[TheNomad]

This morning, I unplugged my car, closed the charge door securely. Got in the car and started it. I just had backed out of the driveway and setting up my waze directions, when I first heard the ding-ding-ding warning tone. When I checked my dashboard and the console display, there were no warnings I could see. I gave it to a fluke and kept driving. Got on the freeway, after driving about 12-13 miles, I heard the same warning tone with nothing to show for it on either displays. It is now bugging me what this could be. Any ideas ?

 

[Neromanceres]

Did you have anything sitting on the passenger seat? A cellphone or tablet for example?

 

[TheNomad]

Yes, my personal cellphone was on the passenger seat, charging, as I forgot to plug it in last night and realized 5 minutes before I left home this morning. Why would you ask that, I am now curious.

 

[freshcut]

Exactly. If you don't see any warnings on the dash, look up at the roof console and look for the passenger airbag light. I've had that happen with just a loaf of bread in the passenger seat.

 

[telveer]

Make sure you don't have any psuedo-passengers (like a cell phone or laptop)

 

[TheNomad]

Oh my friggen god. Is the weight sensor so sensitive, so it can get a 4 Oz. cell phone a s a person on the front seat? I mean I can understand if my dog jumps up on the seat with her mighty 15 lbs weight, it might trigger something but just few ounces is ridiculous. I will test this on my way back home tonight. Thanks again.

 

[freshcut]

They are quite sensitive. However, some have said the electronics in a phone can play a role too. I just know when I go pick up my bread order for work (3 dozen rolls), I have to put the seat belt on if they're in the front seat. I'll admit it's not consistent, but sometimes if a weight is in just the right location on the seat, it will set it off.

 

[telveer]

I believe its not he weight of the phone or laptop but the electrical interference from it that causes the passenger sensor to falsely detect that a passenger is sitting.

 

[llninja]

Oh my friggen god. Is the weight sensor so sensitive, so it can get a 4 Oz. cell phone a s a person on the front seat? I mean I can understand if my dog jumps up on the seat with her mighty 15 lbs weight, it might trigger something but just few ounces is ridiculous. I will test this on my way back home tonight. Thanks again.

This morning, my car started binging, my daughter had left the aux cable on her seat as she exited the car. So the sensor is far more sensitive than 4 oz. if you happen to look at the overhead indicators, you'll see a red passenger seat light flashing when it bings.

What's also interesting is that when driving on a long trip, when a passenger in the rear seats unhook their seat belt to adjust while you are on the highway, you will also get the dinging noise.

 

[Mc2wheels]

This happens occasionally when I leave my cell phone on the seat of my gen 2 as well.

 

[TSquare]

It is NOT just the weight on the seat.

Inside the seat, you will find a pressure sensor, a silicone-filled "bladder", and an electronic control unit (ECU). When someone sits on the seat, the pressure sensor signals the occupant's weight to the ECU. The ECU then sends that data to the airbag, which has its own control unit. Based on that information, the vehicle's computer turns the passenger airbag on or off.

The OCS doesn't just detect weight. It reads the passenger's seating position and determines if they're wearing a seat belt. It also has a seat belt tension sensor that allows the OCS to interpret the pressure created when a child seat is fitted. In other words, the system is designed to tell whether a child safety seat is occupying that seat or whether you're just carrying some heavy object there. A light or sign on the instrument panel tells the driver whether the passenger airbag is on or off.

Once the onboard computer knows the passenger's size and weight, the car's dual stage airbags come into play. Based on the occupants' size, these types of airbags can deploy at full speed, partial speed, or not at all. An airbag deploying at full speed can badly injure or even kill a child or small adult. In addition, dual stage airbags also can deploy at lesser speeds when the car is involved in a minor collision.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/ocs1.htm

 

[caskConditionedAle]

I'm still waiting for the auto industry to amend these ding-ding-ding and light signals with spoken info. If the navigation system can give you verbal instructions, why can't the car say "Passenger airbag enabled?"

 

[erewhon]

I have a 2012 Volt and have not had any problems placing items on the passenger seat - sometimes quite a load, like a half bag of groceries or a laptop computer in its carrying case. If my wife is in the passenger seat, the ding-ding comes on quite dependably if she does not buckle up. I wonder if some Volt sensors are more sensitive.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

There must be something wrong with the passenger seat occupancy sensor. I place my laptop/gadget bag on the passenger seat every day I drive to work and I never hear the seat belt chime. But when someone is actually sitting in there without the seat belt, then it does.

