Passenger side air bag shut-off switch

[Diesel Dan]

Hello everyone,



A while back some posted info on contacting the gov about having a passenger side airbad shut-off switch installed on a 03. Like the one on my 01.



Does anyone remember the info or can direct my in the right direction. My 8 year old son wants badly to ride in the front of the new 03.



Can't see as i blame him





Thanks



DD



(time to update my sig)

 

[RankRam]

I went to my dealer and they were no help. I and my son would like that too.

 

[ImagesThatSing]

I talked first to my dealer, then wrote a letter to Daimler Chrysler, but have gotten no satisfaction from either encounter.

They had a good idea on my 99, but then forgot the good idea in the 03.

Kids like up front too!

 

[rbattelle]

If you guys remove the center bezel you'll find there is a connector already wired in place for the airbag switch. You only need to get the switch itself!



I was under the impression that only regular cab trucks got the switch, and they assume that in a quad cab you will place children in the back seat.

 

[Trizae]

go to the dealer,,,,,,,, order the switch,,,,, it comes in every 02-04 DR regular cab,,,,,,,, and yes it is pre-wired

 

[kf6ivi]

To do this the legal way you will need to contact the National highway traffic and safety administration. You can go to their web site at http://www.nhtsa.gov/airbags From them you will need a letter authorizing the installation of an air bag switch. This is the easy part you. Download the form and fax it back to them. About 1-2 weeks you will get a letter back allowing you to do this.



Now the hard part is finding the parts. The dash is wired for the switch. The dealer can find the part number for the airbag switch and order it without any problems. The very hard part is getting the bezel that mounts the switch to the dash. My dealer is looking for the part number right now. (Over 6 weeks now). This part is shown in the parts manual without any numbers. I think this is how D. C. prevents any unauthorized installs.



Do any of you know the part number? I have the proper paperwork at hand.



I have even asked the parts man to go out and look in a new stander cab for part number.



Thanks Ethan

 

[kf6ivi]

update

I now have a passenger airbag switch installed on my 2003 Quad cab. It only took a 8 weeks to find the right parts. The 2003 parts list does not have a part number for the bezel. But the 2004 parts list does. Had to look up 2004 for the parts. The parts are simple to install. The only hard part is you have to program the trucks computer; so it know it has an airbag switch. Now I can feel safer with my kids in the front of the truck.

 

[RobertBolinger]

So exactly how did you program the computer?

 

[kf6ivi]

The dealer has a reader/ programmer that is used with the data jack under the dash. I am sorry if my prior massages made you think I was that smart to reprogram my own truck. Trust me, I am not that smart.



Ethan

 

[RobertBolinger]

You are smart enough to know that it's not a good idea to put children in front with a front airbag. I see plenty of kids way under 12 at my kid's school riding in the front of airbag equipped cars... although Csaba Csere, editor of Car and Driver magazine believes that his young daughter can ride in the front. http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=1981&page_number=1

He makes some good points, in that by far the vast number of children airbag deaths were caused by either using rear facing child seats or unbelted children-thus allowing them to get too close to the quickly inflating airbag-maybe exploding is more accurate. Most of these crashes were otherwise survivable. I think airbags are a good idea in some cases, but designing them to prevent injury (thus inflating so fast) from someone too hard headed to use something as simple as a seatbelt escapes logic... in my humble opinion. My wife is hesitant to trust the on/off switchs-I know she won't trust the new generation of sensors designed to control air bag deployment based on occupant size/weight. My 2 cents...

 

[bighammer]

Originally posted by kf6ivi

To do this the legal way you will need to contact the National highway traffic and safety administration. You can go to their web site at http://www.nhtsa.gov/airbags From them you will need a letter authorizing the installation of an air bag switch. This is the easy part you. Download the form and fax it back to them. About 1-2 weeks you will get a letter back allowing you to do this.



Now the hard part is finding the parts. The dash is wired for the switch. The dealer can find the part number for the airbag switch and order it without any problems. The very hard part is getting the bezel that mounts the switch to the dash. My dealer is looking for the part number right now. (Over 6 weeks now). This part is shown in the parts manual without any numbers. I think this is how D. C. prevents any unauthorized installs.



Do any of you know the part number? I have the proper paperwork at hand.



I have even asked the parts man to go out and look in a new stander cab for part number.



Thanks Ethan

The parts person at the local dealer looked it up and found it. EDIT: PART NUMBER WAS WRONG so I removed it from this post. Sorry for any inconvenience.



