Air Bag

[honsonwong]

Hi, I am a new 2012 kizashi owner for about 1 month. Sometimes, when my boy (about 85lbs) sitting on the front passenger seat, "Passenger air-bag off" signal light is always on. Sometimes, even my wife (about 110 lbs) sitting on the front passenger seat, the warning light sometimes on and sometimes off. I asked the dealer, the answer is my boy is not heavy enough, and about my wife, maybe her seating position didn't make the sensor feel it, and ask my wife to sit around when the light is on. Is there anyone has an idea? Thanks

[KuroNekko]

The dealer is correct. The car has a sensor under the seat that measures the weight of the occupant of the front passenger seat. The reason why is that air bags can actually be more dangerous to an occupant if they are smaller or weigh less. The force of the airbag deploying can actually break the necks of small, short people in rare occurrences. It's rare, but generally, airbags pose a risk to small, lighter people like children.
Because of this, the car can opt to turn off the air bag based on the weight of the occupant.
Because smaller people occupy less space between them and the dashboard, the seat belt alone would most likely keep them from hitting the dashboard. Larger people benefit from airbags due to both their larger mass and their inertia in an impact.

This is also the main reason why automakers urge parents to have children sit in the back seats even when they are not of car seat age.

My former Mazda did the same thing. When I had people who were close to 100lbs in the seat, it would sometimes indicate that the air bag was off. The OFF light never came on when I had my 180lb friends sitting in the seat. I can't comment on my Kizashi as I rarely have other people in it.

[honsonwong]

Thanks for sharing.

[KIZFAN2]

Also, if you lean towards the passenger window, it will shut off because your in the way of the side air bag deployment.