Occupancy Sensor & Emulator
 

I purchased my car last fall and few months into owning it my occupancy sensor failed. Infinity said there was no warranty on my car even though I thought the 6 year 70,000 mile powertrain warranty would still active? They then said it would cost $5000 just for the lower seat assembly which includes the sensor. That didn't include the install costs which would be at least another $500.

I haven't had any luck finding a junker where I could rip the passenger seat out of it and take the sensor so my questions are this:

1) Does anyone know of a way to go about getting an actual occupancy sensor? I have only seen one pop up on eBay and someone bought that before I could. I'd settle for a used seat or bottom half of a seat but would prefer just buying the sensor out of one.

2) Will buying the occupancy sensor emulator in the link below fix my issue? From reading up on it it seems like it will but do I need anything other than this? After installing it it seems like all you have to do is get the codes cleared out so all the airbag lights will go back to normal.

https://airbag360.com/infinity-g37-m...ator-474-p.asp

There are two totaled cars being parted out in the Classifieds. Maybe a passenger seat is still available, if for nothing else gutting the bottom for the electronics.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check them out.

For anyone wondering this is exactly what I am looking for.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-INFINI...p2047675.l2557

thanks thanks

If you click on the blue highlighted word LISTING it will take to you the occupancy sensor. If a listing has ended on eBay they started doing a thing where it takes you to another random active listing and not the one you linked.

Here are pics of it.

yes, i was afraid the link becomes dead so i just capture the screenshot for reference

Same issue here. Did you get an airbag malfunction light or did you notice the passenger side airbag light illuminated when it should not be? I've had a malfunctioning sensor for a while, but recently it tripped my airbag light, but was cleared after the dealer checked it and has not came back on :(. I'm not entirely sure how this is not covered under the federal safety mandate.

My passenger airbag light that is next to the cigarette lighter stays on and the airbag sensor light on the instrument panel flashes. It isn't covered by Infiniti because they want to charge $5000 for the lower assembly and says you have to buy the entire setup which is the tracks, wiring, sensor etc. It's a complete scam when all that you need to do is replace the sensor itself. They told me that they had this come up a lot when cars were new and "breaking in" so they were covered under warranty but even though my car only had 2500 on it when I bought it last year it was already 6 years old.

I just ordered an emulator which will make the airbag function again and cause the warnings to stay off when the codes are cleared thus allowing me to pass inspection.
https://airbag360.com/infinity-g37-m...ator-474-p.asp

Wait, I didn't even THINK about passing inspection! Holy crap that changes everything. I have an extended warranty though a 3rd party company. I think they would cover the new seat, but they have to have a reoccurring code to warranty it. And of course the issue is intermittent. Jeez, I seriously reconsider this car everyday lol.

So the emulator will still allow the airbag to deploy when in an accident? Even if the seat is empty? Sounds safer than the airbag not deploying (which would happen in my case) even if a passenger is in the seat.

My insurance guy advised I get rid of the car for safety reasons, but he's also not willing to foot the car note if I traded the g in for a new car. Lol can't say I don't blame him.

To put a close to this and for anyone who might search this subject in the future. The occupant sensor emulator I purchased from airbag360 fixed my issue and saved me a ton of money. It is very easy to install yourself; you simply unclip the sensor underneath the seat and plug the emulator in. That's literally it. You can then manually clear your airbag code and warning lights, a simple YouTube search will show you how to do that.

There are a few caveats to using this emulator sensor:

1) First and foremost is that your passenger airbag will ALWAYS be armed even when there is no passenger sitting in the seat! That is extremely important to remember because if you have a child in the front seat that the airbag would normally not arm for because they are too light, the airbag will still be armed.

2) Using the emulator means that the seat belt light will always be lit up if you don't either have the seat belt plugged in, disable the warning light or use what is called an emulator clip. An emulator clip is just the clip part of the seat belt that you can clip in to make it so the light stays off.

3) Passing inspection for me was easy because I was coming from work and had my lunch bag cooler with me. I clipped it into the seat with the seat belt to act like it was holding it in place. This didn't raise any suspicion thankfully but I'm sure an emulator clip would go unnoticed, I just didn't have enough time to order one and have it arrive before I had to have my inspection done.

I wanted to purchase a sensor out of a wrecked/parted out G37 but I just missed out on the only one I saw come up on eBay since I had started having my issue. You can buy a used passenger seat and use the sensor out of that you just have to make sure the sensor itself is working and get a guarantee that it will work when you purchase the seat. This route along with the time and labor involved is something you have to consider when deciding on which route to take. The fact that Infiniti charges $5000 just for the parts and assembly they say you need to be able to repair this through them is an absolute joke but I'm glad there are ways to avoid going dealing with them on this issue.

What are you talking about? Did you read my previous posts? Infiniti wanted $5000 for the sensor and ENTIRE bottom seat assembly plus $600-800 in estimate labor. It's a complete joke and 99% of my final post has nothing to do with that. The dealer expressed zero concern about my issue, only cares about making money and this is a great way to save a ton of it. That is the point of my final post along with what to expect if you go the route I did.

Good to know man!

In 2007 Subaru bought a new Impreza back from us for this exact same issue!

And anyone who thinks the G will be unreliable in light of these stories should realize ALL cars are susceptible to these kinds of problems that are introduced through safety mandates.