Deactivation bar / baby seat ??!!!

Dealer told me that they could not put only the piece to desactivate the airbag, by doing only that, both front airbags wouldn�t work, they cannot garantee that only the passenger air bag would be desactivated. Only with the Porsche baby seat they could perform correctly the job. I found a bit strange this explanation, because I only wanted the desactivation piece and than use another baby seat, Is this possible, or is the dealer am I being BS by dealer? Any opinion on this would be helpful, Thanks. J.Seven

I really don't understand their explanation.... You have a child seat, but it's not a Porsche child seat correct? Does the child seat have the buckle to clip into the deactivation bar? Both my Porsche child seats had the buckle already, so I don't know if this is also installed by the dealer. Either way it doesn't make sense to me, you click the buckle into the tab on the deactivation kit and it deactivates the passenger airbag, it has nothing to do with the driver's side airbag. Rob

As usual, the dealer is full of crap.... OK, here's the deal, the deactivation bar for the car that is installed under the passenger seat will only deactivate the passenger side airbag. (You do not need the seat at the time of install.) The way that it works is there is a buckle (female side) attached to the bar. The porsche baby seat comes with the male side of the buckle, and when you click the seat buckle in, the airbag on the passenger side ONLY is deactivated. The porsche seat is made by a company called Britax (Roundabout I think is the model name), it is the SAME EXACT seat w/o the porsche logo, and w/o the buckle. You can really use any seat, all you have to do is get the male buckle peice and click it in. Seems like a standard buckle avail at any auto parts store. Another possibility is to buy the porsche baby seat first time thru, then as the kid grows, get whatever seat you want, cut the buckle off the old one....

Thanks 01 C4 Cab NYC , do you really think that it�s easy to find the male? Any pics of the male buckle available on-line? Thanks J.Seven

J. - an alternate is to use the passenger male buckle. At ignition the deact bar is scanned, insert the passenger male - airbag warning light flashes indicating deact. Only hassle with this approach is if you cycle ignition, you need to repeat.

The Porsche seat male buckle is the same size as a seatbelt buckle, but the seatbelt buckle has a rectangular hole in it while the car seat buckle as a different cutout. Couldn't try it because my deact bar is being liberated from my Boxster S at the dealer (to reinstall in my Targa). However, its clear to deactivate the passenger side airbag (only) the deact bar just needs a buckle plugged into it. When activated, the airbag light blinks for about a minute after starting the car to confirm the deactivation is working. The car's computer must be re-programmed when the deact bar is installed to make this work, and I very much doubt there would be any effect on the driver side airbag.

you can sorta see it here... and here... Ask Riad, he may be able to take a pic of it for you since he has the seats... Looks like the buckle from a VW (which would make sense I guess) Avail at btlmex.com for $28.

Bill_C4S, if I use the passenger seat to insert on the bar, I wont be able to use it to tight the baby seat!!! Normally, the passenger belt will be tieing down the child seat am I right? J.Seven

01 C4 Cab NYC thanks for your help and pics. J.Seven

My pleasure, hope it helped...

J. the deact bar is only scanned at ignition start, the sequence I use. 1. switch the ignition to first position. all warning lights come on. 2. insert passenger male in deact bar buckle - airbag warning light flashes indicating deactivation 3. remove passenger male buckle. 4. use passenger strap to tie down child seat - (i'd love for Porsche to have the lower LATCH tethers in the front...but alas not yet) 5. switch to engine start 6. airbag warning light extinguishes after 1 minute. Its more cumbersome than I'd like, but foregoing permits a wider range of child seats to be considered. And yes am hunting down a spare buckle.

Bill I�m really thinking of following you example,. because I don�t have the Porsche child seat, only an aftermarket baby ca seat, but I want to be sure that this method is 100% safe, are you sure that by making this the passanger airbag is deacticated??? Thanks very much for your help. J.Seven

My 02 cents. If it was me and I used that method I would be constantly worried if i remembered to put buckle in, did I restart it, etc. If you have buckle in you know airbag is deactivated. For me difference in price for Porsche seat worth it for more secure little guy.

Here's a pic of the Porsche seat with the deactivation buckle on the right, and on the left is the (rear) seat belt. They are the same size but have different cutouts. If I was using a non-Porsche car seat in front, I think I would want a buckle I could leave in - I too wouldn't want to take any chances. Performance Products has the Porsche convertible seat (20-40 lbs) for $284.95 (not that much more); don't know if that includes the deact bar but it should. That's a lot better than my earlier model, which listed at about $480 and I paid about $375 after a dealer discount.

The methodology was suggested by a dealer. As for remembering, I am rather focused on ensuring that airbag light flashes - to the point of paranoia. Essentially I run through a check list when loading the young one in. Having only one " baby on board" journey per day also helps. Frankly, the method is a stop gap, as I've a second generation Porsche baby seat on order.