FS: airbag deactivation bar for child seat WITH MALE SEATBELT END!

PN 996-803-083-02 I paid $140 for this bar 5 years ago, it's very hard to find -- I don't think you can buy it separately without a seat in the US. Easily bolts & plugs into your car under the seat, but you MUST have a dealer or independent with the Porsche computer program the car to recognize it, otherwise the airbag WILL NOT be deactivated when you use this. This only takes them a few minutes, so it's a minimal labor charge, maybe free if you have a good relationship with your dealer or indy. You cannot just use an airbag light reset tool - the car must be programmed to recognize this bar. Works on all 986 Boxster & 996 models, and I believe it works for the 987 & 997's also - but I'm not positive, so please find out before buying. Best of all: Includes the male seatbelt end which I cut off of my old Porsche child seat (which I'm throwing away as it's very old & made of styrofoam, so it's no longer structurally sound). With this you can use any baby or child seat in the car by simply plugging in this male end to turn off the airbag. You can avoid buying the $$$ Porsche seats and use any that you already have. see my ebay listing - search for "Porsche airbag deactivation bar"

I couldn't find your ebay ad, but I'm nterested. I actually only need the male buckle as the deactivation bar was installed by the previous owner but I can't find anyone selling the buckle alone. Cheers, Stan

I have heard, but cannot confirm, that one can make a working male insert by making minor modifications to a 944 male seat belt end. For that purpose, I have emailed a scan of my OEM air bag cutoff buckle to several forum members.

I was having trouble finding the male seatbelt end as well. I bought an old 944 seatbelt and did the modification. It takes about 3 minutes with a Dremmel tool. StanM5 - if you do a search there are pictures of the "real" seatbelt and then the 944 seatbelt. It shows exactly what you need to do to modify it with pictures of everything. Worked like a charm. I bought used 944 seatbelts from ebay. I believe I paid $30 shipped for 2 of them. If I can dig up the other one that hasn't been modified yet, I'd be glad to send it to you free of charge since I have no need for it. The problem is, I think it is in the abyss of parts in my garage and may be un-findable

Thanks very much! I'll give it a try. Cheers, Stan

OK...Here is my deal. I had a boxster that I bought a Porsche child seat for. When I sold it, I took it to my shop and asked them to take out the bar so I could use it when i bought a 996. Now I have the bar, the child seat with the male buckel, but no female buckel...connected to the bar? Will it still work? Can I just take it to the P-Car dealer and have them make it work? thanks,

I think you're stuck unless you can find the female attachment. Maybe others can offer up some options. Stan

Jason, I think I found a 944 male buckle but couldn't find any pics of the modded version in search. Do you think you could post a pic of yours? Thanks, Stan

I have this thing too but I never knew what it was haha!! If anyone else needs one after this one is sold I will get that sucker outta there!

I also would like to see a picture or dimensions of the male buckle or "tongue" part. I'll keep searching for it here, but if anyone else finds the pictures of the 944 male buckle and comparison to the child seat version, please post, and thanks very much in advance. I had the dealer install the airbag deactivation kit on my 1999 C4, but I did not have a male buckle tongue to allow them to test it yet.

I found this picture, (attached) which shows the difference between the regular seatbelt male buckle, and the one needed for the airbag deactivation bar. I read all the threads I could about this subject, and the male buckle when installed makes a short (low resistance contact) that is sensed by the Porsche computer, and flashes the airbag warning for about 1 minute or less, and deactivates the passenger airbag. (it's big ohms resistance when there is nothing there - air, and when it's plugged in it's basically making a good electrical metal contact - low ohms) I inserted the regular seatbelt male buckle and held in in place as I started the car, and the good news is that the install of the airbag deactivation bar seems to be fine. Now I just need to either find that proper buckle, or fabricate the same. If anyone could post a close up picture with a ruler beside it, I could scale it up in Photoshop or Illustrator, print out a template and fabricate my own with a grinder in 15 minutes and be done with it. I have heard that you can grind down a 944 seatbelt male buckle, I might check the local jobbers here to see if they have one. Any help appreciated - I'd like to get my son in the front seat safely, and I need this last bit to do it properly.

The female part of the buckle has the wiring harness that plugs in under the passenger seat. The metal bar is not necessary if you're not using a Porsche seat with belt attached. When I swithced 986 to 996, I skipped installing the bar and only put in the female part of the buckle. I cut the male part off my old porsche child seat.