More Modifications

First of all, thankyou for the Tow Bar wiring pdf.. our bar has been fitted now for 6 months and I havnt got around to wiring it up.
Now I know where the wiring loomb is located, I can get it done. Cheers,

Secondly, We are in the proccess of removing the passenger airbag and the dash board to fabricate a useful storage area instead.
We would like to fit a grab handle lik eon early disco's but also wish to fabricate a shelf to mount the laptop to run the GPS mapping software.

Ive taken a few pictures of the airbag removed, and it appears that underneath the airbag is all the indications there was meant to be a non airbag option. there are hinge points and catch points. These have all been removed and the whole section removed.
It is planned to fabricate out of ply a shelf unit that can be removed and the airbag assembly replaced.

The only issue I have though is with the passenger airbag removed, the airbag light light is lit on the dash. is there anyway to introduce a dummy load into the circuit to fool the vehicle into thinking there is an airbag attached ?

I dont want to short the connector out incase I fire the drivers airbag and the pre-tensioners

I don't know about how to turn the light out by fooling the system but make sure you tell your insurance company about the removal of the airbag or if you have a crash and need to claim, the insurance company will be able to get out of paying and it will be obvious to them it has been removed. Don't want you losing out big style in that respect!!! [img/]

My Mrs mother wrote off her Jimny recently so never say never, especially as I've never known a safer driver!!! - Other than me of course!!!

Kirkynut

All recent cars have a key switch to isolate the passenger airbag as they are a danger to young kids. However our Jimnys are too old to have this switch. I would guess that a Suzuki dealer has instructions on how to achieve this in order to prevent young mums from breaking the necks of their babies in a collision. Passenger Airbags were optional on many cars in the UK for years so I would expect the insurance companies to not be particularly interested, especially as most modern cars let you turn them off, just do not expect to be able to claim for an injury that could have been prevented. The pre-tensioning seat belts will still work anyway.


Looking at the manual, the airbag controller alerts if the connector is too higher resistance (un-plugged) or too lower resistance (shorted out) therefore there has to be another way of fooling the system.

Martin

I wouldn't under-estimate the lengths an insurance company will go to in order to wriggle out of a claim!!!

I have heard from the boyracer world that insurance company's scan through forums like this looking for their clients vehicles along with magazine articles to see what modifications they have mentioned there compared to what they have declared, resulting in the non payout at claim time.

To this end, they will know what your car came out of the factory with and anything that is different now is a modification, and if they don't know about it, they may try to not pay out, especially now times are hard!!! This could be regardless of no injury claim being made.

I have listed every single modification to mine and call them as soon as another has been made and keep a copy of the list I give them each year when I renew to be sure there is absolutely no confusion.

It's up to you if you choose to be as anal as I am about it, but I am anal about it for good reason!!!

You can never tell them too much. I doubt that in the event of an accident if your passnger was injured they wouldn't pay out but they may well refuse a pay out for any damage to the vehicle. The will know what your car is equipped with for the year and will expect it to be that way unless you inform them.

I would send in pictures of what you have in mind or of the mod in use. If they can see it they will be better placed to make a decision. They may well just endorse you policy in some way. They may well have something to say about a ply shelf replacing a smooth soft(ish) dashboard.

As an alternative way of mounting the laptop, why not get a centre dash section from a breakers, mount a plate or board underneath and mount a swinging bracket/shelf through the top. Make it removable in some way and so it can be tightened in position.

The towbar wiring is simple as the loom is behind the rear bumper. I tackled mine and its quite satisfying to know you've done it yourself and its not quite as daunting when you get into it, the instructions are very clear. I was going to get an auto spark to do it for me but thought i'd have a go and i'm glad i did.