Passenger airbag deactivation

Tomsdad · Post by **Tomsdad** » Sat May 26, 2018 11:28 am

Does anyone know how to deactivate the passenger airbag. It's not on the end of the dashboard as usual. Can't believe it was an option? Must be a legal requirement ?......

Zeld4 · Post by **Zeld4** » Sat May 26, 2018 2:21 pm

If there’s not that key hole onnhe passenger side of the dash that you can only get to with the door open I have no idea where it would be. Do you have the passenger air bag symbol just to the left of the gear stick on the opposite side of the sport button?

Tomsdad · Post by **Tomsdad** » Sat May 26, 2018 2:33 pm

I don’t seem to have that symbol. But there def is a passenger airbag.

rally-chris · Post by **rally-chris** » Sat May 26, 2018 2:38 pm

Airbag deactivation was not standard fit until late models of E85/E86, circa 2008. As well as the key switch in the end of the dash there is an indicator light on the centre console, mirroring the sport button position, and isofix mounts in the passenger seat.

But do some research before you get too despondent, as airbag deactivation is only a legal requirement when using a rear facing child seat.

Chris

ErrErrminator · Post by **ErrErrminator** » Sat May 26, 2018 4:04 pm

I’ve been looking into this also, as my car does not have the the necessary bits to switch off the passenger airbag.

Apparently a retro-fir kit used to be available from BMW, which could be fitted then coded to your key. That kit is no longer available, but a bit of searching around and you might find the inidividual parts required.

If your car is pre-facelift it should have the wiring already behind the dash, so you just need the key switch and the inidicator light to go in the centre console (which will need drilling to fit it). Facelift cars allegedly don’t have the wiring in place, but again it may be possible to source this and fit it yourself. There are several different part numbers for the switch and indicator. I’ve yet to get to the bottom of exactly which one is required.

As mentioned above the law states that if a rearward facing child seat is used the passenger airbag must be deactivated. Not so if using forward facing. Advice on this varies though and some say still deactivate it, others that it is fine to slide the seat as far back as it will go. You make your own choice on that.

As for ISOFIX, it isn’t mandatory. If the seat is secured using the three point seatbelt that should be sufficient. Having said that, I would prefer to have my kid’s seat fixed to hard anchor points as well as a seatbelt.

My lad is nearly 7, but quite small. He sits in a high sided booster seat which, if I can sort it, will be fixed in with ISOFIX, but I am thinking that I will not bother with the airbag deactivation.

Scooba_Steve · Post by **Scooba_Steve** » Sat May 26, 2018 6:29 pm

I've not looked at the diagrams but would think it is possible to wire in a simple switch to deactivate rather than the key type.

TONYMOR · Post by **TONYMOR** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 8:58 pm

My e89 has a light next to the interior light switch and when I got into it tonight it flashed passenger airbag off and I haven’t touched anything? Any advice?

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 10:37 pm

TONYMOR wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 8:58 pm My e89 has a light next to the interior light switch and when I got into it tonight it flashed passenger airbag off and I haven’t touched anything? Any advice?

I don't have a clue Tony.

But it might be worth starting a new thread for your question in the E89 section of the forum, either in "Problems" or "General Discussion" as the E89 might work a bit differently to the E85/86.

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