I was driving a Del Sol when the airbag went off. Only touched my arms because I was belted in and the seat was all the way back. Not sure how far back the S2000 passenger side airbag deploys but I wouldn't risk it with my kid. My daughter has been riding shotgun in the S2000 from age 1 month + with the airbag disabled by disconnecting it under the dash. Takes less than a minute to disconnect and the SRS light on the dash reminds you that it's still disconnected.

 

thx, is it hard to get to and where abouts is it located?

 

It's behind the passenger side dash. There is a lower dash cover panel that pops off on the lower portion of the dash. With that off you can find the plug, up and to the left. I believe it's a yellow plastic two wire plug. Whenever dealing with airbags, you should disconnect the battery and wait several minutes for capacitors to discharge before connecting or dis-connecting plugs.

 

Guys, I'm not sure what the rules are for disabling airbags but....

From an installers viewpoint:

Anytime you disable or unplug the airbag and drive the car, the airbag light will come on. Once it does, there is NO WAY to turn it off without going to the dealer. My dealer wanted $167 to turn off the light after I put an aftermarket steering wheel on my car and wanted to return it to stock.....!


I had a few 10-12 yr olds ride with me and I never even thought they can't be in the car. I put the seat all the way back and they just put their seatbelt on like any adult. My airbag works like stock so I don't see any issues here...?


rick

 

There will only be an issue if there is an accident with enough impact to deploy the airbag into the childs face... that is something that i'm not willing to risk and don't want to experience. 12 years old is ok but anything under that is not. It seems perfectly harmless to me too, but u might want to look into it more before putting a child that is under 12 into ur S2000 again Rick... I would hate to hear of something like that happening to u or anyone else. All i'm saying is that there must be a good reason for the rule... i'm sure the've done tests and found out that small children are in some sort of danger when the airbag deploys because of thier height.

 

does the light turn off once u reconnect it? Somebody was sayin that it wont turn off and u will have to pay the dealer an arm and a leg to turn it off. His was the drivers side.

 

i mean no disrespect, but to set some kind of absolute cutoff at 12 years old is kinda foolish.

there are a whole lot of variances between kids -- big / small, heavy / light, muscle tone, bone structure, etc. i've known 13 year old kids who were very small and light for their age (good friend's daughter) and were still required to use booster seats (due to weight reasons); and i've seen 9 year old kids (my nephew) who were 5'8" and 120 lbs and were "bigger" than full grown adults.

so, while i do understand your point, age alone is not a good single measure.


still - imo, the reason for the rule is a consistent and increasing trend of litigation. people can't accept that their actions have consequences, so they instead blame others and try to get rich in the process. companies (including the government) have to protect themselves... and so they litigate and rule make to do that for them.

and while i'm sure height is a factor, i would say that the real issue w/ children and airbags is simple physics. a deploying airbag has a certain amount of force and energy. children are smaller, have less relative bone strength, and have significantly less mass - therefore any imparted energy or force has proportionally much greater affect than on a larger person w/ more mass.

just some thoughts.

whatever the conclusion -- being conservative and cautious is your best route. and if your comfort level is such that the average 12 year old is safe, but not otherwise? follow your instinct. you can't be too safe.

 

if u read threw or search the site bob brown offers a kit with a key to turn the air bag off .. i"m ordering one since i have a 3 year old. i have the number if u need it .. you dont have to write any letter just buy and install it thats it

 

Well, i just received the response from them and i'm about to look into getting it done with my buddies at honda. I'll let u know how that goes.