Hi all

 

Attempting to clear the car of the kids' sweet wrappers etc I discovered a blue connector hanging down from the driver seat and seemingly... unconnected. It was in turn connected to a square of transparent plastic with a resistor embedded in it and a label attached (photo attached). I'd be very grateful if someone could tell me what it is and - perhaps more importantly - if it should be attached to anything! I should add that the car seat isn't heated or electronically operated in any way.

 

Thanks in advance!

IMG_1586.heic

3 hours ago, WilliamG said:

Hi all

 

Attempting to clear the car of the kids' sweet wrappers etc I discovered a blue connector hanging down from the driver seat and seemingly... unconnected. It was in turn connected to a square of transparent plastic with a resistor embedded in it and a label attached (photo attached). I'd be very grateful if someone could tell me what it is and - perhaps more importantly - if it should be attached to anything! I should add that the car seat isn't heated or electronically operated in any way.

 

Thanks in advance!

IMG_1586.heic 1.36 MB · 12 downloads

 

Does the end opposite the two wires have plug-in contacts? A pure guess, some kind of end of line resistor to simulate a module that's not required to be connected.

Edited 19 October, 20232 yr by Warrior193
grammar

Can you take an image of all the writing on the label?

It is the passenger seat occupancy sensor.

 

connects to a contact element Inside the seat and yes the blue end just hangs under the seat albeit should be quite high up under the base and out of sight.

 

the bit in the bottom of your photo going towards the foam goes under the foam on the metal base and creates a pressure sensor 

Edited 19 October, 20232 yr by ApertureS

The resistor is the EOL (end of line) monitoring resistor, as it is a safety related system the controller should see the resistance across the wires which switches to a short circuit zero resistance when someone is in the seat, if it sees an open circuit it means the circuit is inoperable usually by someone disconnecting it.

 

Sounds like yours has been disconnected which should bring up a fault code.

I guess that means the seatbelt alarm won't work and also the air bag?

Airbags should all work, they are primarily intended for non seat belt wearers anyway.

 

Seatbelt alarm would not work if it were the passenger seat, not sure what goes on when the ECU thinks the car is being driven without a driver, I'll sit up from the seat next time mine bongs when I'm driving without one off the highway.

8 hours ago, J.R. said:

Airbags should all work, they are primarily intended for non seat belt wearers anyway.

Definitely not the case!

Airbags are designed to be used in conjunction with seat belts. Pre tensioners to position you correctly and airbags to prevent head damage mainly (except knee bags to prevent submarining). If the seat belt isn’t plugged in they will not activate in a crash, as hitting an object and travelling forward at 60mph whilst that airbag deploys at Xmph back into you will do a whole lot more damage than if it didn’t deploy at all - if you’re not belted in that is.

 

They are called SRS officially - supplementary restraints - not a replacement and definitely not effective without a seatbelt.

Thanks for the correction, I should have said "were" as in the original fitments of mainly steering wheel airbags were to reduce the death figures of non seat belt wearers, I agree that nowadays they are but one element of an integrated active safety system.

 

I can see that a passenger airbag would not deploy if the seat did not sense an occupant but would not be so sure about the drivers doing the same because it's a reasonable assumption that someone must be driving the vehicle.

 

I'm not sure I agree with your thoughts regarding being safer without airbags if not wearing a seatbelt, whilst its true that a steering wheel airbag has the potential to injure a non restrained driver that injury would be far less than impacting the steering wheel and windscreen without its protection, that was after all the scenario that led to their introduction.

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

Thanks for the correction, I should have said "were" as in the original fitments of mainly steering wheel airbags were to reduce the death figures of non seat belt wearers, I agree that nowadays they are but one element of an integrated active safety system.

 

I can see that a passenger airbag would not deploy if the seat did not sense an occupant but would not be so sure about the drivers doing the same because it's a reasonable assumption that someone must be driving the vehicle.

 

I'm not sure I agree with your thoughts regarding being safer without airbags if not wearing a seatbelt, whilst its true that a steering wheel airbag has the potential to injure a non restrained driver that injury would be far less than impacting the steering wheel and windscreen without its protection, that was after all the scenario that led to their introduction.

You’re right that originally they were an ‘alternative’ to seat belts.

 

you are right the drivers seat doesn’t have an occupancy sensor as - all going well, someone is sitting there when the vehicle is moving.

 

airbags will do more damage without a seatbelt - imagine you tripped over and fell face first onto the ground, it’s going to hurt. Now imagine I said I was going to catch your fall with a baseball bat coming towards you, i think I’d rather fall on the floor.

 

but I’m sure we can all agree, seat belts and airbags are safety critical and should be worn/used 

Yes I agree.

 

The deployment of the airbag and specifically the deflation absorbs the energy over a period of time, softens the blow if you like rather like a crumple zone assuming a seat belt is worn to maintain the initial safe distance while it is inflating, not wearing one means your head will impact it while it is in explosive inflation, the baseball bat as you call it, still preferable to hitting the steering wheel or windscreen by which time your head will have gained much more forward velocity and momentum before hitting something really hard.

 

Back to the OP, he said that the sensor was under the drivers seat, your following comments about the sensor being under the passenger seat made more sense to me, was it a typo or could his vehicle be high mileage and someone has cannibalised a wear free passenger seat to replace the worn drivers one?

 

Over to @WilliamG

Stripped down many of these seats, the drivers seat 100% should not/does not have one.

 

As @J.R. has said, chances are someone has possibly stolen a seat base to make it work. Which would make sense as to why its not plugged in, as there is no wiring or need for it.

Hi guys. Really appreciate all the thoughtful comments! There are no error codes associated with this that I can find and seatbelt warnings all appear to work. It’s the driver’s seat so as someone says presumably “occupancy” is taken for granted (until these things are fully autonomous…). I can’t get better photos without extensive yoga training as this was the only one of 100s taken using my mobile that was in focus! My thought was that it was a load to simulate a non-installed option (seat heating?) but I know little about cars so threw myself on the mercy of the hive mind!

How many miles?

 

How many previous owners?

 

Any that could be Taxi operators?

 

Any other evidence of worn or suspiciously unworn parts like steering wheel, column stalks, drivers door armrest etc?

Check for the occupancy sensor being in place and connected on the passenger seat especially if it looks more worn than the drivers seat.