2008 Escape Passenger Air Bag Light Issue

[06Pony]

Is anyone else having this issue?

 

I have had my Escape since July of 2007.

 

My daughter is 23 years old 5' 7" and weighs 126 to 130 pounds.

 

Whens she rides/sits in the passenger seat the passenger air bag light comes on, indicating that it has been disengaged/turned off.

 

I first took the Escape in on Sep of 07'. I was told that they could not replicate the issue.

 

At first this did not happen all the time, just speratically.

I have taken the vehicle into the dealer several times.

Finally I had one of the techs ride with us as it was getting worse, and he was able to see the light one while she was in the seat and we were moving.

They finally believed us.

 

Long story with this dealership short.

They said they called it into the Engineers at Ford and they were told that Ford was aware of the issue and was working on a fix.

I was told by this dealrship that I was not the only one, that there was another Escape here in my area that was having hte same issue.

The dealership tols me to call them ever other week to see if the engineers from Ford had called them with the fix (TSB).

This had begane back in Aug. or Sep. of 08' I forget now it had been so long.

In Jan. of 2009 I see in the newspaper that the dealership is going out of business.

Oh Great!!

I call them up and ask them what paper work do I need to take to a new dealership to continue this. I was told I need nothing as everything is in the computer under my vin.

My big stupid mistake.

I also have to say at this dealership all they did was put the Excape on a computer and it did not pop any codes. They did not try to replace any parts what so ever.

 

I go to a new dealership tell them what has been going on.

They look up my vin and call the engineers up.

Engineers have no idea who I am or what has been going on.

There is nothing in the computer about what has been going on other than I had taken it in on 09/07 and that they were not able to replacate the light coming on.

and again it was in the computer that I took it in on 06/08 for the same thing.

I had taken it in several other times that they had not even put in the system.

They had recalerbraited it 3 times. that is not even in there. This is all from the first dealership.

 

I have to start all over again.

new dealership got in contact with whom ever it is they need to.

was told to replace seat sencor/modual.

Did not work.

Was told to replace Wiring Harness.

Did not work.

On the third time in contact with techs at Ford or enginerrs, who ever they the reply the service manager at the dealership got was that the Escape is working properly and to specification. In other words there is no problem.

So now he is telling me that there is nothing more he can do, which I understand.

This second dealership has been great.

 

This light is now on 99% of the time that my daughter is in the seat.

We live together, work together, so we are together all the time.

 

The first dealership had us drive /her ride in another Escape and the light came on with her in the passenger seat also.

So it is not just my Escape.

 

The second dealership after replacing the parts has had someone else about her size/weight sit in the seat and the light has come on so it is not just her, other people her height and weight are triggering the light as well.

My ex-brother in-law has also triggered the light as well.

 

 

 

Just please let there be someone else out there that is having the same problem as I am.

Let there be enough that they will put a TSB or a full blown Recall on it.

[YT90SC]

The problem is in what and how the OCS reads, so the automatic PAD works. The OCS bladder is inside the seat bottom. It measures the weight in contact with the seat bottom cushion ONLY. Some previous systems had weight sensors that measured the entire weight of the seat, but people stuff lots of stuff under the seat, which will cause issues and false readings. Your daughter is 5-7, 130? Does she sit upright in the seat, without the back reclined? If she sits reclined or off center, she is not putting enough weight into the seat pad. Let's work it out. Anything that the system doesn't consider 'large' will disable the bag. I forget the trigger weights, but let's say 20% of her weight is distributed off the seat bottom in her legs. Let's lose another another 10-15% for her arms on the armrests. On the low side she's lost 30% of her actual weight to body overhang off of the seat bottom, leaving us near 90 pounds. Remember that loss is the LOW side. An even slightly reclined body will take valuable pounds off the seat bottom and into the back. Too little weight and she's into the weight of what a carseat or even a small child would put into the pad. And in those situations you simply CANNOT deploy the bag. REmember, it is WEIGHT triggered, plain and simple. It simply has no idea that it is not a child or a carseat. She needs to slide the seat as far back as it will go, sit bolt upright and buckle the belt tight. The thing is that if she is that tiny, she probably shouldn't have the bag deploy anyway.

[06Pony]

We went to the dealer and they verified that she is sitting in the seat properly.

 

Basically he said that she does not have enough butt to trigger the sensor.

She has just the right body type and height to not trigger the sensor he said.

 

It does not matter how the seat is tilted.

If the seat is totally upright the light is still on and it is a very uncomfortable ride to boot =)

We have tried with it on every click of the seat adjusted back. Her normal adjustment is just a couple clicks back at a normal adjutment.

 

The seat has been recalibrated 3 times.

 

He said that when she is sitting on the seat that most of her weight is on the back part of the seat (right waer the bottom of the seat meets the back per say) and she just does not have enough of a rump (butt) to distribute her weight to the middle of the seat sensor to trigger it to turn it on (off the light)

 

He said basically what we need to do is either put something like a telephone book or make a pillow out of stiff foam that will distribute her weight from the back of the seat more evenally over the seat to trigger the sensor between her and the seat.

Or have her ride in the back seat. I'm Sorry I am not going to ask a adult to ride in the back seat.

If this was someone's or your wife would you ask her to always ride in the back seat?

If I would have known this was going to happen I would not have bought the vehicle.

 

What he did was when we got there he took the truck and had us wait in the show room while he said he wanted to do a expermient.

When he came back he said he had a office worker sit in it that was a little shorter than my daughter and weighed 110 pounds. He said that she did not trigger the sensor light, but her body was built different than my daughters. ( I did not see this).

 

He had her sit in a new (2009) F150 truck that had bucket leather seats and she did not trigger the light in it.

The seats were designed different, more form fitting.

 

He said it is that the seats are more flat than the F150's are and and the Escapes are not tilted back per say like the F150's are a bit.

 

He said that Ford says the vehicle is performing to design specifications. and there is nothing else they can or will do.

Unless other people report they have the same issue as I have reported or someone has a accident and the airbag does not deploy because of this issue.

 

I say it is a design flaw in the seats then.

 

Please do not get me wrong I love the truck.

I am a life long Ford person.

I just want to get my Escape fixed, but as it stands it looks like there is nothing wrong with it and she will have to sit on a board basically or a 10 or 25 pound bag of sand. we have not tried that yet.

Just very frustrated at this point.