Way to disable passenger airbay in '97 TJ?

Complete and utter nonsense.

In order for an airbag to be effective, you *must* be wearing your seatbelt - not doing so will often result in serious injury or even death as a result of the driver/passenger being in the wrong position when the bag inflates.

J.

Yes I did. '02 Wrangler Sport with a back seat straight from the factory, and it came with a passenger air bag cutoff switch standard.

Tom

You should read some history. Even from this link someone else posted:

American airbag designs triggering much more quickly than airbags designed for other countries, to protect occupants not wearing seat belts.

And:

they were touted in the 1960s and 70s as a potential seat belt replacement,

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Aug./05 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

My 02 X had a back seat from the factory as well, and had a cut off switch. My 05 doesn't.

Patrick ?Ô

Are they ALWAYS sold with a back seat? The base model 4 banger hasn't got a back seat in the States. And, the back seat is a removable feature to give a truck-like cargo area.

All I'm suggesting is that one ask the question before blindly taking "no" for an answer. The later years of production have a bypass switch that the '97s don't have. We can get the bypass switch added, perhaps you can as well.

My '00 Sport has the cutoff switch as well. Back seat came factory installed.

Wifey's '04 Unlimited did not come with the switch.

Yup, for both Australia and New Zealand :)

We're pretty limited for choice here.. No Rubicon or anything of the sort. The Wrangler is available in 'Sport' model by default, with a Renegade pack on top of that should you so desire. The 2.5L 4cyl isn't available here either.. although that may be a good thing :)

All models are sold with back seat as standard.. I believe they're also sold with aircon and CD as standard too?

Hence the $29,990 asking price for the entry-level model down under (down from $33,990 a few years ago!)

J.

As Jason said, we don't have 4-bangers here. Only an inline 6. All come in two trims (Sport or Renegade), with the option of soft or hard-top (or both). No Rubi here yet. I have been told by the local dealer that they will be bringing in Unlimiteds with four door option starting from Jan '07. No decision yet on Rubi.

Keep in mind, our steering wheel is on the right side of the rig..... Not much market for Wranglers when competing against Jap imports.

TW

That right. As far as I understand the inflate speed for airbags in Europe is much slower than in the States for european regulation. And the reason for quickest airbags in the States seems to be the lack of usage of seat belts.

At least that is what EU authorities said about this matter.

Regards, Fidelio

"Mike Roma>>

Hmmm 300 miles/hour neck snapper???? I wasn't aware about my mother being designer of US airbags systems. Whenever my brother or me do a wrong thing at home while we were childs my mother used to snap our necks as quick as

300 miles/hour (450 km/h in Europe).

XDDD

Regards, Fidelio

"L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@cox.net...

Well, just because the back seat comes in the truck, there's no reason you can't take it out. The Owner's Manual gives detailed directions on how to do this.

With the back seat, you gain lots of cargo space at the expense of seating area. The '98 and later models have a Airbag Bypass that ONLY the '97s didn't get. There is a bypass that came from the factory, but requires the owner specifically ask for it, and sign some mind of form that keeps the owner from going after the dealership for installing a requested option.

I know I can take the seat out, but the belts must still be capable of working in the back. If I take the belts off, then at re-install I will have to have them re-tested/certified for being compliant with local laws. Its strange, but that the price you have to pay for living in NZ. As for the disable switch, it was never introduced here. I tried getting it, but couldn't do it because of local regulations not allowing me to do so. Oh well, I'll save all my mods and have it certified in one go, once the TJ reaches toy stage.

TW

If you really want to disable the airbag why not just install a toggle or key-switch yourself?

Nobody is talking about taking the belts off.

If you take the back seat out for cargo, AND want to carry a child in the front seat at the same time, then logic says that you need to bypass the passenger airbags. The factory put the bypass circuit in '98 and later TJs, ONLY the '97 TJ hasn't got this capability. You can add the capability by having a factory sanctioned bypass switch installed. The factory sanctioned bypass is certified.

It might have come with a particular option package, I know I did not ask for it when I ordered my '00 TJ.

I think it was limited by market as well. Disable switch has never been an option in New Zealand.

TW

The Passenger Side Airbag Bypass Switch is standard on all TJs made from the '98 year. The '97s didn't have it, but the factory made it available for people that are willing to sign a NHTSA waiver.

The deal is, kids fare better in the back seat when the car is in a collision, and they fare better in the front seat if there is no airbag present. The best place is the back seat, the next best place is the front seat with no airbag, and the worst place is the front seat WITH an airbag.

The TJ can have the rear seat removed, indeed the most basic of base models has no back seat at all -- you won't find many of these -- but since the owner can take the seat out and still need to haul a kid, then somebody figured out that it makes sense that the airbag should be able to be turned off. This feature is standard after the '97 model year, and there were no airbags in the '95 and earlier models, and there was no '96 model year. ONLY the '97 can have the need for the Passenger Side Airbag Bypass Kit, and to get the kit installed the owner must sign a waiver available from the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration.

PS I suppose there might be a few early production '98s that might be able to use this kit, but my knowledge is that all '98s have the bypass switch istalled from the factory.

My '02 had a bypass switch standard from the factory. My '06 does not.

Tom