Passenger Airbag Light

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AL-B

AL-B

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I don't pay much attention to the passenger side airbag light but my wife noticed it indicates off when she is occupying the passenger seat. Has anyone else noticed this in their car?
 
The light is for "passenger airbag off". So when it's off, the airbag is armed. A little counter intuitive.
 
AL-B said:
I don't pay much attention to the passenger side airbag light but my wife noticed it indicates off when she is occupying the passenger seat. Has anyone else noticed this in their car?
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If the light is on when someone is sitting on the passenger side, then the weight sensor is not working properly. Note that this happens if the person sits on an angle. Have her sit straight and the light should go off.
 
AL-B said:
Ah thanks, it is counter intuitive.
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I think he mixed two meanings of 'off'. When he said 'so when it's off..', he means when the light is not illuminated, not that the system is off. If nobody is in the seat, the system is off, and the light illuminates indicating that the system is off. When someone sits in the seat, the airbag system should be on, and the light should not be illuminated.

It doesn't seem counterintuitive to me--when the airbag system is off, the light illuminates saying the airbag system is off. If your wife is seeing the light indicating the airbag system is off while she's sitting in the passenger seat that's a problem.
 
No, I didn't mix the meaning. A light being "off" means not illuminated. "Armed" means system is on.

Ideally the system could be more smart, where it only turns on the light (i.e. illuminate) if there is a problem. When you get accustomed to seeing any lights illuminated, it tends to go unnoticed.
 
stanigu said:
No, I didn't mix the meaning. A light being "off" means not illuminated. "Armed" means system is on.

Ideally the system could be more smart, where it only turns on the light (i.e. illuminate) if there is a problem. When you get accustomed to seeing any lights illuminated, it tends to go unnoticed.
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A similar thing to me is the three buttons 'ECON', 'SPORT', and 'HV', all lined up adjacently. It's natural to assume they're doing something similar, but they're not; two are modes and the third is a propulsion source. The first two turn on or off modes that overlay whichever propulsion source you've selected, but the third button is really an EV/HV toggle button for choosing the basic propulsion source, not a mode. To me at least it would be a lot more intuitive if the third button literally had EV/HV on it, and even a narrow strip separating it from the other two buttons.
 
Except that not-HV does not mean EV. HV guarantees engine operation, not-HV makes significant EV travel possible, but not guaranteed.
 
I actually have had problems with the airbag turning off (light on, that is) when she's in the car. She's quite small (4' 10", about 90lbs), and it seems to be on maybe 50% of the time she's in the car, give or take. The sensor generally seems to be working because it always turns the airbag on when I'm in the passenger seat as far as I've noticed, so I've got to think that whatever means it uses to detect whether a person is too small or leaning too far forward (I've had other cars where you could see it shut off the airbag if you bent forward or put your feet on the dash) is judging her too small to save.
 
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