[neelmcc]

Have been unable to resolve an annoying problem with the passenger airbag notification. My wife who weighs 125pounds will not always trigger the airbag sensor when seated. It will sequence, show on and then, other occasions show off and remain off when entering the right front seat. Once it shows off and the car is moving it will not change to on, no matter what gymnastics you try. Since this sensor also controls the side airbag as well on many occasions she is riding without any frontal protection. My dealer is more than willing to resolve this problem but runs into a DETROIT "I don't know for sure what the weight setting is for that seat and we have never heard of that problem" No suggestions either.

My wife is becoming very annoyed to think that some seat sensor or control module will determine if she survives a frontal crash because it didn't believe anyone was sitting in that seat. Can anyone explain why (other than a child or rear facing childrens seat) would not allow me to make a decision to leave the passenger air bag on at all times. Maybe a cost saving measure so that air bag would not have to be replaced if it didn't deploy.

 

[jonv112]

I weigh only 100 pounds and the sensor always works fine in our Montana SV6 when I sit in the passenger seat.

 

[Guest]

I weigh only 100 pounds and the sensor always works fine in our Montana SV6 when I sit in the passenger seat.

different car, different sensor, more sensitive i guess, the weight is supposed to be above 50 pounds according to the manual but it sometimes still does not work.

 

[axiama]

When we were coming home from dinner tonight my husband noticed that my air bag was "OFF" :banana:

At a red light I lifted up off the seat and when I sat back down it switched to "ON." If it happens again I'll be concerned but right now I like the car even more. :angel:

 

[Top Dog]

We experienced the same problem once on our 3000 Plus mile trip. I had to pull over and shut off the car and restart it, then The Air Bag Light came on.
The Wife had got up to get something out of the back seat and it would not reset until I performed the above actions.
Haven't had this problem since the Trans/Computer update.

 

[Guest]

We experienced the same problem once on our 3000 Plus mile trip. I had to pull over and shut off the car and restart it, then The Air Bag Light came on.
The Wife had got up to get something out of the back seat and it would not reset until I performed the above actions.

i think somthing is wrong with your sensor, all of our sensors work, that when you sit is on, if you lean over to get somthing it turns off, but about 5 seconds after you sits, its on again.

 

[BoyMom]

When we were coming home from dinner tonight my husband noticed that my air bag was "OFF"

At a red light I lifted up off the seat and when I sat back down it switched to "ON." If it happens again I'll be concerned but right now I like the car even more.

I'm with you axiama... it was off while I was in the front seat one day too and told my husband that I must not weigh enough to trip the sensor! ;D

Seriously though, it is a real issue and I will continue to monitor the light when I'm riding shotgun.

 

[Guest]

I'm with you axiama... it was off while I was in the front seat one day too and told my husband that I must not weigh enough to trip the sensor! ;D

Seriously though, it is a real issue and I will continue to monitor the light when I'm riding shotgun.

well that is an excuse to drive then ;D ;D ;D

 

[Rosten]

We just got our Enclave last week and we're having this same problem. My wife weighs a bit over 100 pounds and the airbag seems to be off most of the time. I consider this a very serious issue. Has anyone been able to resolve this problem?

 

[axiama]

It only happened to me that one time. It sounds like you need to make a trip to the dealership.

 

[Paul]

My wife, 110 pounds, sometimes experiences the same problem. Since our dealers are not able to get guidance or a fix from GM, those of us who are experiencing the defect should probably file a complaint with the NHTSA ( http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm ).

 

[jacko]

:ditto:

I haven't had this problem, but my wife weighs in at 120. I certainly would contact NHTSA if my dealer wasn't helping, this is very serious.

 

[Smokin SRX]

Mrs. SRX weighs 109 lbs! Working OK. Dealer MUST resolve this! Absolutely a Safety issue. Or go to NHTSA as recommended above.

 

[sunshadw]

The following is from the online Acadia manual which might help.

If a person of adult-size is sitting in the right front
passenger’s seat, but the off indicator is lit, it
could be because that person is not sitting properly
in the seat. If this happens, turn the vehicle off
and ask the person to place the seatback in
the fully upright position, then sit upright in the
seat, centered on the seat cushion, with the
person’s legs comfortably extended. Restart the
vehicle and have the person remain in this position
for two to three minutes. This will allow the
system to detect that person and then enable the
right front passenger’s frontal airbag and
seat-mounted side impact airbag.[/color]

Wayne

 

[Smokin SRX]

OK, for once a year , maybe. But not once a week! If mine doesn't do it with 109 lbs, yours shouldn't do it either! The procedure in the manual is almost laughable. Is GM kidding?? Dealer visit. . Unless someone is sitting in a very strange position....... Then all bets are off!

