Looking for Advice on Passenger Occupancy Sensor for Race Seat Installation

[Hubs981]

Last week I bought a 2012 GT, and I plan to prep it for HPDE track days. Having purchased the car, the next money I will spend will be on safety equipment. I already have a pair of OMP seats, and I will get a roll/harness bar installed.

When I swap seats, I hope to set things up to avoid airbag lights. I have done a fair amount of research on the various sensors and ways to deal with them. I purchased a pair of resistors to deal with the seat airbags, which will be removed from the car with the seats. I am not sure how I want to proceed with the passenger seat occupancy sensor (OCS).

I am thinking of these two options:
(1) Remove the OCS from my stock passenger seat and keep it in the car. I think it is possible I can install it in my OMP seat, or I can stash it under the seat as described in this discussion. My main concern here is that I want to keep the stock seats in their original condition, and I have doubts about taking the passenger seat apart to remove the OCS. I have leather, power slide/manual recline seats. Maybe removing the OCS won't be that bad, but my passenger seat has a lot more going on underneath than the one shown in the linked discussion. And if I ever want to put it back . . .

(2) Purchase a used OCS (I see a few on Ebay) and put that in the car. The physical part of this seems like it will be very easy--no taking a seat apart. However, it is my understanding that an OCS from another car won't work in my car without programming. If I have to take the car to a dealer for this there are two concerns: one is what they will want to charge, and the second is if they will even do it. If the see the car with race seats, I wonder if they will tell me they won't touch it. Maybe I can drive to the dealership with no passenger seat, but the "new" OCS hooked up, and say I am going to install the passenger seat, but want to make sure the OCS works first? The mechanic at my local indy shop says he has the ability to deal with Ford airbag codes, but he has never tried programming an OCS into a new car. He's not sure what to do without actually hooking the car up. Any thoughts on whether an independent shop should be able to do this?

Reminder to self--Any time I am working on this, disconnect the battery ahead of time!

So, Option 1, remove OCS from existing seat and put it back in car.

• Pro--Don't have to worry about programming anything. If I put it in the OMP seat, maybe I try to get someone to recalibrate it.
• Con--Removing it from the stock seat.
• I guess I can always try this option first and see how it goes.

Option 2, buy a used OCS.

• Pro--Don't have to molest the stock seat.
• Con--May have problems getting it programmed so there is no airbag light.

I guess a third option is to remove the stock seats and not worry about hooking up the various sensors when I install the race seats. Learn to live with the airbag light on. It is my understanding that if I were to have a frontal collision under those circumstances, both airbags will blow at some standard level. Does that sound correct?

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Hubs981]

Of course, just a few minutes after my original post I came across another discussion of the topic with another idea. See post #40.

It looks like this guy bought a pair of 2015 Ford Racing Recaro seats (with OCS) and put them into his '05 GT. If I understand things correctly, he disconnected the tube that comes out of the bladder from the sensor/wiring (see post #40). So his new Recaro seat has the bladder that came with the seat attached to the sensor/wiring of his '05 car, and the '05 car is happy and doesn't know that anything is different. Seems like genius to me! I wonder how difficult or easy it will be to disconnect the bladder tube from the sensor.

 

[Mike_FL]

I’ve recently installed a drivers side race seat into to my 2012.

I was in the same position and in the end I just ended up opening up my stock seats to get the loom.
I figured it’s a track car now so it’s what it is.

When I get a race seat for the passenger side I’ll open up that seat too. That way I can be sure that it would work.
I know dealerships can be funny when it comes to messing with airbag systems.
Make sure you have the correct ohm resistor. I had to modify mine

 

[Hubs981]

I’ve recently installed a drivers side race seat into to my 2012.

I was in the same position and in the end I just ended up opening up my stock seats to get the loom.
I figured it’s a track car now so it’s what it is.

When I get a race seat for the passenger side I’ll open up that seat too. That way I can be sure that it would work.
I know dealerships can be funny when it comes to messing with airbag systems.
Make sure you have the correct ohm resistor. I had to modify mine

Thanks for the quick reply. How do I know whether or not I have the right resistor?

 

[Mike_FL]

Air Bag Light on with 2 Ohm Seat Resistors

On my 2011 Mustang GT I swapped out the seats with aftermarket. I have resistor plugs (the yellow modules) on each side with 2-ohm resistors. Each side reads on the ohm meter at 2.1 - 2.4 ohms which should be correct. I am still getting the airbag light. The overhead shows airbag light off lit...

trackmustangsonline.com

I tested it with a volt meter

 

[Mike_FL]

I used an airbag eliminator plug from 05-07 Mustang then soldered in a 2ohm resistor

Mustang Side Airbag Light Eliminator Plug (05-07) XF2Z-14B022-AA

Pick up this 2005-2007 Mustang side airbag light eliminator when installing aftermarket seats to keep the airbag light off!

lmr.com

 

[Hubs981]

Thanks again for the info. I'll check the resistance on the plugs I ordered as soon as I get them.

