Air bag bypass for new seat - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Z Beast · 12-26-2015, 11:49 AM

I have been working on installing a race seat in my car, but I didn't want to pay a shop for something that I thought was not that big of a job so I got what I needed and went to work.

The hardest part of this project was defeating the driver seat air bag as I couldn't find any wiring schematics online. I did find lots of threads on this subject online but none that said connect this wire to this wire, so here it is for our Z/28.

Before you start find an old harness on E bay or maybe a salvage yard for a non powered Camaro seat, You need these for the connectors The big harness plug and the seat position sensor plug it was only 30.00.

There should be seven wires coming out of the big plug two heavy gauge ones red with white tracer and black you can remove these or cut them flush with the plug, the next is the tan with the white tracer this is your seat belt chime, same deal get rid of it.

At this point you should only have four wires left a yellow with a black tracer and a dark brown this is were you want to connect your 3 ohm resister I went with a fully enclosed one from airbag system http://airbagsystems.com/simulator.html for safety they a lot more then if you went to an electronic store but I have seen resistors fail before and they can be a fire hazard for 29.00 dollars it's cheap insurance.

The next set of wires is the seat position sensor, one blue and one green. The seat position sensor is just a magnetic switch, look at the relative position of it on your currant seat in it's driving position and note were the little metal plate is under it in relation to the sensor your going to want to duplicate that as close as possible as this tells the computer how fast to deploy the steering wheel airbag. ( We are only defeating the seats airbag and the warning on the display.

After you have figured out how long you need the new harness to be cut the position sensor plug off of the donor harness. Now your going to want to solder all the connections together and shrink wrap them. I put a slit in mine to allow the resister out of the shrink wrap in case it has to be replaced.

Here are a couple of pictures.

ZL1-V · 12-26-2015, 12:03 PM

Thank you for the detailed instructions. I have yet to do mine. I have the same brand seats in my ZL1.

AustexaSS · 12-26-2015, 05:23 PM

How much head room has been gained with this seat? Can you share some photos of the harness bar installation?

Mgizzle · 12-26-2015, 05:41 PM

I have two manual seat harnesses if anybody is looking for them, one driver and one passenger. Wanted to do the same thing and bought them but now have no airbags in my car.

20 bucks a harness if anybody is interested and shipping is about 5 bucks.

Awesome seat setup by the way.

s.hammer · 12-26-2015, 08:12 PM

Any chance you can grab a weight of the stock seat?

Z Beast · 12-27-2015, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AustexaSS

How much head room has been gained with this seat? Can you share some photos of the harness bar installation?

I gained about 1 inch, I have a whole 2 inches now from helmet to headliner I don't know how the tall guys do it I'm only 5'9"

The Harness bar is from Brey-Krause.

Z Beast · 12-27-2015, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s.hammer

Any chance you can grab a weight of the stock seat?

Sorry I don't have a scale but I'd say around 45 lbs...

pat_t · 05-22-2017, 06:02 AM

bump an old thread for any new updates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z Beast

I have been working on installing a race seat in my car, but I didn't want to pay a shop for something that I thought was not that big of a job so I got what I needed and went to work.

The hardest part of this project was defeating the driver seat air bag as I couldn't find any wiring schematics online. I did find lots of threads on this subject online but none that said connect this wire to this wire, so here it is for our Z/28.

Before you start find an old harness on E bay or maybe a salvage yard for a non powered Camaro seat, You need these for the connectors The big harness plug and the seat position sensor plug it was only 30.00.

There should be seven wires coming out of the big plug two heavy gauge ones red with white tracer and black you can remove these or cut them flush with the plug, the next is the tan with the white tracer this is your seat belt chime, same deal get rid of it.

At this point you should only have four wires left a yellow with a black tracer and a dark brown this is were you want to connect your 3 ohm resister I went with a fully enclosed one from airbag system http://airbagsystems.com/simulator.html for safety they a lot more then if you went to an electronic store but I have seen resistors fail before and they can be a fire hazard for 29.00 dollars it's cheap insurance.

The next set of wires is the seat position sensor, one blue and one green. The seat position sensor is just a magnetic switch, look at the relative position of it on your currant seat in it's driving position and note were the little metal plate is under it in relation to the sensor your going to want to duplicate that as close as possible as this tells the computer how fast to deploy the steering wheel airbag. ( We are only defeating the seats airbag and the warning on the display.

