Symptom
Passenger airbag off light stays on
The dashboard shows the passenger airbag disabled with a full-sized adult sitting in the seat. That means they are travelling without a front airbag — a fault, though the system has failed in the safe direction.
The causes are overwhelmingly physical and mostly innocent, which is why a free check comes before anything else: empty the seat and the space beneath it completely — bags, bottles, tools, the jack — remove any seat cover or cushion, make sure no floor mat is trapped under the rails, then sit in the seat normally and watch the lamp. Anything loading the seat from above or below corrupts the reading.
Two things are worth telling a garage. If the seat has ever been unbolted — for carpets, wiring, or to carry something — the system must be re-zeroed afterwards, and that step gets skipped constantly. And if a child seat is normally fitted there, say so: on some vehicles a tightly belted one loads the sensing mat far beyond the child's weight.
Never fit a rear-facing child seat in the front while the airbag's status is uncertain.
Also described as: passenger airbag off, airbag off light on, passenger airbag disabled, airbag off with adult in seat, passenger airbag light, occupant sensor fault, چراغ ایربگ سرنشین خاموش, ایربگ مسافر غیرفعال, luz airbag pasajero apagado, luz airbag desactivado, testigo airbag pasajero, إيرباق الراكب معطل, علامة إيقاف وسادة الراكب, لمبة الراكب الأمامي مطفأة
What this usually means
Somebody is travelling without a front airbag, and the car believes the seat is empty or occupied by a child. The system has failed in the safe direction — a bag that does not fire is better than one that fires at a child — but the protection is genuinely absent, and the causes are overwhelmingly physical and mostly innocent.
So the free check comes first and resolves a good share of these complaints. Empty the seat and the space beneath it completely: bags, bottles, tools, the jack. Remove any seat cover or after-market cushion. Make sure no floor mat is trapped under the rails. Then sit in the seat normally and watch the lamp. Anything loading the seat from above or below corrupts the reading, and a seat cover in particular can bridge or preload the sensing mat.
Two things a garage needs telling. If the seat has ever been unbolted — for carpets, for wiring, or to carry something — the system must be re-zeroed afterwards, and that step is skipped constantly, so a lamp dating from any interior work is a calibration before it is a component. And if a child seat is normally fitted there, say so: on some vehicles a tightly belted one loads the mat far beyond the child's actual weight, and the system reads it as an adult or as a fault.
Never fit a rear-facing child seat in the front while the airbag's status is uncertain. The whole point of the indicator is to tell you whether the bag is live, and a fault means you do not know.
Working through it
| What you find | Likely cause | How to confirm it | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamp shows off with an adult seated | Something loading or bridging the sensing mat — luggage under the seat, a seat cover, a trapped mat | Empty the seat and the space beneath it entirely, remove covers and cushions, free any trapped floor mat, then sit normally and watch. This resolves a large share without any tool. | Remove what is loading it. If the lamp then behaves, nothing has failed. |
| Lamp began after the seat was removed or the interior worked on | The occupant classification system was not re-zeroed after refitting | Ask directly whether the seat came out. The re-zero is a documented step and is missed constantly. | Run the manufacturer's zeroing or calibration procedure. No part is required. |
| A child seat is normally fitted and belted tightly | Belt tension loading the sensing mat well beyond the child's weight, so the classification is wrong | Remove the child seat and re-test with an adult. Tell the garage the seat is normally there — it changes the diagnosis. | Follow the manufacturer's guidance for child seats in that position, and re-zero after removal where required. |
| Lamp behaves erratically with seat position or over bumps | A wiring fault under the seat — the harness flexes with every adjustment | Read the occupant classification module's own codes, then reproduce by moving the seat through its travel with the ignition on. | Repair the chafed harness and secure it clear of the mechanism. Battery disconnected and reserve discharged before touching it. |
| Airbag warning lamp lit as well | A system fault rather than a classification one — the whole system may be disabled | Read the airbag module's codes as well as the classification module's. Two lamps is a different problem from this one alone. | Diagnose the airbag fault first. The classification indicator is downstream of a healthy system. |
| Empty seat, lamp shows the airbag as ON | The inverse fault — the system believes an empty seat is occupied, so the bag would fire into nothing or into a child seat | Watch the indicator with the seat genuinely empty and clean. Read classification codes. | Re-zero, then renew the mat if the fault persists. Treat as urgent if a child seat is used in that position. |
-
Lamp shows off with an adult seated
- Likely cause
- Something loading or bridging the sensing mat — luggage under the seat, a seat cover, a trapped mat
- How to confirm it
- Empty the seat and the space beneath it entirely, remove covers and cushions, free any trapped floor mat, then sit normally and watch. This resolves a large share without any tool.