And I'm starting to think that I shouldn't get attached to the stock seats. Once I get the OMP seats in the car, the stock seats will just be taking up space somewhere.

 

[JDee]

Thanks again for the info. I'll check the resistance on the plugs I ordered as soon as I get them.

And I'm starting to think that I shouldn't get attached to the stock seats. Once I get the OMP seats in the car, the stock seats will just be taking up space somewhere.

What are the stock seats? I had the Recaros in my '16 and when I went to race seats I sold the Recaros for more than the race seats cost! There seems to be healthy demand for those seats.

 

[Hubs981]

Stock seats are black leather, heated, 6-way power driver, and 6-way power passenger. The driver's seat shows a bit of wear on the outboard side bolster, but otherwise they are in pretty good condition. They are nice, but nothing particularly special. Definitely not as desirable as the Recaros.

 

[JDee]

Ah, too bad. Would have been a nice source of some bucks. They still might have resale value though, it sounds like they're a higher line seat.

 

[Hubs981]

Got my airbag resistors this week. Part # XF2Z 14B022 AA. I purchased them from my local dealer, and they are supposedly correct for my car. My voltmeter tells me the resistance is 6.9 Ohms, and some internet research tells me that is not the proper resistance for my 2012 car. It looks like I will have to replace the resistors for them to work properly, like Mike_FL did.

One might think that Ford would sell me resistors that would work for my car . . .

Does anyone know if Ford made resistors like this with the proper resistance???

I haven't tried plugging anything in yet. I have an appointment in early April to get a roll/harness bar installed along with fabrication of some brackets for the seats. I figure I will remove the stock seats and mess with the wiring ahead of that in March.

 

[Mike_FL]

I used one of these resistors I bought off Amazon

 

[Stealthman]

Don't feel bad. I took the back and passenger seats out of my '24 and ran HPDE all summer with a myriad of warnings every time I started the car. To add insult to injury, the computer felt unsafe and disabled the track apps. I'd like to put in a race seat, but after sniffing around for a seat and fearing the electrical backflips I'll have to do, I'm thinking I might just slide around in the stock seat, again. I looked at the Recaro, but they only come in pairs and are not cheap. Yes, kind of regret not checking that box when I ordered it. Didn't know then, what I now know.

 

[Dave_W]

Part # XF2Z 14B022 AA.

Both CJPP and LMR list that as 2005-2007. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only version available. If you need to adjust the resistance, I suggest using a small multi-turn "trimmer" resistor with a max. resistance 1.5-2x what you think you'll need, so 1) your desired resistance ends up in the middle of adjustment, and 2) you've got some extra range if you need it. You can get them for under $2 from Mouser, Digi-Key, or your favorite electronic component retailer. Pro tip - once you set it, put a small drop of hot-melt glue on the edge of the adjuster screw to lock it to the body of the unit.

 

[Hubs981]

Got the seats in, and I think everything is in order.
I got a pair of used OMP seats with sliders from a friend. I had Piper Motorsports in Leesburg, VA, install a custom roll/harness bar, and they also fabricated custom mounts for the seats.


I swapped 2.2 Ohm resistors into the Ford "airbag plugs," similar to what Mike_FL did as shown in post #3, and I pulled the wiring harnesses and the OCS from the original seats. Harnesses are stashed behind the seats.



I messed around with the OCS to put it in the race seat and keep it functional. I drilled a hole (I think a bit bigger than 1/4") in the passenger's side OMP seat to pass the tube from the OCS. I disconnected the "plug/sensor" from the tube, being careful not to spill gel, put it through the hole in the seat, and then reattached the plug/sensor. Because of the harness sub-straps, I couldn't lay the OCS flat on the seat bottom; it is too big and I had to fold it in half. I cut the two plastic sandwich pieces to fit. Then I drilled two more holes in the seat in order to put a pair of plastic pins in to hold the OCS sandwich in place.






On both sides I have the seat belt receptacle with a "tongue" in each one, so they think they are buckled; I have the seat position sensor still connected; and I have the airbag resistor. On the passenger side, I also have the OCS. After I got everything in place, the airbag light disappeared!!!

Now I want to do something to clean up those harnesses. I think I will avoid placing them under the seats, as I don't want things getting tangled up with the sub-straps.