Possible safety issue with Steering CB pull
 

NOTE: I started a new thread about this as I believe it may be a safety issue. As a former USMC safety officer, I am a little cautions about this kind of stuff.

Also, I am away from My Z for a few days so cannot investigate/troubleshoot this issue until Monday. I am soliciting input from the membership to Illuminate or dismiss a possible hazard until I can get back to my car.

I have posted per this issue in the other steering lock c.b. thread, but here is the concern:

In a normally functioning '09 6mt/sport 370Z, If you pull out the passenger seat belt all the way (until it retracts in "one way locking retraction mode") and lock in a Child seat, the airbag indicator on the dash should light up yellow to indicate that the airbag has been disabled.

It may be a co-incidence, but I noticed that after my Steering lock CB pull, this feature no longer seems to function.

It believe it would be easy to check by anybody who is interested by performing the following steps:

1. pulling the steering lock CB.

then:

2a.putting in a car seat per instructions in the manual.
or
2b. simulating a car seat install by pulling the belt all the way out as if putting in a child seat but NOT ACTUALLY bolting in a seat just inserting the buckle AS IF there were a seat installed. This test should take about 10 seconds.

If you take the above steps and (like me), your airbag disable light does not illuminate, then we CB pullers (with kids) have something to be aware of.

I'd be interested to hear what others say. Perhaps I just had a coincident malfunction and this is a non-issue, but I think it would be an important thing to know if it affects airbag functionality.

p.s. I will definitely troubleshoot this and post my findings next week when I get back to my car! Until then, I encourage Car seat installers to double check their airbag system.

p.p.s. Please do not take these posts as a criticism of what I consider to be an AWESOME DIY mod. I just want to make sure we know what systems we are affecting. Perhaps I am mistaken and this malfunction is just a coincidence in my Z.

what do you mean by "CB" :confused:

Circut Breaker.

there is a lot of discussion about it here:
http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...lved-real.html

oops!!!

I just looked at your photo albums kenchan. you probably are Waaaay better qualified to investigate this than I am. Thanks for looking at this.

I thought "CB" would be pretty self explanatory, but if you are not able to figure out what I meant, than I am probably not writing very clearly. you are obviously way more of a guru than am I about the Z's steering lock.

Sorry I was not more clear.

BTW, I have another post about this today on the http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...lved-real.html thread , and another member says he has the same problem.

ahh, yah, our cars use fuses, not circuit breakers. :icon17:

ive not unplugged the steering lock on mine since im running RevC with no issue and have a working RevB as backup so i cant reproduce the issue on my car at this time.

from what i understand, the passenger side SRS auto on/off is a little tricky. it is completely off when it senses no weight. then is on when it sense weight, but if the subject is heavier than a certain weigth (80lbs or more ?). if your child is sitting there with his/her booster it led should turn on (SRS off)...given that the kid is less than the threshold. i dont know exactly wat that weight is.

ive read some guys with smaller girlfriends have had issues where the SRS would turn off when they sat in the seat...just as if it was a child with booster seat.

someone can chime in more....

Doh! Right... Fuse... I pull CB's all day at work on 737's and kinda forget my car has FUSES!:shakes head:

FUSE Is exactly what I meant!:mad:

As for weight. Maybe you're right about weight. I strap my kids seat in pretty tight and maybe that tricks the seat into thinking that the seat and kid are "heavy" by smashing down the weight sensor, but the seat is supposed to be put in tight... I dunno.:icon14:

Ill have to fiddle with it on Monday when I get home.

:icon18: ok ok~

OK
http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Face-Palm.jpg

My wife routinely sits with her feet planted on the floor and knees bent so the back of her thighs don't touch the leading edge of the seat. The airbag off light always illuminates and I scold her to 'sit right'.

I can't comment on the proposed problem, but can confirm the seat sensor is finicky and sometimes thinks there is a child in the seat when it's an adult. As mentioned before, the indicator has three states.
1) no one in seat, light off, airbag off
2) child in seat (weight under threshold level), light on, airbag off
3) adult in seat, light off, airbag on

The off light illuminated with my 12 year old up front. That is a good sign.

I'm going to talk to the dealer about the car seat. I need to have a better understanding of how the seat is wired to the airbag system.

from the manual I infer that there is a 4th state.
4)child seat strapped in. (light on, airbag off)

perhaps I am mistaken.

okay this was untrue. just got back from dealer he says my airbag is fine. The light is not supposed to stay on while driving it is only supposed to light up a moment during start to show the airbag is off. He says this is new to the Z the older Nissans had the light stay on.

:icon14:

Anyhow sorry if I confused anyone. Apparently I am a bigger noob than I thought!