I'm taking my 5 year old nephew on a 450 mile trip. I don't think there is any way to turn off the airbag so I was thinking it might be just a pressure switch in the seat that determines the air bag deployment. Being a 2 seater I thought they are required by law to have a way to deactivate the air bag for special circumstances like having small kids in the car or just stupid people that don't like airbags. Am I screwed? It's either take the z and get 30 mpg or take the jeep and get 14 mpg

 

No way to turn it off. A few people have had a switch put on, but it's a long legal process to do. Put the seat back as far as possible.

 

Yeah I might do that. So whats the purpose for the wire going to the bottom of the seat. I don't have power or heated seats? Also, what's the cutoff age for kids riding in normal seats. I think my sis is being over protective, he seems big enough not to need any special considerations.

 

That's the sensor.

 

what year is you car? On '07+ there is a cut off pressure switch in the shotgun seat. If your nephew is beneath a set weight, the airbag will cut off. You'll note while driving--once and a while the airbag warning switch (near rear view mirror) will blink. That means either no on is sitting shotgun or that someone is there but is under the threshold of the system to activate the passenger airbag. Personally, my 6 year old rides shotgun with me ('07 model) all of the time. All I have to do is put him in his booster seat.

On older models you'd have to have a switch put in by Nissan. My advice: Don't take any chances. Better to spend extra cash on gas than to hate yourself if (knock on wood) something should happen.

 

I have the same issue with my little girl. VERY nervous for her to be in the Z. In the manual, it says to contact your local Nissan Dealership to have it disabled if you have a small child. I went to my local Nissan dealership and they said it is illegal and refused the procedure.

 

I would not take a 5 year old on a 450 mile car trip. The poor kid will be bored as hell. It will be 8 hours of torture.

 

is a 5 year old too big for a car seat? maybe put him in the car seat and put it in the seat backwards. This way he's protected.

 

My pax seat airbag disabled light will turn on when there is some weight put on it when I had my nephew sit on the seat..not to sure what the minimum amount of weight is..but I had a 50lb sack of feed in the pax seat and the airbag disabled light turned on still.

 

No kids in front seat under 14 unless your looking for trouble?

 

Most are too small and it is illegal to put a car seat in backwards in the front.

I just read the OP again and I saw you have a jeep for a choice but is only gets 14mpg? I would say the extra $$ is worth the risk of your nephew being hurt. Take the jeep and be done with it.

 

Ok, point taken. I "guess" its the responsible choice but I'm going to be hating life taking nice curvy bends and canyon roads in the jeep. My kindom for a G35 coupe...ha!

 

You can just pull the harness plug on the passenger side airbag. I am not sure, but I think that would disable the drivers side and any side airbags as well though. Also, you will get the airbag warning light flashing on your dash.

 

my 2007 has an airbag sensor... im guessing urs is an older Z

 

Tie his @ss down and duct tape his mouf = ftw Lol! :-)

 

/\ wow