chevyss

Just a quick question. I test drove another HHR SS today and noticed that there was a light on the dashboard that said passenger side airbag is off or off line. Is there a switch to deactivate the airbag?

sleeper

Not that I know of, when someone sits in that seat, it will then show "On" & be active..

Sunflowerhippi

It is also set up to register the weight (as per the manual) to know the weight of the person and if it is a smaller child it will not turn it on. This is the same for cars with 2 seats so that you can put car seats in the front seat without arming the airbag.

Father Azmodius

FYI, There is an air bladder under the seat bottom connected to a control module under the seat which then plugs into a harness, that I suspect leads to the BCM.

ChevyMgr

If the light does not turn on then that person should NOT be sitting in that seat. They need to be in the back seat. Child seats should not be in the front passenger seat either.

If it's not plugged in the air bags are disabled and the air bag warning light will stay on in the dash.

harleysshhr

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I am not trying to test your answer. I have a panel ; Is there a WARNING in the owner's manual that states the children cannot ride in this vehicle if they don't meet specified requirements?

Father Azmodius

The airbag light will warn you if the airbag has been removed as well. OnStar has fits with it as well. I'll have it back in when I finish the dash.

ChevyMgr

I was speaking from common sense towards safety of children. Rear seats are a much better place for a child to be safe and secure.

But you and your smoking baby can ride any way you see fit.

The owners manual states the following about the front seat air bag when speaking about car seats.
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Securing a Child Restraint in the Right Front Seat Position
Your vehicle has airbags. A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child restraint. See Where to Put the Restraint .

In addition, your vehicle has a passenger sensing system which is designed to turn off the right front passenger's frontal airbag under certain conditions. See Passenger Sensing System and Passenger Airbag Status Indicator for more information on this, including important safety information.

A label on your sun visor says, "Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front." This is because the risk to the rear-facing child is so great, if the airbag deploys.

Caution: A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be seriously injured or killed if the right front passenger airbag inflates. This is because the back of the rear-facing child restraint would be very close to the inflating airbag. A child in a forward-facing child restraint can be seriously injured or killed if the right front passenger airbag inflates and the passenger seat is in a forward position.

Even if the passenger sensing system has turned off the right front passenger frontal airbag, no system is fail-safe. No one can guarantee that an airbag will not deploy under some unusual circumstance, even though it is turned off.


Secure rear-facing child restraints in a rear seat, even if the airbag is off. If you secure a forward-facing child restraint in the right front seat, always move the front passenger seat as far back as it will go. It is better to secure the child restraint in a rear seat.

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Passenger Sensing System
Your vehicle has a passenger sensing system for the right front passenger's position. The passenger airbag status indicator will be visible on the instrument panel when you start your vehicle.

The words ON and OFF, or the symbol for on and off, will be visible during the system check. If you are using remote start to start your vehicle from a distance, if equipped, you may not see the system check. When the system check is complete, either the word ON or the word OFF, or the symbol for on or the symbol for off, will be visible. See Passenger Airbag Status Indicator.

The passenger sensing system will turn off the right front passenger's frontal airbag under certain conditions. The driver's airbags are not part of the passenger sensing system.

The passenger sensing system works with sensors that are part of the right front passenger's seat and safety belt. The sensors are designed to detect the presence of a properly-seated occupant and determine if the right front passenger's frontal airbag should be enabled (may inflate) or not.

Accident statistics show that children are safer if they are restrained in the rear rather than the front seat.

We recommend that children be secured in a rear seat, including: an infant or a child riding in a rear-facing child restraint; a child riding in a forward-facing child seat; an older child riding in a booster seat; and children, who are large enough, using safety belts.

A label on your sun visor says, "Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front." This is because the risk to the rear-facing child is so great, if the airbag deploys.
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Since the vast majority of people do not read an owners manual, how many know to put the seat to it's furthest back position when using a forward facing child seat? How many know to not ever have a rear facing child seat in the right front seat?

I will stand by my statement that children and child seats are safest in the rear seats. Why would you let a child, not in a child seat, sit in the right front seat if the air bag was not armed, due to their weight being below the threshold? Isn't safety for a child what it's all about?

harleysshhr

Thanks for the time of your explanation.

ChevyMgr

You're welcome.