Many years ago, I installed Recaro seats in my Maxima. They are much more comfortable than the stock seats, they look better, and they are lighter weight. The problem is that removing the stock seats triggers the airbag light. I have been able to ignore it for years, but I decided to figure out how to turn off the airbag light. This accomplishes two things....1. the flashing light goes off, and 2. it arms the remaining airbags in the car. Inasmuch as I am not a huge fan of bombs going off in case of impact, I do recognize the importance of the airbags, even though I would not have the benefit of seat air bags.

When swapping seats in a sixth Generation Maxima, there are three airbag issues to deal with: 1. the seat airbag, 2. the occupancy sensor in the passenger seat, and 3. the module under the drivers seat. The warning lights are a bit difficult to decipher, even when I referenced the FSM. Here is how to decipher it:

The first light is always a 7 second long light. The second flash determines which area of the system is in error. I had two types of errors. The first was a 3 second long flash followed by 2 quick flashes and then 5 quick flashes. This indicates driver airbag module and passenger classification sensor (weight sensor). The second flash was two 1.5 second flashes followed by one quick flash and then two quick flashes. This indicates the airbags in each seat.

I removed the module (big white square thing under the seat) from my original seat by unscrewing one screw and disconnecting the wire harnesses. I plugged it in my car under my Recaro seat (easier to do when seat removed). The problem is that the code for the module is still triggered. I will have to work on this issue and figure out what else needs to be done. The good news is that my power mirrors work now!! Apparently the mirrors run through that module under the seat.

The airbags should have been easy to bypass. In my 350z, I jumped the airbag connectors with a 2.2 ohm resistor and the light went out. I tried a 2.2 ohm resistor in the Maxima and the codes are still present. On the 370z website, they used a 4.7 ohm resistor to fix the code and I believe this will fix the codes in my car.

The last issue is the occupancy classification sensor aka weight sensor in the passenger seat. This sensor determines the weight of the passenger and whether or not the passenger airbag is armed based on the weight. If the passenger is 80 lbs or less, the passenger airbags are not armed. I believe the sensor is buried in the passenger seat cushion. A cursory glance and my stock passenger seat is daunting. Its not clear how to take it apart. I found a 370z thread that addresses this problem so I will look at my seat and reference the thread.

To sum up:

1. I need to figure out why the module code is still on after installing the module
2. I believe 4.7 ohm resistors will fix the basic airbag lights in both seats since 2.2 ohms did not fix it.
3. I need to remove the weight sensor from the passenger seat and install in the Recaro seat.

Ill keep you posted with my progress.

 

Ok, after some reading, I discovered that the driver module is actually the airbag in the steering wheel. I have no idea why that error code is on because I have the OEM steering wheel back in place. Maybe one of the wires came off. Ill pull the steering wheel and inspect. I guess that white box was not needed but at least my mirrors work now.

 

This evening, I remove the lower cushion from the passenger seat and found the occupant sensor. It looks kind of like a plastic bag with airfield in it attached to a black box. I removed it and removed my passenger seat so I had access to the connector. I plugged in the occupancy sensor put the seat back in the car and checked the airbag diagnostic codes. The occupancy sensor code was gone so that is one code down 3 more to go. Tomorrow I will try to find some time to get some 4.7 ohm resistors and see if I can clear the airbag sensor codes. That would leave the steering wheel airbag which is going to be puzzling. I hope it is obvious such as a wire that is disconnected because there should be nothing wrong with that airbag.

 

Please keep us posted. I bought a used 2007 Maxima two years ago, high mileage it has been a trouble free ride. However shortly after buying it I parked it against a curb with the wheels tight on the curb. When I went to drive it again, my steering wheel was locked. I had a friend who shook the p*** out of it and it came unlocked. I believe this is when I started having trouble with my airbag light flashing. I can reset it manually or with an obd scanner, but it will not stay reset. I did some research on it and thought possibly it was the clock spring in the stering mechanism. I took the cover off and all connections look fine, plus all the buttons on my steering wheel work. I looked in an auto shop manual and read that sometimes a car will be in a crash without deploying the bag and it causes the light to come on. I have not been in a crash and it was not on when I purchased the car. Perhaps shaking the steering wheel caused the light to come on. I believe I read that Nissan has a special tool that they use to reset the flashing light permanently. They charge $99 but would not guarantee it would solve my problem. I have black electricians tape over the light now. I have posted about this previously with no response. Pleas help Thanks, James

 

Ok...good news. The 2.2 ohm resistor does NOT work for bypassing the seat airbags. I know the 370z requires 4.7 ohms but all other Nissans that I am aware of only required 2.2 ohms to bypass the seat airbag. As an experiment, I took both my 2.2 ohm resistors and put them in series to make 4.4 ohms and bypassed the passenger airbag and the passenger airbag warning code turned off. That means that the airbag requires somewhere between 2.2 and 4.4 ohms in order to trick the computer to thinking that the airbag is hooked up. I will pick up a couple of resistors, probably 4.7 ohms, tomorrow and then hook those up and I should have only one more code to deal with and that would be the steering airbag module which for some reason is still triggering a code even though it's the factory wheel

 

I bought some 4.7 ohm resistors and plug them into the back of the airbag connectors for the seats. When I put the car in air bag diagnostic mode the codes for the seats we're gone. The steering wheel airbag code still existed. I disconnected the battery and pulled the air bag off the steering wheel and so one of the connectors, the orange one, seem to be loose. I disconnected it and reconnected it and made sure it was tight and put it all back together and connected the battery. All airbag lights are now off. Hallelujah!!!!

 

To summarize:

When installing racing seats in a 6th generation Maxima, there are two issues to be dealt with in order to clear the airbag light. The first is the occupancy sensor which can be removed from the original passenger seat and plugged into the car and rolled up so that it is always sensing someone in the seat. The alternative is to install the sensor in the existing seat that you installed. I am going to look into this because I am considering removing the heating elements from my original Seats and installing them in my Recaro seats. The second issue of course is that there are airbags that will be disconnected from each seat and a 4.7 ohm resistor across the terminals of the connectors will trick the computer into thinking that there is an airbag hooked up. That way all the other air bags will be armed and should deploy normally in the event of an accident. Of course if you install Maxima Seats from a different model car, then it may be possible to simply plug in the air bag from the seat if it has one.