passenger air bag light weight requirement?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by thehabs, Nov 10, 2011.

  1. thehabs

    thehabs New Member

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    I have not found an answer to this elsewhere, so am tossing this out to all of you for consideration: My wife weighs about 100 pounds. Quite often, when she gets into the passenger seat, the air bag light will not come on. She usually must position her legs/body a certain way and eventually it will come on; at times, she has had to get out of the car & get back into the seat and I must turn the car off and back on for it to illuminate. Anyone else experience this sort of issue? Anyone know what the weight requirement is for the air bag light to work?

    2010 Prius

    Thanks!
     
    #1 thehabs, Nov 10, 2011
  2. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    79.3 lbs is the cutoff. Has she tried holding her purse in her lap? Being seated cross-legged before you start the car?
     
    #2 seilerts, Nov 11, 2011
  3. Feri

    Feri Active Member

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    Does this suggest aproblem with the sensor? a bag of shopping will activate my sensor.
     
    #3 Feri, Nov 11, 2011
  4. macman408

    macman408 Electron Guidance Counselor

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    And that's 79.3 lbs on the seat, if that's not obvious. If she's putting 20 lbs of weight on her feet, that'd do it. Also, it looks like there's an allowable uncertainty of ±7 lbs or so - so the cutoff is really more like 72-86 lbs.
     
    #4 macman408, Nov 13, 2011
  5. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    I'm guessing the American version is less sensitive than the Euro/Japanese versions as mine too will activate with something like a small bag of shopping or even a laptop bag.
     
    #5 GrumpyCabbie, Nov 14, 2011
  6. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Out of curiosity, do you have a source for this # as well as any additional criteria like the distribution of the weight? Do you know of some FMVSS that specifies the requirement succinctly?

    (I only ask because I recall trying to look into this a year or two ago since my mom claims that sometimes in her 07 NAH, when certain people sit in the passenger seat, the passenger airbag deactivated light comes on.)
     
    #6 cwerdna, Nov 14, 2011
  7. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    It's in the service manual.

    To check calibration, the zero point calls for putting steel weights in the front seat. I used a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid on a friend's '07 a few months ago.
     
    #7 seilerts, Nov 14, 2011
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Don't put anything under the seat. A purse or other object can lift the seat, preventing the weight sensor from functioning.

    Tom
     
    #8 qbee42, Nov 14, 2011
  9. Yogi56

    Yogi56 New Member

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    The gen 3 air bag light directly in the psgr line of sight. Bad design for night driving. Had my window tinter put limo tint over it.
     
    #9 Yogi56, Nov 14, 2011
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