 

[Smokin SRX]

We may have a problem!! just found this in link I belong to and seems there is a concern with light weight folk! Who knows how many people never notice this light!!!!! Maybe all cars , if this seat manufacturer. has it!! see link article and maybe we'll have to ask for a bypass switch to make seat think someone is always there! An "On-Off" type won't get offered cause no one wants the liability if you forget to turn it "ON" !!

http://www.mycarstats.com/safetystation.asp (it's the first one: "mycarstats" address!



---------- CAR REPORT WIZARD ----------
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2008 BUICK ENCLAVE
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Yes, include on Custom Report
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Create Custom Report CONSUMER COMPLAINT: ODI Case Number: 10204388

Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:SENSOR/CONTROL MODULE

Details: PURCHASED NEW 2008 BUICK ENCLAVE ON MAY 24, 2007. WE IMMEDIATELY NOTED THE "ON/OFF" FRONT PASSENGER AIR BAG LIGHT ON THE DASH WAS INCONSISTENT WHEN MY 5' 7" 118 LB. WIFE SAT IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT. ABOUT 40% OF THE TIME THE LIGHT INDICATES THAT THE AIR BAG IS OFF, BUT SPORADICALLY IT SHOWS THAT THE SYSTEM IS ON. JUNE 1ST, ON MY FIRST DEALER VISIT WITH THIS VEHICLE, I REPORTED THIS PROBLEM AND WAS ADVISED THAT THIS WAS POSSIBLE AND WE SHOULD VIEW A SEAT SENSING VIDEO. AFTER SEVERAL PHONE CALLS AND VISITS TO MY DEALER, ROYAL BUICK OF TUCSON (WHO HAVE BEEN MORE THAN HELPFUL AND CONCERNED) THE SERVICE MANAGER CALLED BUICK AND WAS TOLD THAT WE WERE THE ONLY ONE IN THE US HAVING THAT PROBLEM AND THE BUICK DISTRICT MANAGER SAID THE SYSTEM CHECKED OUT OKAY BUT MY WIFE'S BUILD WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR THAT CAR. WE WERE TOLD THAT THE SYSTEM WAS OPERATING WITHIN THE "PARAMETERS" SET BY THE MANUFACTURERS FOR PEOPLE OF MY WIFE'S SIZE. ALSO, THEY SAID, THESE "PARAMETERS" WERE ESTABLISHED BY FEDERAL LAW. FAST FORWARD TO 9-25-07, THE SENSOR MANUFACTURER SENT AN ENGINEER TO TUCSON AND SPENT 2 HOURS HAVING MY WIFE GET IN AND OUT OF THE FRONT SEAT TO ESTABLISH A MORE REALISTIC DATABASE OR ALGORITHM FOR PEOPLE HER SIZE. BUICK OR THE SEAT MANUFACTURER SENT ANOTHER SEAT RIGHT FROM THE ASSEMBLY LINE TO REPLACE OUR SEAT FOR THEIR ANALYSIS. AS OF TODAY 9-27-07 THIS NEW SEAT HAS A FAILURE MODE OF 60% IN THE LAST THREE DAYS (15 SEAT ENTRIES AND 9 TIMES THE AIRBAG FAILED TO ARM) WE PAID $40,000 FOR A CAR WITH AN AIR-BAG SAFETY SYSTEM THAT WAS DESIGNED TO PROTECT BOTH FRONT AND REAR PASSENGERS, BUT YET IT WOULD NOT PROTECT AN ADULT OF MY WIFE'S SIZE WHEN RIDING AS A FRONT-SEAT PASSENGER. HAD WE KNOWN THIS FACT, WE WOULD NOT HAVE PURCHASED THE VEHICLE AT ANY PRICE. SAFETY IS OUR BIGGEST CONCERN WHEN BUYING A NEW VEHICLE. THIS COMPLAINT IS THE SAME AS NUMBER 10202517 WITH A FEW ADDED DETAILS. *JB

Occurrences: 50 Injuries: 0
Fail Date: 09/27/2007 Deaths: 0
Date added to datbase: 9/28/2007

[FILE] your own complaint on this model car.





