Racing Seat Install - Occupancy Sensor Bypass (Subaru WRX)

[@spelunkerd]

It's always nice to see a guy who understands basic electronics well enough to hack a system. For those who stop by, remember that you don't want children sitting in a seat where the airbag is set to always deploy. Those without enough mass to trigger the sensor (or those who move the seat all the way forward to reach pedals in the drivers seat) do better with seatbelts alone, which is why they have those sensors programmed the way they are. For a race car, this is irrelevant, because you'll never have kids riding along. The rest of us can ask the kids to sit in the back seat, but when the car is sold a reminder should be stickered to the car.

[@nickquatrini]

Good point, I should have mentioned that!

[@jovitorobledo3067]

dude this simple diagram saved me so many hours of reading schematics and test for solutions. thank you for this

[@nickquatrini]

I'm glad it was helpful!

[@adamrallard]

@@nickquatrini any idea if this would work on 2015 STI?

[@nickquatrini]

@adamrallard i think the 15+ use a capacitance sensor which looks like a sheet of paper. If thats the case you can slip that under your cushion

[@jackiewong6371]

nice!! looking for bypass the Occupancy Sensor for a long time.... thanks~!!

[@mohamedsiddiqui393]

You’re the man Nick

[@Kucan14]

cool car! Thanks for the video - I'm swapping a set of the JDM-optional Recaro STI seats into my 09 STI, managed to swap the USDM airbags into the JDM seat but was clueless how to bypassthe occupancy sensor to just always be on. Have some resistors on order now, thanks again!

[@nickquatrini]

Really glad it was helpful!! Thanks for the comment

[@ryanjamessti9250]

So did the 20 click turn the chime off? I'm currently dealing with the passenger side nightmare...I didn't realize I had to do all the bladder shit. Thot it would be just like driver side...just plug in resistors but nope. 🤦. Thanks brotha.

[@nickquatrini]

Yes it did. However. The passenger side seat belt buckle needs to be connected to the seat module otherwise you will get an airbag light. I am working on a fix for that but it seems it may be more complicated then it is worth. The passenger side is a pain in the neck haha I did notice after disconnecting the battery the chime came back so I have since plugged a seat belt end into the buckle and tucked it under the seat so it is not visible.

[@ryanjamessti9250]

@@nickquatrini ok thanks Nick for your quick response. I'm just so disgusted...I have a ton of money in my Bride/Cusco and Bride rails. And I want to use the passenger seat and then I ran into this horse shit. But thanks again. Can I reach out in the future?

[@nickquatrini]

Sure thing! And absolutely, just find this video or one of my others and leave a comment there. I get notifications sent to my phone so I should reply pretty quickly

[@ryanjamessti9250]

@@nickquatrini 🙏❤

[@jdmart82]

Will the airbags deploy if i dont plug anything but the seats belt conections? Will it just chime ?

[@STiGuy]

Hey man, if I just left the bladder plug unplugged & didn’t do any bypass for the bladder or anything. Would it throw an airbag light??? Or would it just never detect an occupant in the seat. Recently did seats in my car & am working out why I have an airbag light currently. I’ve got the proper 3.3ohm resistor in each airbag plug & transferred over the module but didn’t do anything for the bladder. Got an airbag light and scanning it with an SRS capable scanner just reads Occupancy Sensor Fault. Do I HAVE TO either bypass it with resistors or transfer the bladder? Was hoping I could just leave it unplugged…

[@nickquatrini]

Leaving it unplugged will set an Airbag light. It needs to see a voltage at all times which it won't if it's unplugged.

[@coryhibbard8606]

Unplugged creates an open in the circuit of course you have a code.

[@mvnd5652]

trying to do this in my saab, do you think the process is more or less the same? I know I need to use 3.3ohm reisistors, but besides that should I be able to replicate this?

[@nickquatrini]

I think it would be the same, but the passenger occupancy detection system might be a different style, I am not sure. I would check on one of the Saab forums out there

[@mikevasquez5469]

What watt resistor did you use. I would imagine its the same for the 2020 sti

[@nickquatrini]

Wattage doesn't really matter it's only a measure of how much current can safely flow through a resistor. The resistance is the only thing that matters but do try to get at least a half watt or higher.

[@mikevasquez5469]

@nickquatrini have you heard if this works on the 2020

[@nickquatrini]

@mikevasquez5469 to tell you the truth I'm not 100% sure. On those you should have a thin sheet that measures conductance. Most people just stick the sheet under or inside the cushion

[@mikevasquez5469]

@nickquatrini yeah I was hoping to avoid dismantling my seat cause subaru does not sell just the pad. Thanks anyways

[@ShaftShaver]

Anyone know how to do this on a 2006?

[@rporter996]

I've been trying to find info on if something like this will work for a 2018 WRX. Do you happen to have any idea?

[@nickquatrini]

Yes, should all be the same however the 15+ wrx uses a capacitance sheet as the passenger occupancy sensor. You'll need to cut open the cushion to take that out of the old seat and transfer it to the new one somehow. There is a video somewhere that shows this if you keep searching you should be able to find it

[@rporter996]

@@nickquatrini darn I was hoping there was a way to bypass the sheet all together

[@nickquatrini]

Yeah see the thing is you may be able to, but I don't have any experience with the newer ones so I can't say.

[@rporter996]

@@nickquatrini Darn alright well thanks!

[@mikevasquez5469]

Anyone try this on a 2015 or newer?