- What fixes it
- Remove what is loading it. If the lamp then behaves, nothing has failed.
-
Lamp began after the seat was removed or the interior worked on
- Likely cause
- The occupant classification system was not re-zeroed after refitting
- How to confirm it
- Ask directly whether the seat came out. The re-zero is a documented step and is missed constantly.
- What fixes it
- Run the manufacturer's zeroing or calibration procedure. No part is required.
-
A child seat is normally fitted and belted tightly
- Likely cause
- Belt tension loading the sensing mat well beyond the child's weight, so the classification is wrong
- How to confirm it
- Remove the child seat and re-test with an adult. Tell the garage the seat is normally there — it changes the diagnosis.
- What fixes it
- Follow the manufacturer's guidance for child seats in that position, and re-zero after removal where required.
-
Lamp behaves erratically with seat position or over bumps
- Likely cause
- A wiring fault under the seat — the harness flexes with every adjustment
- How to confirm it
- Read the occupant classification module's own codes, then reproduce by moving the seat through its travel with the ignition on.
- What fixes it
- Repair the chafed harness and secure it clear of the mechanism. Battery disconnected and reserve discharged before touching it.
-
Airbag warning lamp lit as well
- Likely cause
- A system fault rather than a classification one — the whole system may be disabled
- How to confirm it
- Read the airbag module's codes as well as the classification module's. Two lamps is a different problem from this one alone.
- What fixes it
- Diagnose the airbag fault first. The classification indicator is downstream of a healthy system.
-
Empty seat, lamp shows the airbag as ON
- Likely cause
- The inverse fault — the system believes an empty seat is occupied, so the bag would fire into nothing or into a child seat
- How to confirm it
- Watch the indicator with the seat genuinely empty and clean. Read classification codes.
- What fixes it
- Re-zero, then renew the mat if the fault persists. Treat as urgent if a child seat is used in that position.
Codes that produce this symptom (49)
Listed with the codes that most typically present this way first — the likeliest place to start.
- B0060 Driver Seat Belt Tension Sensor Typical of this code High
- B0061 Passenger Seat Belt Tension Sensor Typical of this code High
- B00A0 Occupant Classification System Typical of this code High
- B00B0 Driver Seat Occupant Classification Sensor A Typical of this code High
- B00B1 Driver Seat Occupant Classification Sensor B Typical of this code High
- B00B2 Driver Seat Occupant Classification Sensor C Typical of this code High
- B00B3 Driver Seat Occupant Classification Sensor D Typical of this code High
- B00B4 Driver Seat Occupant Classification Sensor E Typical of this code High
- B00C0 Passenger Seat Occupant Classification Sensor A Typical of this code High
- B00C1 Passenger Seat Occupant Classification Sensor B Typical of this code High
- B00C2 Passenger Seat Occupant Classification Sensor C Typical of this code High
- B00C3 Passenger Seat Occupant Classification Sensor D Typical of this code High
- B00C4 Passenger Seat Occupant Classification Sensor E Typical of this code High
- B00DF Passenger Restraints Disable Switch Typical of this code High
- U0154 Lost Communication With Restraints Occupant Classification System Module Typical of this code High
- U0455 Invalid Data Received From Restraints Occupant Classification System Module Typical of this code High
- U0551 Invalid Data Received From Impact Classification System Module Typical of this code High
- B0050 Driver Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0051 First Row Centre Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0052 Passenger Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0053 Second Row Left Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0054 Second Row Centre Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0055 Second Row Right Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0056 Third Row Left Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
- B0057 Third Row Centre Seat Belt Sensor Moderate
Information, not instruction
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Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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