After you have figured out how long you need the new harness to be cut the position sensor plug off of the donor harness. Now your going to want to solder all the connections together and shrink wrap them. I put a slit in mine to allow the resister out of the shrink wrap in case it has to be replaced.

Has anyone else done this recently? I am about to attempt it over the next few days.

I am familiar with the airbag defeat as I have done similar on previous cars, but the 'seat position sensor vs airbag deployment intensity' is a new one on me!

Where does the seat position magnetic sensor pick up from? is it on the standard sliding rails?

I am keeping 3-point belts as well as the 6-point harnesses for road use. Ideally I'd like the passenger airbag to deploy correctly in an impact when using the 3-point belts. In order to do this I belive I need to:

1) defeat the seat airbags with 3 Ohm resistor.
2) correctly mount the seat position sensor to my race seats(?)
3) either defeat the seat occupancy sensor, or better, make it a manual switch so I can turn the passenger airbag On for road, and Off for track.

Z Beast did you retain sliding function on your driver's seat?

pat_t · 05-22-2017, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s.hammer

Any chance you can grab a weight of the stock seat?

I weighed it. The stock seat weighs 19.3 kg (42.6 lbs) not including the OE seat runners or seat belt receptacle (which I removed prior to weighing as I am keeping these in the new install)

If you weren't bothered about having the seat slide you could save another couple of kg and about another 30mm of headroom I reckon.

pat_t · 05-24-2017, 03:31 PM

Update - The instructions posted by Z Beast above are accurate (and very helpful)

but apply to the driver's side only.

The passenger side is proving a lot more difficult due to the intelligent occupant sensor module. Searching on Camaro5.com suggests no-one has actually cracked it yet and most folks just resort to pulling their airbag fuse.

This is what we have fitted in the Camaro 5th gen that I am working to defeat.
http://www.delphi.com/docs/default-s...420a72c0f7-pdf

The issue is you can't solely emulate the passenger seat airbag with a resistor as the ECU senses that it is getting no reply from the seat mat module and still throws the Error code on. I need to work out how to emulate the mat such that it either thinks an adult is always sat in the seat, or at least that it is replying to the ECU that the seat is empty. Either will work to switch off the error light, but only the 'seat occupied' message will activate the passenger dashboard airbag.

I'll post again when I have a solution (hopefully not having to swap the occupancy sensor mat to the new bucket seat as it looks a bit too large for the seat base...but this could be a last resort)

2SSRS@Gen5diy · 05-26-2017, 10:02 AM

We tried that, with no luck.

pat_t · 05-26-2017, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2SSRS@Gen5diy

We tried that, with no luck.

I am going to have the Delphi seat pad sensor stitched into the lower back cushion for the new race seat I think. Can't see any other way. Luckily it doesn't add a lot of extra weight/thickness and it was easy enough to slide the pad out from the OEM Z/28 seat without having to completely strip the stock seat down.

Richard0nee · 07-13-2017, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pat_t

Update - The instructions posted by Z Beast above are accurate (and very helpful)

but apply to the driver's side only.

The passenger side is proving a lot more difficult due to the intelligent occupant sensor module. Searching on Camaro5.com suggests no-one has actually cracked it yet and most folks just resort to pulling their airbag fuse.

This is what we have fitted in the Camaro 5th gen that I am working to defeat.
http://www.delphi.com/docs/default-s...420a72c0f7-pdf

The issue is you can't solely emulate the passenger seat airbag with a resistor as the ECU senses that it is getting no reply from the seat mat module and still throws the Error code on. I need to work out how to emulate the mat such that it either thinks an adult is always sat in the seat, or at least that it is replying to the ECU that the seat is empty. Either will work to switch off the error light, but only the 'seat occupied' message will activate the passenger dashboard airbag.

I'll post again when I have a solution (hopefully not having to swap the occupancy sensor mat to the new bucket seat as it looks a bit too large for the seat base...but this could be a last resort)

Any luck with the passenger side?

pat_t · 07-13-2017, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard0nee

Any luck with the passenger side?

Nope, short of having access to a GM calibration engineer I don't think it's doable.

I ended up retrofitting the original occupancy sensor mat under the seat cushion of the new Sparco Grid II race seats on the passenger side.

I positioned the passenger airborne control module under the seat and coiled and tucked away all the other non-required wiring (seat motor, seat airbag)

This way you get no errors or warning lights.

