keydiver
Well-known member
Has anyone else had a problem with the occupancy sensor in their passenger seat going bad? I had the dealer quote me $2000 to replace the COMPLETE SEAT! :shock: When this happened in my Prius, this was simply a matter of recalibrating the sensor, but evidently the way Nissan does it you have to replace the whole seat, which includes the sensor. As it is, the passenger airbag is not functional, so why is this not a safety recall issue?? Upon Googling, this seems to be a common Nissan/Infiniti issue. They issued a recall for some 2007-2009 models, but that is all I could find. I thought the manufacture was liable for airbag issues?
FYI: for anyone else that may get this code, and you don't want to pay $2000 to a dealer, you really only have 2 choices as far as I know:
1) Get a used seat from a junkyard, or
2) As I did, buy a bypass kit that replaces the seat sensor. I found a Youtube video where the mechanic explained how he resolved the issue, and how he found a company in Ireland that makes a little box that plugs into the harness under the seat. It puts out the correct timing pulses to tell the computer that someone is always sitting in the passenger seat. There are only 2 downsides to this $97 solution:
a) when no one is sitting in the seat, the read triangle and seatbelt warning signs are lit on the dash, indicating that the passenger has not put on their seatbelt. If this really annoys you, you can reach over and buckle the seatbelt.
b) if a small child would sit in the front seat, the airbag would be armed, even if he is below the minimum weight. Airbag360 has informed me that the default mode is that all airbags are activated with a code B1018, so really this part hasn't changed. Legally, they can't add a switch to turn off the airbag, although I seem to recall several cars that had a switch on the dash or glovebox just for this reason.
If I had more time, I would tear the seat apart and try to figure out the root of the problem. But, as it is, I am happy with this $97 solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdUpdkVLDIU
FYI: for anyone else that may get this code, and you don't want to pay $2000 to a dealer, you really only have 2 choices as far as I know:
1) Get a used seat from a junkyard, or
2) As I did, buy a bypass kit that replaces the seat sensor. I found a Youtube video where the mechanic explained how he resolved the issue, and how he found a company in Ireland that makes a little box that plugs into the harness under the seat. It puts out the correct timing pulses to tell the computer that someone is always sitting in the passenger seat. There are only 2 downsides to this $97 solution:
a) when no one is sitting in the seat, the read triangle and seatbelt warning signs are lit on the dash, indicating that the passenger has not put on their seatbelt. If this really annoys you, you can reach over and buckle the seatbelt.
b) if a small child would sit in the front seat, the airbag would be armed, even if he is below the minimum weight. Airbag360 has informed me that the default mode is that all airbags are activated with a code B1018, so really this part hasn't changed. Legally, they can't add a switch to turn off the airbag, although I seem to recall several cars that had a switch on the dash or glovebox just for this reason.
If I had more time, I would tear the seat apart and try to figure out the root of the problem. But, as it is, I am happy with this $97 solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdUpdkVLDIU