicle models sold internationally have seats in the back. There are a good few commercial jeeps / car derived vans around now and I wonder can anyone help me on this / come across it before ? Maybe some fuse that can be taken out ?
 
sorry,have no knowledge or experience of this, but just a guess - i'd imagine that airbags need some power source to deploy? if a power source is in use in a car, its a safe bet that there is a fuse somewhere corresponding to your passenger air bag. check your manual and have a look at the fuse box in your van, if there is a fuse there for your passenger airbag, you could just remove it. that should sort it?
 
just a further thought;

might be worth checking if dissabling an air bag has any repercussions vis-a-vis NCT test or insurance. any motor insurance i've taken out usually asks 'has your car been modified in any way....' - you usually say no.

if you have 'modified' your vehicle, i.e. dissabled the airbag, you might invalidate your insurance, as a contract for insurance is a 'uberrimae fidei' contract, in other words, you are under an obligation to inform the insurer of any material fact that may influene their decision whether or not to insure you. if you do not inform them of any such fact, they can void your policy!!

sorry to throw a spanner in the works! get advice at least from teh garage you bought the van from.
 
As far as I am aware, most passanger side airbags have the option to disable them for this type of scenario. Current car (old one) donesn't have passanger side airbags so it is a moot point, but the last car had a switch which could be toggled. I guess a quick call to your dealer/garage should be able to sort it out.

However, you should obviously be careful when doing this and if possible re-enable it when not carrying the babyseat.

z
 
Me, me,me,

Be careful with the passenger side airbag. Most (passenger) cars as previously pointed out have a "toggle" switch that turns off the deployment of a PSA. Usually (depending on brand of car) this is controlled with a smaller key that fits a lock somewhere in or around the passanger side dash-board.

The reason I would advise caution is becasue the PSA can be deployed by a pyrotechnic charge (i.e. it is "fired" much like a shotgun case, this is why they can be disabled in passenger cars, for the little people) I would bring it to a registered garage and have it looked at before I went messing around with any fuse/fitting etc. The whole charge would have to be removed in order to make it safe should you not have a toggle switch in your vehcile, which is likely as it is commercial,that of course is not to say it couldn't/can't be adapted!

Rgds

S
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top