It all looks and works great now! Big improvement:

See my project thread for a few more pictures

12-26-2015, 11:49 AM	#1
Z Beast Drives: 2014 Z/28 Ashen Grey Metallic Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: SoCal Posts: 166 View My Garage	Air bag bypass for new seat I have been working on installing a race seat in my car, but I didn't want to pay a shop for something that I thought was not that big of a job so I got what I needed and went to work. The hardest part of this project was defeating the driver seat air bag as I couldn't find any wiring schematics online. I did find lots of threads on this subject online but none that said connect this wire to this wire, so here it is for our Z/28. Before you start find an old harness on E bay or maybe a salvage yard for a non powered Camaro seat, You need these for the connectors The big harness plug and the seat position sensor plug it was only 30.00. There should be seven wires coming out of the big plug two heavy gauge ones red with white tracer and black you can remove these or cut them flush with the plug, the next is the tan with the white tracer this is your seat belt chime, same deal get rid of it. At this point you should only have four wires left a yellow with a black tracer and a dark brown this is were you want to connect your 3 ohm resister I went with a fully enclosed one from airbag system http://airbagsystems.com/simulator.html for safety they a lot more then if you went to an electronic store but I have seen resistors fail before and they can be a fire hazard for 29.00 dollars it's cheap insurance. The next set of wires is the seat position sensor, one blue and one green. The seat position sensor is just a magnetic switch, look at the relative position of it on your currant seat in it's driving position and note were the little metal plate is under it in relation to the sensor your going to want to duplicate that as close as possible as this tells the computer how fast to deploy the steering wheel airbag. ( We are only defeating the seats airbag and the warning on the display. After you have figured out how long you need the new harness to be cut the position sensor plug off of the donor harness. Now your going to want to solder all the connections together and shrink wrap them. I put a slit in mine to allow the resister out of the shrink wrap in case it has to be replaced. Here are a couple of pictures. Attached Images __________________ "The walls are white, the track is grey, the grass is green, and the sky is blue... your job is to keep them all where they belong." - Johnny Rutherford

12-26-2015, 05:41 PM	#4
Mgizzle Drives: 2013 Camaro 1LE 1SS Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Detroit Posts: 1,252	I have two manual seat harnesses if anybody is looking for them, one driver and one passenger. Wanted to do the same thing and bought them but now have no airbags in my car. 20 bucks a harness if anybody is interested and shipping is about 5 bucks. Awesome seat setup by the way. __________________ I work for General Motors and am not an official spokes person for General Motors. My views and opinions are my own and not those of General Motors.

12-26-2015, 12:03 PM	#2
ZL1-V Drives: 2013 Camaro ZL1 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Dallas, Texas Posts: 2,155	Thank you for the detailed instructions. I have yet to do mine. I have the same brand seats in my ZL1.

12-26-2015, 05:23 PM	#3
AustexaSS Build Date - Dec 08, 2014 Drives: 2015 Z/28, #1007, Black A/C Stereo Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 197	How much head room has been gained with this seat? Can you share some photos of the harness bar installation?

12-26-2015, 08:12 PM	#5
s.hammer Drives: 2015 Z/28 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 245	Any chance you can grab a weight of the stock seat?

05-24-2017, 03:31 PM	#10
pat_t Drives: . Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: . Posts: 589	Update - The instructions posted by Z Beast above are accurate (and very helpful) but apply to the driver's side only. The passenger side is proving a lot more difficult due to the intelligent occupant sensor module. Searching on Camaro5.com suggests no-one has actually cracked it yet and most folks just resort to pulling their airbag fuse. This is what we have fitted in the Camaro 5th gen that I am working to defeat. http://www.delphi.com/docs/default-s...420a72c0f7-pdf The issue is you can't solely emulate the passenger seat airbag with a resistor as the ECU senses that it is getting no reply from the seat mat module and still throws the Error code on. I need to work out how to emulate the mat such that it either thinks an adult is always sat in the seat, or at least that it is replying to the ECU that the seat is empty. Either will work to switch off the error light, but only the 'seat occupied' message will activate the passenger dashboard airbag. I'll post again when I have a solution (hopefully not having to swap the occupancy sensor mat to the new bucket seat as it looks a bit too large for the seat base...but this could be a last resort)

05-26-2017, 10:02 AM	#11
2SSRS@Gen5diy Drives: 2014 Z/28 #82+#192, 18ZLE 66Nova Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: By the lake in AZ Posts: 15,719 View My Garage	We tried that, with no luck.