Passenger Airbag light is on

+1

 

The Passenger Airbag On/Off light is controlled by an Occupant Classification System. It's trying to determine whether anyone is sitting in the front seat based on the seat buckle and the weight of what's sitting on the seat.

If it judges that no-one's sitting there, it turns off the front passenger airbag and the seat airbag, and the seat belt pretensioner. It saves unnecessary airbags going off in an accident.

If it determines that there is a child or a child seat there, it disables the airbags but leaves the pretensioner enabled. It treats a weight of less than 36kg (79lb) as a child.

If you have a heavy box in the passenger seat, and you stop it moving by buckling the seat belt, the airbag light may illuminate ON. You should generally put cargo in the trunk.

Otherwise, if it doesn't seem to be behaving correctly, get a dealer, or an independent mechanic with access to the diagnostic tools, to check it out.

 

Does a 2004 Prius have a Passenger Airbag light?

My passenger airbag light is not lit, and does not light up momentarily when the ignition is first turned on (like the other dash lights do, such as check engine light, airbag light, etc).

I'm not even sure I remember ever seeing it. How can I tell if my car has one?

 

2004 does not have the passenger airbag light or the seat sensor that turns on/off the airbags protecting that seat. Hence, if your car has a front-end collision severe enough to trigger the front airbags, both will deploy regardless of whether the front passenger seat is occupied or not.

 

Hi Patrick,
I have a question on the 2007. On the passenger side the word "airbag" is always on in amber color. When someone sits on the passenger side then it becomes "airbag on" Is this normal? picture attached. What I'm after for if there is a switch that I can turn off the continuous "airbag" light before someone sits and then will light up to "airbag on".
Thanks,

 

That is normal behavior and I am not aware of a switch to modify that behavior.

 

Great! One last thing. I'm done with all the 100-120k service. I even changes the injector seals. Thanks to you guys the car runs good and hope I can keep up with it in the future. Speaking of having 2 Prius now (me and my wife),.. Maybe I need to start learning about the hybrid battery on how to check it so when that time comes at least I have a step 1 to approach. What would be a good start to learn and any diagnostic I need tool for this type of vehicle?

 

Mini VCI is the software diagnostic that I would recommend for any Toyota/Lexus vehicle.

 

Woooh! Just got back. Hoards of people on the road and everywhere.
Okay like this plug into a laptop?
MINI VCI FOR TOYOTA J2534 Software Version V12.20.024 TOYOTA Diagnostic Test Line - Walmart.com