Zoom car seat buckle help - 986 Forum

cplus · 09-21-2006, 07:31 AM

I had the passenger side airbag deactivation bar installed earlier this week, and the ECU reprogrammed accordingly. Now I need to fabricate a buckle to actually get the thing to work with my kids' car seat. So, can anyone help me out with either a picture or dimensions -- or better yet, both -- of the Zoom car seat buckle that locks into the deactivation bar?

I might be able to come close without a picture and dimensions, but they would be a huge help getting started in the right direction!

Thanks, and I promise to post pics of the buckle when it's finished.

Grizzly · 09-21-2006, 06:15 PM

I'm not sure if this is the part you already have, or the part you need. This one was installed in my car when I bought it.

A guy here on the forum really needed one, so I took it out of my car for him.

I gave it to him for free.

I mailed it to him and covered the postage for him.

Then I had to take my car to the dealership and bribe a guy to have my airbag light turned off...

The guy never even bothered to send me an email saying thanks.

Wish I still had it. I'd send it to you instead.

cplus · 09-21-2006, 06:46 PM

Thanks for the picture, this should get me off to a good start though the notched end may be a little tricky. I'll give it a go this weekend and let you know how I make out.

Tool Pants · 09-21-2006, 07:12 PM

A long time ago there was a guy on German ebay who was making them.

Others have used a 944 buckle and cut a slot in it.

cplus · 09-30-2006, 09:03 AM

In case this is useful to anyone else, here's some information on fabricating a buckle that can be used with the airbag deactivation bar. Since Tool Pants said some people had luck with 944 buckles, I called Parts Heaven and bought one. I guess they just the buckle off an old lap belt, at least that what it looked like when I got it. The cost was under $25, including shipping.

Using the images as a guide, I made a small notch in the tongue. The notch is 5mm, flairing to abou 8mm at the tip. But the buckle was a few mm too wide, so I filed it down to 22mm. Now the buckle would slide in the latch, but wouldn't actually lock into place. I made up a duplicate out of aluminum stock and found that the tongue would need to be about 38-40 mm long in order to lock, but the 944 buckle was shorter (probably 38 mm). So I filed back some of the plastic-covered base to make the tongue the correct length.

Once it was the correct width and length, the buckle slotted in with a solid "click." I started the car and the airbag light flashed for 60 seconds, then went off. Just as it should.

Here's a pic and an outline with some measurements.

ukchris · 10-01-2006, 05:51 AM

You can also if you so chose replicate the whole mechanism with a switch and a couple of resistors. All that is inside the buckle is a switch that changed the resistance by cutting out a resistor once the buckle is inserted, the car detects this change and deactivates the passenger airbag. Too test this theory I made a little switch box with the approprioate resisors in it, it seems to work fine. The nice thing is that the car diagnoses if the system is working and tells you so by flashing the airbag light for 60 seconds to show it has been deactivated. I have the circuit I made somewhere if anyone is interested, $10 in bits from radioshack and it was complete.

The only tricky bit is getting the connector for under the seats, I managed to get one but it is an awkward part to get hold of. You could of course just cut the connector off and replace it with a more common one or splice in to the wires.

Chris.

ukchris · 10-01-2006, 02:04 PM

Grizzly,

I thought I'd try drawing this up, if we can get it right there are waterjet cutting places that could probably make them to order, I know a guy who could cut it out of acrylic fairly cheap which would probably work too. In theory if you print this PDF it should come out at actual size, could you line up your buckle and see how it compares? A picture of the printout with your buckle alongside would help too if that's viable.

Chris.

cplus · 10-01-2006, 03:06 PM

Printing at 8.5 x 11 isn't a full-size image so I can't compare them, but the shape is correct. I will say the "wings" are vestigal from my buckle being a lap belt in its earlier life, they can probably be eliminated resulting in a more streamlined design. BTW, the tongue is 3mm thick if you're going to have some made up.

Also, I'm not sure if the buckle can be acrylic; it may need to be metallic if the receptacle is anything more than a simple mechanical catch-activated switch. (I.e., if it's magnetic or passes any kind of current through the buckle.) My guess is that a non-metalic buckle will work but I really don't know.

ukchris · 10-02-2006, 04:39 AM

That's odd, it looked accurate on my screen. I wonder if it's because I left that bitmap in there, I'm trying again with it removed to see if this one will print more accurately. If you are willing please give it another shot.

I'm not really doing this to try and get in to making them to sell, just trying to get an accurate template that people can then download to make their own buckle or have one made, if we can get it accurate I'll post the files here so they are readily available.

Chris.

Tool Pants · 10-04-2006, 08:14 PM

This is the one that use to be sold on German ebay.

Grizzly · 10-05-2006, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cplus

Printing at 8.5 x 11 isn't a full-size image so I can't compare them, but the shape is correct.

"That's odd, it looked accurate on my screen. I wonder if it's because I left that bitmap in there, I'm trying again with it removed to see if this one will print more accurately. If you are willing please give it another shot."

Originally posted by ukchris

Your home computer won't scan or print at exactly 100%. Printers alter the print size, however slightly, so that we can't accurately copy things...like...say...money for instance.

...bastards.

ukchris · 10-05-2006, 05:04 AM

I think it must be the PDF file. I did the drawing in Adobe Illustrator and can assure you that when I print the results are very, very accurate. Maybe things get messed up when I save it as PDF or, probably more likely, maybe I made it the worng size in the first place! Hee!

saltydog66 · 05-19-2007, 03:05 PM

Thanks for the pictures and dimensions, I'm going to try and make one for my 2000 boxster next weekend and this reallly helps. I can't even get the bar in Canada but I can get it in bellingham and I already have 3 car seats so just makeing the male buckle will save me having to buy yet another car seat. Thanks.

saltydog66 · 06-05-2007, 08:44 AM

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 · 01-17-2008, 12:31 AM

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 · 06-08-2008, 03:17 PM

Quote:

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 · 06-09-2008, 04:22 AM

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.

vipola · 06-16-2008, 09:32 AM

If it can help you, now that you got the ECU Programmed, unplug the deactivation bar and put yourself a switch on of with resistance 4kohm + 512ohm.. take a look in the Bentley Wiring diagram page 43 for the exact diagram..

edit: sorry I din't saw that was the content of the previous post

ukchris: that's what i did but now the dealer don't wanna turn the ECU on..