[morgan.451]

I replaced the front seats with Sparco race seats so I could fit inside with a helmet (6'5"). Now the dash shows an airbag warning screen where my torque curve used to be. Any idea how to get rid of the warning light? I can't scroll through different screens like I used to be able to do.

I did a search and read through the first few pages and came up empty, but I can't be the only one with this issue.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I would assume the seats have airbags in the side bolsters and unplugging (and removing) them sets the light off. Maybe the dealer can disable the light?

 

[morgan.451]

I would assume the seats have airbags in the side bolsters and unplugging (and removing) them sets the light off. Maybe the dealer can disable the light?

The owners manual specifically states not to remove the seats, so I’d be surprised if they took any action to support “reducing the safety of the vehicle” in their eyes. Nevertheless, I have reached out to see what they say.

I would have thought this was as easy as plugging something in to the receptacle you detach to remove the seat, but I can’t find anything. Even the shop that did the swap doesn’t know.

 

[BlyatRZ]

You will need to figure out what the resistance is supposed to be for the airbags and then you will have to put the appropriate resistor in the harness (make a plug or add wires) to disable the light / disable the passenger occupant bladder codes.

You'd need the OE spec for the resistance to find out the ohm rating.

 

[skylinekin]

Do some searching on FT86club forums. I would stick with only changing the driver seat as the fix is pretty simple. You need to cut the end of the wiring and connector off your OEM seat and solder a resistor inline with it and plug it back in. For the gen 1 cars it was a 3.3ohm resistor.
For the passenger seat there is an occupancy sensor which is a pain to bypass properly. I did it on my gen 1 but I am not sure if its the same on the new cars yet.

 

[ALCHMST]

Wonder if you can cut off the end of the plug from the seat harness and wire the ends together on the tail end, assuming it is two wires, to complete the circuit then plug that in to the harness from the car? Am talking out of my butt as I have not seen what/if something was unplugged when you removed the seat. A lot of assumptions.

 

[skylinekin]

Wonder if you can cut off the end of the plug from the seat harness and wire the ends together on the tail end, assuming it is two wires, to complete the circuit then plug that in to the harness from the car? Am talking out of my butt as I have not seen what/if something was unplugged when you removed the seat. A lot of assumptions.

that’s exactly what you have to do but put a 3.3 ohm resistor inline with the wiring. Without it the computer still knows there is no airbag as there is no resistance present in the circuit.

 

[Ritter]

Might be able to put an ammeter in series with the circuit and measure the current. Then, measure the voltage across the load.

Ohm’s Law:

E = I * R and R = E / I
where:
E = DC voltage
I = DC current
R = Resistance

 

[morgan.451]

I appreciate the information. I'll try looking for some resistors on Amazon and see if I can find some. Unfortunately I did both the driver and passenger seats for aesthetics some my problems have doubled.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Anyone come up with a clean solution to this? Something plug and play would be ideal. I see Bride has an "airbag canceller" but it still has to be wired in.

 

[removedonut]

Anyone come up with a clean solution to this? Something plug and play would be ideal. I see Bride has an "airbag canceller" but it still has to be wired in.

As far as i’m aware, nobody has successfully eliminated the airbag warning when replacing the passenger seat. Driver seat is easy, just jam a resistor into the connector. Passenger seat, I’ve posted how it could be done in theory, but nobody has actually tried it yet. You need to remove the 4 occupancy mats, transfer them to the new seat, and recalibrate them in techstream. In addition to the same resistor trick as the driver side.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Yeah. I have the driver's side figured out. But I have a matching set of recaros that I want to put in.

Do some searching on FT86club forums. I would stick with only changing the driver seat as the fix is pretty simple. You need to cut the end of the wiring and connector off your OEM seat and solder a resistor inline with it and plug it back in. For the gen 1 cars it was a 3.3ohm resistor.
For the passenger seat there is an occupancy sensor which is a pain to bypass properly. I did it on my gen 1 but I am not sure if its the same on the new cars yet.

How did you bypass it?

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Is anyone actively working on a solution for this? Perhaps someone who understands wiring diagrams can tell us what needs to be done to spoof it?

 

[removedonut]

Is anyone actively working on a solution for this? Perhaps someone who understands wiring diagrams can tell us what needs to be done to spoof it?

Spoofing this would require a device that can transmit LINBUS messages that simulate a nominal reading from the occupancy sensor.
I’ve posted in this thread (directly above your first post) how this problem could theoretically be solved by removing the occupancy mats and reinstalling them in the new seat, and then recalibrating the occupancy detection system in techstream. feel free to try it.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I haven't pulled the seat or taken it apart yet. Are the occupancy sensors integral to the seat or do they attach after the fact? Can they just be left plugged in and tucked under the seat and re-zeroed aftewards?

 

[BlyatRZ]

I haven't pulled the seat or taken it apart yet. Are the occupancy sensors integral to the seat or do they attach after the fact? Can they just be left plugged in and tucked under the seat and re-zeroed aftewards?

The sensor / fluid bag is usually in between the cushion and the seat bottom. You would need to arrange it the same way in the new seat. You can try just stuffing it under the seat to turn the light off, but it will likely prevent the passenger airbags from deploying in the event of an accident since the seat is "not occupied" according to the car

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

The sensor / fluid bag is usually in between the cushion and the seat bottom. You would need to arrange it the same way in the new seat. You can try just stuffing it under the seat to turn the light off, but it will likely prevent the passenger airbags from deploying in the event of an accident since the seat is "not occupied" according to the car

Ahhh. I was hoping for a simple resistor or something that could tell it someone was always in the seat.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Anyone have experience with the Recaro universal resistor for the driver's seat? It seems like everyone is using the Bridge resistor but the recaro seems like a cleaner install if it works.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

Where did the 2.2 Ohm value for the airbag come from anyway. The most I've measured across the two pins on the seat/airbag side is 0.4 Ohms.

 

[removedonut]

Where did the 2.2 Ohm value for the airbag come from anyway. The most I've measured across the two pins on the seat/airbag side is 0.4 Ohms.
View attachment 17751
View attachment 17752

It’s just a nominal value, within a certain range any resistance presented to the airbag control module will make it happy. 2.2 ohm is a common and easy to find spec for resistors, people have used other values successfully as well.