Disable Airbag ?

[markoibook]

Hi guys,

Being a fully qualified child seat advisor/fitter in a previous life, just thought I'd throw in my five pence!

Fitting a child seat into the front of any car, airbag or not, is generally not recommendable, and all seat manufacturers will advise to always fit a child in the rear of a car where possible.

With regards to being able to disable an airbag, my thought it this. How do you know that the deactivation system is working? We all know that there is no such thing as a fail safe mechanism, and a failure of the deactivation system during a crash would not be nice if there was a seat installed in the front.

The Yaris (and I believe this applies to all models), is fitted with ISOFIX fittings in the rear, which will enable ISOFIX seats to fit nice and securely. ISOFIX fitting points are connnected directly to the car's chassis, and so when fitted properly, an ISOFIX child seat is fitted as securely as the actual seats in the car.

If your car has ISOFIX points (such as the Yaris) I would highly recommend that you buy an approved ISOFIX seat. You will find these seats to cost more, however, what price can you put on a human life?

If you need help finding a seat, I would highly recommend contacting the manufacturers - Britax are very good in this respect, or asking to speak to a qualified and professionally trained fitter at a retail store - they do exist!

Sorry to sound harsh, but I had many an arguement with parents who typically wanted to buy a particular child seat because "it looks nice", "my child likes it" or "its on special offer". This is completely the wrong attitude - the reason for there being so many seats on the market is due to the fact that all cars are different and no single car seat will fit all cars. I actually had to tell a customer to leave one time, when he actualled told me that "I don't care if it doesn't fit - it matches my interior".

In this respect, the advice given to you by the Toyota dealer is sound - there seat will fit the car properly - however it is likely that another manufacturer such as Britax will also sell a seat that fits properly.

Murkle - with regards to your requirements, you may have an issue with the ISOFIX seats. Having just checked my phase 1 T-sport, I only have 3 ISOFIX brackets in the back - allowing 1 seat to be fitted in two different positions - each just off centre from the rear.

It is possible that you may be able to fit two standard fit seats in there - though this will depend also on whether you have a 3 or 5 door model. If you have a 3 door model, you are very unlikely to be able to fit two seats in the rear and secure them properly. In this instance, I would highly recommend contacting a seat manufacturer for advice.

If you have a 5 door model, you may be ok - though not having a 5 door model I am unable to comment.

Sorry for such a long post, but I feel that child travel safety is very important and with something like 70% of car seats being incorrectly fitted (and trust me, I've seen plenty - I would always force an hour lesson on unsuspecting parents!), it is something that must be tackled with care and sense.

I hope that you manage to resolve your problems soon!

Mark

[sandereo]

Does anyone knwo how to disable the passenger airbag in my missus`s yaris, its x reg 1.4i.

I need to disable it in order to use a car baby carrier.

Or shouild I take to the dealer?

thanks

Hi There -

My Verso has a keyswitch on the side of the dash as you open the door.

I don't know if the Yaris is the same though.

However, as forum members have quoted..DON'T DISABLE ANY SAFETY FEATURE.

For your baby's sake, rather spend money getting a rear seat chair, similar to the front seat types.

Erwin

[vtek]

So what do you do if there is one driver (the mother), and a baby, which if the seat is put in the back of the car, rear facing (as all new born seats are). And the mother wants to keep an eye on the baby while driving (not like changing a nappy.lol, but just so she can glance to see if baby is ok etc...

Ive had peugeot 206 which had key to disable but my Corolla doesn't...

[gar]

So what do you do if there is one driver (the mother), and a baby, which if the seat is put in the back of the car, rear facing (as all new born seats are). And the mother wants to keep an eye on the baby while driving (not like changing a nappy.lol, but just so she can glance to see if baby is ok etc...

Ive had peugeot 206 which had key to disable but my Corolla doesn't...

There is always going to be some sort of compramise here! You can always get a childwatch mirror, from any good motorists supplier, like the big H! Safety has to be paramount, not a slightly miffed nipper! If the child was in real distress, you could always find a safe stopping place and get him/her out for a while. BTW, surely, removing the airbag relay under the bonnet would de-activate the thing.... allegedly! Not sure if it would explode as soon as you re-fit it though!