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2010 Seats with SRS side Airbags into 2006 with no SRS side airbags

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by jarvey, Feb 14, 2011.

  1. jarvey

    jarvey New Member

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    I have an opportunity to purchase almost new 2010 Prius Leather seats for an excellent price - looking to replace my cloth seats on my 2006 Prius (just bought last week 2nd hand). The seller indicated that it is not "plug and play" because the seat airbag sensor changed between 2010 and the earlier models. The seller indicated that I would need to remove the airbag sensors from the 2006 cloth seats and put them into the 2010 leather seats. The added benefit for me to use the 2010 seats are they come with side SRS airbag so increased safety.
    Looking for opinions as to whether this swapout makes sense and whether I will need to switch the sensors as suggested.

    Would it be easy to change the airbag sensors and is it necessary?


    The 2010 leather seats are also heated! I don't think I would be comfortable with installing the switch and necessary wiring to get this working but was wondering if I could go to a garage and get them to complete the install. My 2006 does not have heated seats. What might this cost me and how do I find a garage that has the skills to do this?

    Thanks for your feedback.
    Brent
     
  2. BrettS

    BrettS Active Member

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    The airbag sensor he's referring to, I'm sure, is the weight sensor in the passenger seat. This is used to determine whether there is an occupant in the passenger seat, and if so, whether that passenger is a child. This is a pretty critical sensor for the passenger side airbag and if it wasn't functioning or functioning improperly it could prevent that airbag from firing, or cause it to fire when it shouldn't, possibly injuring a child in the passenger seat. It's pretty critical to get this right.

    Most likely you wouldn't be able to take advantage of those airbags, since your car was not designed to use them it wouldn't know to fire them in an accident. If there was an option for airbags in the seats on an 06 then there is a remote possibility that someone technical could manage to connect them, but it wouldn't be an easy job. Even if it was an option on the 06 it's still likely that it wouldn't be possible to connect them.

    I'm thinking no... I'm all for swapping parts out and if it was a seat from another Gen II so it was plug and play, or something a little less critical... like heated seats that wouldn't be a matter of life and death in an accident then I would be more likely to encourage you to go for it. But since air bags are so critical I'd probably pass on these seats.

    I don't mean to be harsh, but if you're not comfortable installing the switch and wiring for the heated seats then you definitely shouldn't be contemplating trying to swap out the airbag sensor switch on your own either.
     
  3. wrxsubiemod

    wrxsubiemod port and polishing Specialist

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    And it takes just a small spark to blow the air bag and shoot you out like a ejection seat
     
  4. jarvey

    jarvey New Member

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    I thought changing the seat sensor would be straight forward something like - disconnect battery, disconnect 3 pronged seat plug adapter, remove old seat, remove sensor, replace sensor on new seat, install new seat, connect seat plug adapter, reconnect battery.
    Thanks for the feedback - I guess I should leave it to the experts to see if this can be done for a reasonable price - ensuring the SRS Airbag system remains fully active.
     
  5. danix

    danix Junior Member

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    You are talking about a lot of custom work. Not impossible, but lots of time and not cheap if you are paying for it, even if you can find someone to tackle it.
     
  6. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

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    First of all will the seat actually fit in the car? Hal
     
  7. jarvey

    jarvey New Member

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    I have a quote from a place that knows the Prius and will do it for 500$ (including installing heated seats and switches). They indicated the sensor may be different on 2006 compared to 2010 - toyota moved it from cushion to track between 2004 and 2010 so depending on setup it may be less work (less expense).
    Installer does not want to play with wiring for Seat Side Airbag because of the sensitivity involved in the wiring and SRS system so essentially the Seat side airbags would be non functional. Wiring for heated seated would be off battery but separate from existing wiring to ensure it will have no impact on rest of system.
    total cost for install and purchase of heated leather seats will be around 800$. this seems quite resonable.
    Jarvey
     
  8. pEEf

    pEEf Engineer - EV nut

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    IIRC, the 2005 does not have the occupant classification system, but the 2006 does, so there are 4 load cells on each of the seat corners that would need to be moved or rewired to work.

    There should be nothing to do on the driver's side, except the seatbelt switch. (And the seat heaters if you want them wired up)
     
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