Passenger airbag turned off

[rdblatch]

Hi all,
I just bought a cx-7 the other day. When I turn the car on, even if someone is sitting in the passenger seat, the "Passenger airbag disabled" light comes on for about 5 seconds and then turns off.

1) Is this supposed to happen?

2) Is the airbag actually disabled? When someone is sitting there, I want it to be enabled.

Thanks.

 

[BlackCherry06]

You only have to worry if the light stays on. The light illuminating for 5 seconds at startup is just an indicator that the seat sensor is doing a self-diagnostic.

You will probably notice that if you place a bag of groceries or a heavy bag in the seat, the light will stay on. That's also normal. They've programmed in a specific weight that the passenger has to meet in order for the airbag to deploy. This prevents the airbag from deploying if you have a child in a carseat.