WARNING...
There is an issue with the passenger side airbag NOT functioning after this mod.
Please read this entire thread before you decide to attempt this modification.
TS staff
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NOTICE:
Toyota Dealerships can toggle the chime for the passenger seatbelt ON/OFF
as seen on page 2 here
electronic_features.pdf.
We advise you to ask a Toyota Dealer to manually disable this safety feature.
If they refuse to do so, read on.
DISCLAIMER:
TundraSolutions.com and the owners of TundraSolutions are not responsible for any modification or misuse of vehicle restraint systems. Modification is solely the owner/modifier's responsibility of liability. Modification is intended as an off-road modification and not for street use. It is your own responsibility to yourself and your loved ones to protect yourself in case of accident.
With that said, I'd like to point out that I contacted two dealerships; Thousand Oaks Toyota, and Oxnard Toyota, and both dealers informed me that this modification was illegal or impossible to turn off the
passenger side seat belt chime. I argued with both dealers' service techs that removing the
passenger side chime is legal, and Toyota outlines the way to accomplish this.
Simply put... both dealers were total retards. And it was ironic, cause I had my sheriffs uniforms hanging in the truck as the technician argued that it was illegal to turn off the passenger side chime, and I told him the reason was for my duty bag setting off the chime in the passenger seat...
Anyway, enough ranting, on to the modification:
This was
FAR EASIER than I anticipated.
I owe
Mainliner thanks for his detailed explanation and
Alaskacub for the reminder that this is easy. I'm not taking credit for this, just making it easier and condensed to perform yourselves.
Here's a link to the original thread and higher-quality pics:
http://www.toyotatundraforum.com/gen...skyhammer.html
1.) Locate inside of seatbelt buckle (portion facing occupant). There is a small hole, and a tab. Push in the tab with a pick or small screwdriver. This will pop the sensor partially from the buckle.
The pick point is pointing out the tab to be pushed:
Grab onto the black plastic sensor and pull it down out of the buckle housing:
It's a long one, so pull it straight down and out of the buckle:
Flipping the sensor over, you'll see the infamous spring that needs to be ix-nayed. I'm using a pick to pull the spring up over the black stub:
Yes... the spring launched into orbit. If you want to keep it.. cover with your hand, etc. I didn't really care. I'll have this truck a long time.
The next picture is the same thing, minus the projectile-spring. The pick is merely pointing at the missing spring. The white plastic clasp will now stay down due to gravity regardless of if there's a seatbelt buckled or not.
Keep your seat belt buckled to save lives!
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VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!!! ADDITION TO PROCEDURE FOLLOWING.
There was an issue with the passenger side airbag not functioning after this mod. (I know, I know.. bit of an oversight for sure.) Thing is, it works on some folks' trucks, not on others. I believe the reason to be that the slider on the clip is not staying down as it properly should have with 'gravity'
Now, I will show you what I did to correct this on my truck.
It's again VERY simple, but I think imperative to proper airbag operation.
I duplicated the no-airbag issue on my Tundra, and conducted various 'tests' to make sure this works, no fail on MY vehicle so far.
Still with the sensor upside down, looking at the circuit board side of it, I merely placed a small piece of tape to inside the sensor, in the 'track' or path that the slider would slide up and down in.
Here's another grainy picture of what I'm referring to:
The principle in the original attempt was for gravity to keep the sensor down. After inspecting my buckle, I believed the issue to be that improper engagement of the sensor back into the buckle to be the problem. Inserting and pulling out to re-insert can leave the slider in the sensor to hang up inside, and nullify the process we did here. To be honest, I'm no expert by ANY means, and this is the best I can come up with.
Why tape?.. Cause it's cheap and easy to reverse! If this doesn't work, then try another method, or put the damn spring back in. But I don't want to make any mods to this system I can't undo later if need or desire be.
Please by all means, ensure the passenger side airbag is ON while there is a passenger (over 45lbs) and buckled up.
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Now, reassembly is the reverse procedure.
See the first three pictures for reference. You'll be carefully sliding the clip/sensor assembly back into the buckle.
Be careful pushing it back up into the buckle. I had to make several attempts to get it just right-straight in there. It will require a little bit of a push, but it will 'snap' right in when done properly.
After the chimes are removed, and being that this whole job can take a beginner a few minutes tops, you wont need this anymore:
