We have a Chevrolet Impala of last year's vintage, with which we've been very happy, except for one recent detraction. When we bought the car, up in Nebraska last year, I found the passenger seat very comfortable - much more so than our 2015 Impala which we swapped-in as part of the deal. Recently, though, I've had a bit of lower back trouble from the passenger seat and have needed a seat cushion to assist. However, I noticed that when using a seat cushion the passenger seat airbag sign began showing as "off" - i.e. deactivated.
The car's manual, I later discovered, tells that one cannot use any kind of cover or cushion on the front passenger seat because it deactivates the air bag. We made enquiries of our local dealership when having the car serviced a few weeks ago. Husband was told that there's nothing to be done about it - that "they're all like this now". So, unless my car seat feels my real, flesh and blood, backside upon it, it ain't going to save me with an airbag, should we meet with disaster!
Computerisation gone mad, I guess!
I do not believe that I'm the only one with this problem. There has to be a remedy.So, I decided that this isn't right, found a Customer Service phone number for Chevrolet, for some expert assistance. A couple or so hours later I was no wiser, but considerably more frustrated. Apparently they have opened "a business case" to be passed on to some person higher on the scale of knowledge about these things. None of the 4 or 5 folks I was passed around amongst had any idea that this problem is actually "a thing". It surely is!
The person supposedly "higher on the knowledge scale" called me back sometime after 6 PM (central time), and assured me she will try to find a solution, but cannot promise anything. She said that she had never come across this particular complaint before. I suggested that perhaps nobody else with an iffy back has noticed what happens when using a seat cushion. I am surely not the only person with an iffy back riding in the front passenger seat of a 2017 Impala, in these United states.
TSK! We await further information...or frustration.
8 comments:
Interesting. Sounds like a job for Ralph Nader!
I'm going to share your post with a friend who frequently sells seat cushions to cabbies and other folks who drive all day. Wonder if they're aware and have noticed the same thing?
Thanks, Twilight.:)
Just found this too:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sc-motormouth-autos-0421-20160419-column.html
LB ~ Hi - and thank you for the link and for your interest. From the link, it appears my quest will not be fruitful - unless things have changed since 2016. I'm wondering if older cars, with different airbag mechanisms also deactivated airbags when seat cushions were used - and we just were always unaware of it. I've used seat cushions a lot, in our older cars. Hmmm. There has surely to be some way of the manufacturer offering some additional cushioning with sensitivity added - for extra $$$$ of course! I can find nothing so far, online, and one would expect the Chevy people to be aware of it if such a thing existed.
Your thinking makes sense to me, not that it'll do you much good.
Good luck coming up with a comfortable resolution.:) And thanks for sharing. My friend looked and says there's no obvious warning on the seat cushions. Yikes.
LB ~ Thank you. I intend to keep complaining to Chevy anyway - just to make sure they don't forget!
Comment 05-15-2017, 10:18 AM
https://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f77/using-seat-cushion-694122/
"One other thought from a quick Google search:
"I have experienced the same problem with my 2016 Forester,i.e., the passenger airbag will NOT turn on when my wife sits on an air cussion in the passenger seat. Solution: Purchase a "WIFI Blocking Nickel/Copper Fabric" (24" X 15") from amazon for $18. Place the fabric under the air cussion and the airbag will come on when someone sits in the seat. Nobody in the seat and the airbag is off. I fabricated a pillow case with the metalic fabric sewed inside and place the air cussion in the pillow case. ( I aasume no liabilities for passing on what I experienced). Christmas16."
Maybe this would work for you? The cost of entry is low enough to give it a shot:
RFID Blocking, Cell Signal Blocking, WIFI Blocking Nickel/ Copper Fabric. 24" x 15"
Comment from Linda R. Mathews
https://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Faraday-Shielded-Fabric/dp/B01LBGV36Q
"Solve passenger seat airbag "off" problem in Buick car.
July 8, 2018
Size: 24x24 InchVerified Purchase
I am very satisfied with my Faraday shielding fabric. It is working well and solved my problem of using a thick cushion in my car's passenger seat. Before I used this under the cushion, the passenger airbag would turn "off" with the cushion under the passenger. Now the airbag light stays in "on" when the fabric is placed on the seat under the cushion. If a child or small person should want to ride in the passenger seat, I just remove the cloth from under the cushion and the airbag light will stay turned "off" as it is designed to work. This solved a problem that I thought had no solution until I found out about this Faraday shield cloth."
Anynomus & Linda R. Mathews ~ Wow! Thank you so much! I will definitely try this Faraday shielding fabric. It seems like the best and easiest solution! I suppose that the shielding fabric not only affects the airbag on/off light but also the blocking of airbag activation mechanism too? I'm not clued up on wi-fi etc - and how this whole thing works. There's no way to test it, of course, but it seems logical.
Thank you once again - I'm so grateful for this information!
LB and others - I received a call from Chevrolet this morning. I was told that there is nothing to be done, the representative told me, "The car is working as it was designed to work."
I chewed off her ear for a few minutes, relating this to laws or requirements about accessibility for people in wheelchairs and suchlike, pointing out that it is comparable in some ways, and that a person needing a seat cushion might be killed in a crash due to this oversight (if such it was). What then? I asked for a name and address where I could write with my complaint. I was given a Box number in Detroit. Likely a hopeless case, but I shall write anyway.
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