W447 Vito Passenger Air Bag Deactivation

[Bikedibley]

Howdy.

So by repurposing my Vito Crew Cab, I need to have y rear seats removed regularly. But at these times, I will be transporting my young son to nursery. I therefore need him in the front seat, but this isn't possible without being able to deactivate the passenger air bag. The crew-cab Vito doesn't have the ability to deactivated via digital menu or a key...just one of MANY shortfalls of the van.

So, does anyone know of a work around? Is it easy to say, remove the fuse to forcefully deactivate, or is it a lost cause? If I can't solve it, my life with the Vito will be very awkward. It would be slightly manageable if I could leave a single rear seat in place, but alas the Vito forces you to use just the double or the full row and not allow use of the single. Sigh.

Thanks in advance for any knowledge on this one.

 

[markjay]

Mercedes cars don't have a key for disabling the front passenger air bag, instead there's an electronic device that does that, it's a transponder that is built-in into the base of the child seat, when its presence is sensed the car will deactivate the front passenger air bag.

You can either buy a Mercedes-Benz approved child seat that will have the transponder, or you can buy just the transponder off eBay.

That been said, you'll need to check first that your Vito actually has this feature - it might show on the Datacard. Look for this option:

 

[ALFAitalia]

Unless he still in a rear facing child seat (unlikely if he's going to nursery surely ?) leave it active.