Side Airbag Help Please

[ZAP]

bugster, the Airbags need sensors to activate to send the signal that you are having a crash and to activate the airbags. The side airbags are activated by sensors in the B pillar (pillar between the doors). I do not think your car will have these, so you will not be able to get this working without them. I also suspect this is why the AB light is on.

You would be best to reverse engineer the airbags out of the car to avoid any problems. Pull the skins of the front seats and put them on your old seats.

If they airbags accidentially activated and caused an accident, you would be liable and the insurance company could be nasty and not cover you. It is not worth playing around with this type of thing as they are safety devices and are engineered to work a certain way. It is not like puting a new exhaust or wheels on the car, it is serious business and should be left to professionals.

[jetute]

check the B pillar... whats the bet they are in the B pillar.... pull it aprt and have a look it cant hurt anyway

[cobrav8]

Take this information to your service manager, along with a signed waiver to exclude Ford from any liability, that it is your own responsibility as if there are no airbags - give him a copy and keep one in the glovebox.

[bugster70]

Take this information to your service manager, along with a signed waiver to exclude Ford from any liability, that it is your own responsibility as if there are no airbags - give him a copy and keep one in the glovebox.

←

I already offered to do that and they still wouldn't do it.

[FORDTECH]

Bugster,

The seats that you removed would have had resistors in place of the side airbags(the yellow connector plugs into them).If you still have the original seats simply remove them and plug them back into your wiring connectors and the light should stay off and the system will work as normal.The air bag system is controlled by what is called a RCM(Restraint Control Module).It "cannot" be reconfigured and there are different modules depending on the air bags fitted to the vehicle.

[bugster70]

Bugster,

            The seats that you removed would have had resistors in place of the side airbags(the yellow connector plugs into them).If you still have the original seats simply remove them and plug them back into your wiring connectors and the light should stay off and the system will work as normal.The air bag system is controlled by what is called a RCM(Restraint Control Module).It "cannot" be reconfigured and there are different modules depending on the air bags fitted to the vehicle.

←

FORDTECH, many thanks for your response, sounds like it could be the way forward, at last!!

I actually swapped my seats but I can probably still get back to them if I need to. But I'm a little unclear as to what you are saying/suggesting. I recall some yellow plugs and now obviously have the new leather seats with airbags. Why do I need to access my old seats exactly?

If the old seats had resistors in place, then the new ones won't have them 'cos they have the airbags, right? Are you saying I should get the resistors from the old seats and put them in the new plugs? If that's the case, won't that mean the new seat airbags won't be functional? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick here?!

[bugster70]

Actually, I think I get it. I THINK that what you are saying is that I will need to put in the resistors from the old seats. The RCM cannot be reflashed/reconfigured as I first thought/hoped thought, and there are different RCMs depending on how many airbags you have. So, short of actually changing my RCM for one that has already been configured for side airbags (is this feasible?), my only other option is to put the resistors back in, rendering my side airbags non-functional. Is that correct? Bummer.

[FORDTECH]

Actually, I think I get it. I THINK that what you are saying is that I will need to put in the resistors from the old seats. CORRECT.The resistors look like blanking plugs with no wiring coming out the back of them(Yellow plugs)

The RCM cannot be reflashed/reconfigured as I first thought/hoped thought, and there are different RCMs depending on how many airbags you have. So, short of actually changing my RCM for one that has already been configured for side airbags (is this feasible?), my only other option is to put the resistors back in, rendering my side airbags non-functional. Is that correct? EXACTLY.  Bummer. 

←

[bugster70]

Actually, I think I get it. I THINK that what you are saying is that I will need to put in the resistors from the old seats. CORRECT.The resistors look like blanking plugs with no wiring coming out the back of them(Yellow plugs)

The RCM cannot be reflashed/reconfigured as I first thought/hoped thought, and there are different RCMs depending on how many airbags you have. So, short of actually changing my RCM for one that has already been configured for side airbags (is this feasible?), my only other option is to put the resistors back in, rendering my side airbags non-functional. Is that correct? EXACTLY.  Bummer. 

←

←

Thanks for confirming that. Seems a crying shame to have two perfectly good airbags that won't work. So I assume that it isn't feasible to swap over RCMs? The guy who has my old seats is registering exactly the same problem with his dash airbag light. If we could swap RCMs both our issues would be resolved. Is this an option?

[Paradoxx]

You could go to a wrecker or get your hands on a replacement RCM and sensors for the B pillars, then you would have functioning side airbags no?