I'm not sure I get this permission from NHTSA thing. If they don't OK it, my dealer won't program the computer properly. So then either a guy does it himself so none of the airbags work, or don't do anything and have kids in front with the airbags. Makes no sense at all to me.

 

[Pawpaw]

Originally posted by bighammer

Makes no sense at all to me.

Our government at work.

 

[RobertBolinger]

The NTHSA approval is very easy to get-complete and fax in the form located at:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/airbags/brochure/SwitchRequest.PDF

to 202 493 2833, and in about 5 days you will have approval via US Mail-it's very simple.

 

[DPelletier]

Hey guys,

I was under the impression that the new generation of "low impact" air bags were far less dangerous than those used in previous years. I have an 11 yo daughter and 13 yo son and I let them ride in the front all the time (wearing the seat belt, of course). Putting children in rearward facing car seats in the back seems to make sense to me. Even if there was a switch, what if you forgot to turn it off? I'm not sure I'd turn the front airbag off even if I did have a switch with my children. Isn't it possible that the airbag would do them some good (as they are designed to do) in the event of a collision. Before anyone points out the deaths related to infants and airbags, my understanding is that most of them were in car seats, most of the remainder weren't wearing seat belts AND the air bag deployment force has been significantly reduced. Opinions?



Dave

 

[RobertBolinger]

Dave,



You are right-read the following article I also linked to above:

http://www.caranddriver.com/article...1&page_number=1



I believe that all the children killed were in some way too close to the older style air bags when it deployed-I know a boy was standing up in a Camaro, a girl was leaning over looking in the glovebox in a minivan, and several were killed because of being placed in rear facing seats in front of a air bag-one child was killed in a F-150 in a rear facing seat and the air bag switch was not turned off



Robert

 

[guava]

I'd like to point out that this isn't about AGE..... most laws read in conditions about height and weight. The new sensors in the seat and even the seatbelts are WEIGHT sensitive.

If you have a short, light weight 14 year old, they won't be as protected as a tall, heavy weight 10 year old.

Many times, kids don't weigh enough to engage the inertial locks of the seatbelts as fast as an adult might. Therefore they slide farther forward before the seatbelt locks. Then airbag deploys hitting kids in the forehead and breaking their neck.

This is why short people(adults) are at risk too.

Don't truck the seat sensor or the seatbelt if your going to let kids ride in the front. Get the 'mechanical' switch to assure lock out of the airbag.

 

[juicedcummins]

I looked into this and it can be done here in Canada also. Do a search on Transport Canada and if you look around you will find that the form can be ordered by mail or printed off line. Any of the dealers that I talked to said that they would do it no prob as long as you dot the i's and cross the t's for the government.



Chrysler on the other hand was a complete JOKE on this matter and all they would say was it was up to the government. The operator one the phone gave me some attitude after she could only come up with a mailing address to inquire if it could even be done! Whats wrong with a telephone# or an e-mail address? Looks like Chrysler could use a little house cleaning along with our Liberal government!

1-800-465-2001 is the # if you want to Harass Chrysler in Canada.



No 04 on order here!

 

[Blakers]

I currently have in my hands my trusty pocket sized copy of the United States Constitution. I'm looking for this "National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration" and can't seem to find it. Can someone point out where it is mentioned?



I'm trying to read where it says I have to contact them to get permission to install a switch to protect myself and my family from an explosive device installed in front of their face in MY truck. Let me repeat, MY TRUCK. I paid for it with MY money!



Someone, please point this out in my little book!

 

[RobertBolinger]

Hey Blakers, I'm with you, it ain't there! But there is a lot of stuff they will put you in the pokey for that ain't there either (full auto w/o class III).



If you put a simple cutoff switch to the wires feeding the bag it would be defeated, but would also turn the airbag MIL on-I read a story about a guy who did his own-took ohm readings across the bag and got a resistor and put in place of the bag-no airbag deployment, no MIL either



I wish they had shutoff switches for both sides-not that I would cut it off because I think they help in horrific high speed wrecks-the problem is the government trying to make a "magic hand" that will restrain somebody too bull headed (or otherwise unwilling) to fasten their seat belt-the people that have been killed by these things are almost always killed in a wreck that was otherwise survivable -even unbelted in some of them. I would only want mine to deploy in accidents where it could be a benefit to a belted driver/rider (over certain MPH/G force). When airbags were first required I read a story about two cars that collided head on on a 2 lane at about 70MPH-both had air bags and both people walked away from the accident. That's the kind of wreck I'm talking about...

 

[rbattelle]

Anyone who installed a passenger airbag switch willing to sell me the dummy panel that originally came in the truck? I could use one for a project!