Does anyone else have a passenger airbag light that just comes on and goes off randomly when someone is sitting in the seat?

For the early part the past 2 weeks that I've owned this new car, my passenger airbag light (PAL) comes on for a few seconds when I start the motor and then goes off no matter if someone is in that seat or not.

Lately, however, it has been kind of random when someone is sitting there - on for a few minutes, off for a few minutes. I looked in the owners manual and it had some scenarios when the light should be on or off, and I guess from those that mine is malfunctioning. The people in the seat are your garden variety adults who aren't sitting in some unreasonable position.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Thanks!

 

When my 110 pound wife is sitting in the passenger seat sometimes the Passenger Airbag Disabled light will come on, especially if she turns around to deal with the baby or if she doesn't sit straight in the seat. I'm sure it is the second generation airbag thinking there is a child or small adult in the seat.

It does it in both FEH and it also did it in a Grand Caravan rental that we had a couple weeks ago.

If it does it with larger people it may be a problem. It does sound like your is not right. I take a coworker to lunch now and then and she is probably 120-125 and the PAL never comes on with her sitting in the passenger seat.

 

My Dad's 2005 Ford Mustang GT has this same problem, but he hasn't taken it back to the dealer yet to have it checked out so I have no idea what's up.

No problem in my 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid.

 

Yeah, my wife is about 110 lbs and if she is turned around partially or not sitting straight in the seat the light will come on. Basically, it is telling you that the sensors detect that a smaller person is in the seat and the airbags will either be deactivated or reduced in force should they deploy.

If the person in your passenger seat is not small or is not sitting in an awkward position and the light is coming on I would have it checked out. It could be a malfunctioning sensor.

 

I have a friend also that is probably about 110, she also causes the light to flash.

Children in car seats are supposed to be in the back where it is safe. Even without an airbag the rear seat is a safer location for a car seat. Its sad that now we are probably going to kill some adults from disabled airbags, because some people weren't willing to put their child in the safer location.

 

The reduced force/disable air bags has as much or more to do with smaller adults than kids in car seats. My mother is 4'10" tall and I have three sisters all slightly over 5' tall. If they get hit with a 1st generation airbag, they are taking it in the neck/head as opposed to taller people taking it in the upper torso.

While my almost 4 year old son has never been in the front seat of the Escape, he rides with me often when I go out in the truck - regular cab, no airbag, in a booster seat. Are you saying I am irresponsible or a bad parent?

 

It sounds as if you PAD lamp (Passenger Airbag Disabled) lamp is probably operating as intended. Ford's TSB 05-15-14 explains that the threshold for turning the lamp on is approxamately 100 lbs - but it can vary slightly depending upon how the passenger is positioned in the seat.

 

Actually from what I read the main push for the disabled airbag is the fact that people were installing rear facing child seats in the front seat with an airbag. The airbag would deploy crashing into the back of the seat and injure/kill the child. At that point the manufacturers started putting strong warnings about rear facing child seats in the front of a vehicle with airbags and started providing disable switches for people that were unwilling to do so. This migrated to the 2nd generation airbag.

Yes I have read that adults of light stature can also be injured by the airbag deployment, however the main reason for the change as I understood it was the child seat issue.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/spotlite/chldseat.htm

As for if I feel you are "irresponsible" with your little one. From what I understand he is less safe in the truck than he would be in a vehicle where he could ride in the back. But to me irresponsiblity depends on what options are available. There is no back seat in a truck, so the best option available is belting the little guy in and using a booster seat. Which is exactly what you are doing, no compaints from me. Not that my approval is important of course.

 

I am not that sure.

With the rear seat folded down, I don't know if it is really safer to put the car seat "loose" in the back with all the cargo.

The times my kid is up front, are those trips home from HD, with the back full of home improvement items. IMHO, I rather like the MMH disabling the air bag for those times.

 

Agreed, I just think it would be nice to have a switch for it or maybe something like an RFID tag you can stick to the car seat that disables the airbag rather than just using weight which seems unreliable. For one thing if you put the car seat in there and pull the seat belt really tight I've heard the airbag sensor can be fooled into thinking there is a heavy person in the seat and still be enabled. Its not foolproof.

At least you can check the light in our vehicle to ensure that the airbag is disabled with your little one in there, so thats nice.