Porsche 996 passenger airbag deactivation

[Whitean3]

Looking for advice from the PH experts here. We have a 10 month old son and I like to take him to the nursery a couple of times per week in my 996C4S. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that it is possible to deactivate the passenger side airbag, so Junior would be able to sit in the front- a bit of a nightmare sticking him in the back to be honest. Am I right in thinkin this is possible on an ancient 996?

My next incredible idea would be to be able to have a switchable passenger airbag (as modern cars generally have), integrating nicely into one of the switch blanks in the centre console- do you think this may be possible?
I'm not overly keen on having the passenger airbag permanently disabled, in case I were to have a shunt with a full sized passenger. Obviously it is absolutely NOT a good idea to leave the airbag connected if the little one was on the front seat!

Final option (and believe it or not, the wife didn't oppose this at all when mentioned) would be to buy a newer 911 on the assumption that you have a switch to deactivate the passenger airbag. Possibly one of the most outrageous reasons to buy a newer porker, but hey ho! I have to say, I am rather attached to my C4S, even though it does now feel pretty ancient compared to modern fare- I kind of like it for this very reason! Plus it's at the bottom of the depreciation curve.

Thoughts?

[mollytherocker]

Whitean3 said:

Plus it's at the bottom of the depreciation curve.

Thoughts?

Thats pretty optimistic surely? You believe they will hold going forward?

[Whitean3]

mollytherocker said:

Thats pretty optimistic surely? You believe they will hold going forward?

Nowt wrong with a little optimism, surely! Prices seem to have held reasonably firm over the last year (I'm in Switzerland, slightly different market here maybe) I see myself with 2 options- 1) keep the car for a long time, cherish it, maintain it properly and enjoy driving it; or 2) trade it in for a 997.1 turbo, where cost to change is pretty huge and to a dealer, my car is pretty much worthless.

Anyway, this is not another depreciation theead, back to airbags please?!

[MrTickle]

You have to get the airbag deactivation unit fitted and use the Porsche car seat with the 'seatbelt' buckle which deactivates the airbag only when the car seat is in place.

[monthefish]

Whitean3 said:

My next incredible idea would be to be able to have a switchable passenger airbag (as modern cars generally have), integrating nicely into one of the switch blanks in the centre console- do you think this may be possible?

I'd have thought definitely possible, as it's just a switch after all, but would you not want a switch for something safety related a bit less accessable than the centre console? (for the same reason OEM's often have it somewhere obscure and usually 'key activated')

[Whitean3]

monthefish said:

I'd have thought definitely possible, as it's just a switch after all, but would you not want a switch for something safety related a bit less accessable than the centre console? (for the same reason OEM's often have it somewhere obscure and usually 'key activated')

I see your point, but i'd only deactivate the airbag if the little one was in the front seat, and he would never reach the switch; i have never accidentally pressed a switch on the centre console either. If the centre console is good enough for the PCM switch, then I don't see too much of an issue.

As for buying the Porsche child seat with buckle and deactivating module, I think upgrading to a 997 turbo might be about the same price!

For the time being, I can continue with squeezing him into the back.

[fioran0]

the factory airbag deactivation disables the airbag by earthing a pin on the airbug ecu when the buckle is clipped in. ie a seat fitted.
it earths through a small resistor rather than directly but would be very easy to replicate this circuit using a manual switch if one were inclined. pin out and resistor value can be had from the wiring diagrams.

[Barry Ashcroft]

You need this I had it fitted in my 2004 C4S

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/parts-and-p...

Edited by Barry Ashcroft on Thursday 14th March 21:06

[Whitean3]

Barry Ashcroft said:

You need this I had it fitted in my 2004 C4S

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/parts-and-p...

Edited by Barry Ashcroft on Thursday 14th March 21:06

Ooh, thanks for than Barry- something I shall look into in much more detail! Could be the solution, assuming it's easy to fit/remove. Thanks a lot, will let you know.

[parmars]

A couple more months and you'll need a new seat anyway. I had my son in a front facing seat from 14 months.

[Whitean3]

parmars said:

A couple more months and you'll need a new seat anyway. I had my son in a front facing seat from 14 months.

That's kind of the catalyst for asking really- he's a chunky monkey and is due to go into a bigger, front facing seat. A bit of a pain squeezing him in the back every morning!

[surfymark]

I just bought one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-Airbag-de-activa...

Haven't fitted it yet so no experience but it seems to do what you want and is fairly cheap.

HTH
M

[Kenzle]

Whitean3 said:

That's kind of the catalyst for asking really- he's a chunky monkey and is due to go into a bigger, front facing seat. A bit of a pain squeezing him in the back every morning!

Sorry if I'm missing something here, but if he's due to go into a front facing seat then surely you want the airbag to be live? I thought passenger airbags should only be deactivated for rear facing child seats?

[Whitean3]

Kenzle said:

Sorry if I'm missing something here, but if he's due to go into a front facing seat then surely you want the airbag to be live? I thought passenger airbags should only be deactivated for rear facing child seats?

You make a valid point, but when they are so small, I think an airbag going off in front of them could be pretty destructive! Having read some more around the subject, maybe I'm far better off sticking top being a contortionist with a front facing seat in the back- the very close presence of the side airbags in the front are probably not the best either!

Many thanks for everyone's contributions!