Have any of you had any experience disengaging the airbag system on the passenger side? I have a few little boys who will be really upset if they can't ride in the family's new toy.

 

How old are the little boys? It's not exactly a family car. But if they are old enough to ride with out a car seat they should be OK. I have not heard anything about any possible Airbag deployment issues but the manual clearly sates that children of a certain size/weight are not RECOMENED to ride in the vehicle.

 

There is currently a group buy happening in the group buy forum that has people getting together to have their airbags disengaged at about $300 or so depending on how many get together at one time. Best thing for you to do is to check the info for that and get all the Houston crew to meet cause I think there are quite a few who would be interested, therefore making the service even cheaper. Hope that helps.

 

Why would one choose to disengage their airbag? It it a AutoX safety thing?

 

You would turn the passenger airbag off if you had a younger. smaller passenger in the car.

There are products availavbe that can be installed by yourself of a good audio shop, that has a box you mount in a non-evasive area and it has a key. With the key you can turn your airbag off and/ or on. You have to call the department of safety and request a permit that gives you legal right to turn off the bags, this authorizes the audio store to do the job. In order to get the permit you have to meet one of their guidelines, and being under 11 (??? I'm not sure I remember if it was 11 or 12), and there are other factors you can qualify by as well.

The permit is free (they mail it to you 2-3 weeks after you send in your request), the switch is about $149.00 & I'm not sure what a audio shop would charge.

 

I always found it funny that I would have to beg permission to shut off the airbags in my car. At least from what I read at the site with the forms, they pretty much grant permission automatically.

 

There's no reason a younger child cannot ride in the car if they are mature enough to not play with the controls. I would not put my toddler in my car unless I had no other choice -or- the airbags were disabled. Our Camry gets the juice spills, cracker crumbs and the occasional booger--not the S.

Honda does not recommend younger passengers because they do not have a passenger-side airbag that can be disabled. It's a liability issue to prevent rugrat-airbag mishaps. Some two-passenger vehicles now come with factory disabling switches, I've seen them in Nissan trucks on a few occasions. So if the airbag was disabled, I would consider the S to be adequate *last resort* transportation. When she's older, like 5 or 6 and can appreciate the drive and scenery, I'll re-evaluate.

 

Just disconnect it.

 

I'm in the process of getting the airbag cut-off switch installed in my car. As I understand it, this is the process:

1 - fill out this form and get approval from the NHTSA: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/airbags/brochure/...e/Req_Form.html
2 - fax the approval to the attention of Honda Consumer Relations: 310-783-3023
3 - they will contact you regarding getting the switch sent to your installer
4 - go have it installed
5 - after the installation, installer fills out the bottom of the NHTSA approval form and sends it back to the NHTSA

I've completed steps 1 and 2 so far. I did speak with Honda Consumer Relations (number in manual) and they told me the part is about $199 and the installation requires about 3 hours of labor.

I'm doing this so I can drop my daughter at pre-school - she'll be riding in a forward-facing car seat.

Has anyone else completed this whole process? I searched the forums and found threads on car-seat, etc....but no one who had actually had the cut-off switch installed.

Finally - the switch is key-operated and gets installed in the footwell of the passenger-side. It has a light on it that must be visible to the passenger so they notice the state of the airbag.

 

in all reality, the airbags will only deploy a certain distance and the car is equiped with tensioners for the seatbelts.

if you securely fasten your child and/or toddler in an appropriate seat, and use the tensioning method outlined in the manual, there is minimal danger from the airbag for the child as the seat belt will prevent the child from being in proximity of the deployment. Honda does not recommend this (obviously for liability purposes) since improper application has extreme consequences.

rear facing child seats can NEVER be used since deployment will strike the baby seat. and in the manual it is clear that this should never be done.


personally, my daughter gets the occassional ride home from daycare in emergencies and at times around the neighborhood and on select deserted back roads.... she loves it and it would break my heart to deny her this simple pleasure.