Zoom car seat buckle help

[saltydog66]

I got the same 944 buckle from parts heaven and inked it up and layed out the dimensions in cplus' drawing. I used a cut off wheel on a dremel and finished it with a file and some wet sandpaper. It fit into the female end of the buckle under the seat with a solid click with very little play. I fired it up (2000 boxster) and the airbag light flashed for 60 seconds and went out which is what I have read it should do. So thanks! Looks like it worked.

(I actually got the deactivation bar installed by Porsche and it was a free part and a free install because I managed to find an old reciept for a porsche car seat and they took a copy and covered the whole bill on "warranty", not sure if this will work for everyone)

Here is a picture of my 944 buckle after the dremel surgery...please proceed at your own risk, I'm sure Porsche would have a stroke if they knew people where making thier own buckles.

[markabanksy]

Not sure if people realise but I have found that I did not need to manufacture a male clip to slot in the buckle of an airbag deactivation bar to deactivate the airbag. There is a more simple solution.

It appears that the switch in the female buckle does not carry an electrical current across the male clip. It is simply a switch that is on or off dependent on the clip being inserted or removed.

To deactivate the airbag I simply inseted a match stick or small screw driver into the buckle, press down, hear the click and the buckle thinks the clip is inserted. When I want to reset the airbag back on, I simply repeat the process.

The airbag (on my car anyway) light flashes as it should and then goes out. Works fine and I got a better fitting child seat that the Porsche one for £50.

[alpinewhite325i]

Originally Posted by markabanksy

Not sure if people realise but I have found that I did not need to manufacture a male clip to slot in the buckle of an airbag deactivation bar to deactivate the airbag. There is a more simple solution.

It appears that the switch in the female buckle does not carry an electrical current across the male clip. It is simply a switch that is on or off dependent on the clip being inserted or removed.

To deactivate the airbag I simply inseted a match stick or small screw driver into the buckle, press down, hear the click and the buckle thinks the clip is inserted. When I want to reset the airbag back on, I simply repeat the process.

The airbag (on my car anyway) light flashes as it should and then goes out. Works fine and I got a better fitting child seat that the Porsche one for £50.

Has anyone else tried just tripping the switch w / a screwdriver or matchstick?

[ukchris]

Why bother with the buckle at all? If you're going to compromise the integrity of the mechanism by tripping it with a match why not just cut the wire and put a two pole swithch and a copule of resistors in instead? All the buckle mechanism does is trip a switch to change the resistance in the circuit, the car detects this and enables or disables the airbag as appropriate.

I understand why people want to use the buckle as the "proper" solution as safety is involved but personally I'd trust a switch I'd installed over a buckle activated with a matchstick.

Chris.