Remove passenger seat and airbag issues

[Ggjors]

2nd gen Toyota Tacoma, TRd Offroad, Double Cab

I removed my front passenger seat.
The airbag light is on, presumably meaning that the airbags will not deploy in an accident.
How can I leave the passenger seat out and keep my driver’s side airbag in working condition?

 

[bkg]

2nd gen Toyota Tacoma, TRd Offroad, Double Cab

I removed my front passenger seat.
The airbag light is on, presumably meaning that the airbags will not deploy in an accident.
How can I leave the passenger seat out and keep my driver’s side airbag in working condition?

Why remove the front pass seat? At least share that for the insanely curious!

Airbag light means there’s no one in the passenger seat.

there’s a Weight sensor that supposedly ensures the airbaggoes off if there’s a person in the seat, IIRC.

 

[Herbie]

There's a continuity test built into the airbag harness - when the airbag is disconnected, the warning light is turned on. You could, theoretically, bypass this by wiring a resistor to the correct terminals on the wiring harness that would have plugged into the seat.

Which pins and what value of resistor is left as an exercise for someone with access to a factory wiring diagram.

 

[Ggjors]

I want to put a fridge in.
So it sounds like this might be a giant pain in the butt?

 

[jgaz]

@Herbie is exactly right, at least in my one time experience.

I loaned my wife’s Dodge caravan to a friend so he could transport his mother from Florida home to Michigan. Mom was in a straight leg cast from hip to toe. We decided the easiest way to transport her was for her to ride in the RH, middle row, captains chair.

We removed the RF passenger seat to allow for her
straight leg. This worked perfectly.

I used a factory wiring diagram and jumped the proper terminals with a resistor (that I can’t remember the value of)

I was concerned that the warning light would make the whole air bag system inop. No one could ever tell me if that would have been the case.

Be careful screwing with an air bag system. A mistake could be expensive, or potentially dangerous.

 

[4runnerteq]

Why not remove the back seat and put the fridge there? Don’t go jumping wire on the air bag system. That thing go off and injure you and be very costly to fix.

 

[Herbie]

Can you remove the sensor array out of seat frame ?
Then simply plug in the modules. Hide them under the carpet or something ?

The "sensor" is typically a continuity test that actually checks the low-current resistance of the airbag itself. The airbag computer passes a low voltage over the wire and measures the current to ensure the airbag is present and in nominal condition. When the airbag is disconnected, no current flows, hence the warning light.