Hi there,
I’ve bought myself a Sabelt 0-90 for my NB 2.5FL (just driver’s side) and wanted to know before I started work how best to keep the warning lights and electrical system happy, especially the airbag light/system
I noticed that when I removed the passenger seat and disconnected the electrical connection under it that it triggered the airbag warning light.
I intend to bolt the seat onto the rails so hoping to relocate the seatbelt and it’s connector but is the occupancy sensor a different connector which I’ll need to short or move?
As I still plan to daily the car I wanted to know what people have done/recommend to keep the systems happy/functional?
Want advice would be greatly appreciated
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The seat-belt pre-tensioner connector is part of the airbag system and that is probably what is triggering the warning. Swapping the pre-tensioner is not easy as it is an explosive device. Talk to the person who supplied you with the seat to see if it is compatible with the pre-tensioner. If not, and you really want to fit the seat, you will probably need to deactivate the whole airbag system as the pre-tensioner is an integral part of the system. Suggest you get hold of an official service manual ( not the Haynes one) and see what is involved in the airbag system.
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Iirc there is a simple mod available that fools the system into thinking that everything is connected and working - maybe a resistor or something?
Hopefully someone on here will have some info.
@Sunlight , that sounds pretty invasive. Just to be clear , is the pretensioner in the door side of the car or next to the belt clip (with the red button)? I’d be keeping the current belts and the runner (bolting the seat on to runner in place of the OEM) my main concern is whether there was anything inside the OEM seat which would need to stay to keep the system happy…
As said by @Overdrive , Ideally a box like this I saw or similar but for driver seat
The pretensioner is attached to the seat belt buckle- have a look under the seat and you will see it. It contains a small explosive charge that retracts the buckle slightly in an accident, to tension the seat belt. It works off the same sensors as the airbag. If you are keeping the entire seat runners and seat belt buckle mounting point you might be ok but you do need to ensure the new seat does not interfere with the pretensioner and that the electrical feed to the pretensioner is deactivated before you disconnect or re-connect, and you need to follow the procedure in the official workshop manual. The picture you have shown is for a passenger seat pad emulator, I have no idea how it works but it is presumably to check that any error messages on the airbag light are not due to a faulty seat pad. The passenger seat pad is there to switch the passenger side airbag off if there is no passenger. I do not know if there is a driver side seat pad sensor but I do not think so as, if there is no driver, the car is not going anywhere. Again the official workshop manual shows the circuit diagram and the sensors. You can buy a download on e-Bay. This is an example, but check for others as there may be “official” and “genuine Mazda” ! Mazda MX5 Miata Eunos MkII 1998-2005 Workshop, Service & Repair Manual DOWNLOAD | eBay
Thanks @Sunlight , I hadn’t appreciated the presence of the tensioners and actually disconnected the passenger seat to make space for the new seat to take home from the shop!
I didn’t follow a procedure and luckily I don’t appear to have done anything irreparable simply having ignition off when I was disconnecting the connector under the passenger seat. Thanks for the pointer on what I should follow.
Will take a look at getting the service manual
The pre-tensioner is in the seat belt reel on the NB. There are no air bag sensors in the driver’s side seat, only the buckle switch on later cars.
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@Roadster_Robbie ok phew… Thanks for clarifying.
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As you are only changing the driver side seat, you won’t have to think about the passenger seat pad switch. For the driver’s side the main thing is to disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and leave it for a few minutes to let the airbag ECU capacitors run down before doing any work near the seat.
Now the really good news, I’ve looked at my pdf workshop manual for a 2002-2004 Miata, and this shows the pretensioner being in the seat belt retractor, not under the seat. I assume that the buckle sensor is there to check the buckle is fastened, ( and to give an error if it is not) otherwise someone could be injured by the loose belt suddenly tightening. From your viewpoint, it means there is less concern about the new seat fitting providing you can retain the runners and buckle mounting + the buckle switch connector.