[Arcanox]

I was driving alone with my siren red Chevy Volt 2017. I connected my iPhone 7, and then just threw it into the passenger seat. After driving a few feet, I heard bong-bong-bong, then I looked at the dash, there were no messages there. So I was suspecting it was the latest recall service that I did yesterday. Then after I got into a stop sign, made a right turn, then bong-bong-bong sound came on again. This got me worried and drove on. Then after some time, I noticed a glowing red light on the overhead where OnStar area is. My golly, it says that the passenger airbag is on and my passenger has no seat belt! So I grabbed the iPhone and placed it under the DIC, and the growing red light turned off. An iPhone 7 needed a seat belt? Really?

Well, anyway, I tried different spots on the passenger seat, and yes, some areas won't trigger the passenger sensor while in other areas, the iPhone 7 is enough to trigger the passenger sensor!

Electronic devices in general seem to trigger that sensor; I have a feeling it must be very susceptible to electromagnetic interference. There's a shallow elongated slot to the right of the shifter where I normally keep my phone, as it stands up and is in the perfect position for connecting to Android Auto (or CarPlay for you)

 

[Arcanox]

I've had the 3.5mm aux cable sitting on the seat set off the passenger alert.

Makes me think the occupancy sensor operates via some sort of magnetic principle. I've never seen another manufacturer's seats behave like GM's...