 

[DMC5180]

I'm still waiting for the auto industry to amend these ding-ding-ding and light signals with spoken info. If the navigation system can give you verbal instructions, why can't the car say "Passenger airbag enabled?"

Chrysler tried Voice spoken warnings 30 years ago. The 86 or 87 Lebanon turbo had it. I worked for a guy that had one. I always that it was comical an annoying when it would say "your washer fluid is low" every time you turned the key on until you took care of it. I guess the big wigs at Chrysler thought the world was ready for there version of KITT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cord]

Try around 4 - 2lt bottles of Dr Pepper in a sack on the seat.
We tend to be as a line in Star trek said ugly bags of mostly water

 

[Neromanceres]

The sensor in the seat is not just pressure or weight sensitive. But also uses a capacitive sensor. Electronics can often fool the capacitive sensor.

 

[Fourdoor]

Oh my friggen god. Is the weight sensor so sensitive, so it can get a 4 Oz. cell phone a s a person on the front seat? I mean I can understand if my dog jumps up on the seat with her mighty 15 lbs weight, it might trigger something but just few ounces is ridiculous. I will test this on my way back home tonight. Thanks again.

For my car (2016) it isn't the weight. My lunch sitting in the passenger seat does nothing, but my cell phone sets off the "occupied without seatbelt" alarm.

Keith

 

[canehdian]

Not necessarily for the airbag warning, but the seat does have very sensitive measuring ability.
On mornings where's cold enough for auto seat heater to enable, if I place my lunch there it can trigger the auto seat heaters to turn on - it thinks something is in the seat.
It depends if I have a plastic container or a heavy pyrex container - somewhere in between is the point where it can "feel"

 

[Rampage_Rick]

It is NOT just the weight on the seat.

Inside the seat, you will find a pressure sensor, a silicone-filled "bladder", and an electronic control unit (ECU). When someone sits on the seat, the pressure sensor signals the occupant's weight to the ECU...

The Volt's passenger presence system does not use air bladders. As stated above it's a capacitive detection system, similar to the workings of a touch lamp:

Weight has nothing to do with it, there isn't any air bladder or weight sensor in the volt. There are sensors in the seat that measure capacitance. Remember touch lamps that dim when you touch the brass? Same concept.

GM currently uses four different Passenger Sensing System technologies developed by four different suppliers. All of these technologies are designed to meet the federal requirements. The four passenger sensing technologies that are currently in GM vehicles are Delphi's PODS-B, Elesys, IEE and Aisin.

Delphi PODS-B

The Delphi PODS-B system uses a silicone filled bladder. The occupant's weight generates a pressure input onto the bladder through the seat cushion. The system doesn't measure all of the occupant's weight because some of the weight is distributed through the occupant's legs and not onto the system's bladder. Tension in the safety belt generates an additional input to the system. The PODS-B control module compares the adjusted weight estimate to a threshold and communicates an air bag ON or OFF decision to the air bag control module. All of GM's 2003 and 2004 model year vehicles that are equipped with a Passenger Sensing System use the PODS-B system with additional implementations of this technology in some 2005 and later models.

Elesys

The Elesys system is a capacitive system which uses flexible sensors to determine the occupant's presence, relative amount of mass and relative position on the seat. The sensors' input is used to help discriminate between a child in a child restraint, a child sitting directly on the seat and an adult-sized occupant sitting directly on the seat. GM first implemented the Elesys system in the 2005 model year on the Buick Lacrosse, with additional implementations beginning in the 2006 model year.

IEE

The IEE system uses an array of Force Sensing Resistor cells located between the seat trim and the top surface of the seat cushion foam. It uses pattern recognition as well as area and load on the seat to communicate the air bag ON or OFF decision to the air bag control module. GM first implemented the IEE system in the 2005 model year on the Cadillac CTS, with additional implementations beginning in the 2006 model year.

Aisin

The Aisin system uses four seat rail mounted sensors that measure the weight of the occupant in the seat. That information is relayed to the air bag control module and used to determine the air bags on/off decision. The Pontiac Vibe began using this system in the 2005 model year. All of these technologies comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208's requirements. In addition, General Motors and its Passenger Sensing System suppliers have developed a variety of internal considerations that are used to help evaluate system performance.

A large concrete cinder block won't activate the system, but a cellphone will.