Yes, include on Custom Report
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Create Custom Report CONSUMER COMPLAINT: ODI Case Number: 10202517

Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:SENSOR/CONTROL MODULE

Details: PURCHASED A BRAND NEW 2008 BUICK ENCLAVE ON MAY 10, 2007. SUBSEQUENTLY, WE NOTED THAT THE "ON/OFF" FRONT PASSENGER AIR BAG LIGHT ON THE DASH WAS INCONSISTENT WHEN MY 5' 4", 115 LB. WIFE SET IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THE LIGHT INDICATES THAT THE AIR BAG IS OFF, BUT OCCASIONALLY IT SHOWS THAT THE SYSTEM IS ON. WE FIRST TALKED WITH THE SALESMAN AND HE SAID THIS DIDN'T SOUND RIGHT AND I SHOULD BRING THE CAR IN WHEN IT WAS SHOWING THE SYSTEM WAS OFF WHILE MY WIFE WAS RIDING AS A PASSENGER. IN AUGUST, WE TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALER, BILL KOBACH, IN TOPEKA, KANSAS WITH MY WIFE SETTING IN THE SEAT AND THE LIGHT WAS INDICATING THAT THE AIR BAG WAS "OFF." THE SERVICE MANAGER SAID THEY WERE HAVING SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE "ON/OFF INDICATOR LIGHT," BUT I SHOULD LEAVE THE CAR WITH THEM SO THAT THEY COULD CHECK THE SYSTEM. LATER, THEY CALLED AND SAID THE SYSTEM CHECKED OUT OKAY AND THEY HAD CALLED DETROIT ABOUT IT. THEY WERE TOLD THAT THE SYSTEM WAS OPERATING WITHIN THE "PARAMETERS" SET BY THE MANUFACTURERS FOR PEOPLE OF MY WIFE'S SIZE. ALSO, THEY SAID, THESE "PARAMETERS" WERE ESTABLISHED BY FEDERAL LAW. WE FIND IT INCONCEIVABLE THAT WE WE PAID $45,000 FOR A CAR WITH AN AIR-BAG SAFETY SYSTEM THAT WAS DESIGNED TO PROTECT BOTH FRONT AND REAR PASSENGERS, BUT YET IT WOULD NOT PROTECT AN ADULT OF MY WIFE'S SIZE WHEN RIDING AS A FRONT-SEAT PASSENGER. HAD WE KNOWN THIS FACT, WE WOULD NOT HAVE PURCHASED THE VEHICLE AT ANY PRICE. SAFETY IS OUR BIGGEST CONCERN WHEN BUYING A NEW VEHICLE. *JB

Occurrences: 180 Injuries: 0
Fail Date: 08/31/2007 Deaths: 0
Date added to datbase: 9/11/2007

[FILE] your own complaint on this model car.





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http://www.mycarstats.com/safetystation.asp!

 

[Guest]

my 10 year old brother waighs 87 pounds and it works fine for him in my yukon and it also worked fine in the acadia, i have not tried the enclave yet.

 

[neelmcc]

I filed the first topic in this thread and have found out that GM uses 4 different vendors as their seat suppliers. All four use a different method of sensing a passenger in the seat, so any reference to another GM vehicle would be invalid, since the Enclave vendor is not making the seats for Acadia or Outlook.

Supposedly Enclave vendor is re-writing their data base based upon new information and we were told that a firmware or software change will be out in early November. I will believe it when I see it. Our dealer has been bending over backwards to try to solve this problem.

Neelmcc

 

[muljo]

My son weighs in at around 120 lbs. There have been occasions where I have noticed the air bag off when he is sitting up front. After a few experiements it appears that if I move the shifter out of park before the air bag registers as "on" it switches to "off" and the only way to have it go back on again is to stop, put the shifter in park, have him get up and then sit back down again let it register as "on" and then start driving again. So far as long as I wait until it is "on" before moving the shifter out of Park it has been fine.

 

[BadAV]

I watched our indicator light the other night when my 16 year-old daughter, who weighs about 100 lbs., was in the seat. The airbag indicator light stayed on the whole time she was in the car.

I'm not sure which type of system the Enclave has. I'm only familiar with the PODS system. It uses an air bladder to sense a weight, and a TPS (track position sensor) to determine the track position, in the passenger-side seat. These systems were implemented several years ago prior to their being 100% foolproof; they have gotten much better in the last couple of years.