Race seats with stock seatbelts and fully functional airbags - possible?

[intoflatlines]

I'm toying with the idea of replacing my Z4M seats with racing seats. I would like to have fully functional driver and passenger airbags and no warning lights. I would use stock seatbelts for the street and HPDE (won't be doing a harness bar for quite some time, probably will rig up a makeshift setup for harness for autocross use only).

I did some searching and I only found a couple old threads on forums with mentions of resistors or cutting out the occupancy mat from OEM seats. Is this still necessary or is there some sort of switch that can be used to turn the airbags on/off? Also, is the occupancy/airbag issue only for the passenger's seat or does it apply to the driver's seat as well?

The car is an '06 Z4M Roadster, if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance!

[Beedub]

always always wanted to do this as a the final "big spend" on my z4, sadly I've never gotten clear decisive answer to the exact questions you've asked.

i can tell you that you can buy the occupancy mat for the passenger seat and have them stitched into your new seat or "resting" under the cushion for example. However a simple dummy plug in seat belt buckle would work as your tricking the car into thinking someone is belted up in the seat... I'm sure their is more elegant solutions however!

[BGR]

I encourage you to go this route. And then sell me your sock Z4M seats

I am local enough where I would drive to pick them up so you don't have to deal with shipping.

I agree though, you could just trick the car into thinking there is always someone buckled and always enough weight to engage the airbag and just be cognizant about it. I think the feds put in the occupancy requirements after people were getting injured not wearing seatbelts and then flying into an airbag.

[BGR]

But seriously, do this and sell me your stock seats.

[jdoublehcubed]

Yes it can be done.

There is a module on ebay that you can buy that replaces the passenger side seat sensor. Search for it, people have confirmed that it works in the Z4.

Regular seat belts is no problem, people do that all the time.

The ultimate seat replacement would be using the BMW performance seats. They are made by Recaro for BMW, sexiest race seats I have ever seen. They have a factory-compatible heating element for heated seat functionality, AND they have a built in airbag in the same position as the factory seat airbag. There are a few tuners who have successfully done the entire install in a Z4 including airbags with no light.
http://www.ecstuning.com/ES2500618/

There is a link to an e46 thread someone full of pics of these installed in a variety of cars.

[intoflatlines]

Originally Posted by Beedub

always always wanted to do this as a the final "big spend" on my z4, sadly I've never gotten clear decisive answer to the exact questions you've asked.

i can tell you that you can buy the occupancy mat for the passenger seat and have them stitched into your new seat or "resting" under the cushion for example. However a simple dummy plug in seat belt buckle would work as your tricking the car into thinking someone is belted up in the seat... I'm sure their is more elegant solutions however!

So the occupancy sensor is only for the passenger seat, right? In other words, if the car is being driven, the car would assume that an adult is in the driver's seat? But what about the stock seatbelt? Maybe just two dummy buckles, plus an occupancy thing for the passenger's seat?

Originally Posted by BGR

I encourage you to go this route. And then sell me your sock Z4M seats

I am local enough where I would drive to pick them up so you don't have to deal with shipping.

I agree though, you could just trick the car into thinking there is always someone buckled and always enough weight to engage the airbag and just be cognizant about it. I think the feds put in the occupancy requirements after people were getting injured not wearing seatbelts and then flying into an airbag.

Originally Posted by BGR

But seriously, do this and sell me your stock seats.

Don't tempt me! I won't be selling my stock seats though, because if I want to go back to stock, it would be touch to find the seats again. Unless I go crazy and decide to put in a cage. Then a pair of Imola red M seats will be on the market!

Originally Posted by jdoublehcubed

Yes it can be done.

There is a module on ebay that you can buy that replaces the passenger side seat sensor. Search for it, people have confirmed that it works in the Z4.

Regular seat belts is no problem, people do that all the time.

The ultimate seat replacement would be using the BMW performance seats. They are made by Recaro for BMW, sexiest race seats I have ever seen. They have a factory-compatible heating element for heated seat functionality, AND they have a built in airbag in the same position as the factory seat airbag. There are a few tuners who have successfully done the entire install in a Z4 including airbags with no light.
http://www.ecstuning.com/ES2500618/

There is a link to an e46 thread someone full of pics of these installed in a variety of cars.

Those seats are awesome! $5K for a set though... wow! Maybe if I win the lottery

I'll search around for the airbag module but haven't had much luck yet.

I originally thought that this project would be several years down the road but my wife and co-driver sat in a 911 GT3 the other day and kept talking about the seats... might have approval sooner than I thought!

[intoflatlines]

Well I figured out I don't pass the broomstick test. And I'm a short guy. Do you guys actually pass the broomstick test or is your inspection driving position "different" from your driving position?

Will a racing seat be around 3 inches lower than the lowest position on a stock M seat?

[intoflatlines]

Update posted here: http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1118952

[3002 tii]

I'm pretty sure you can turn off the passenger airbags by inserting the key to the right of the dash. I haven't bothered to look in years but I recall a switch there.

With that said, I installed race seats, harness, bar, etc and managed to keep the passenger airbag on. I drive to/from the track so I wanted to retain airbag functionality (I kept the stock 3 point belts for street). I bought an emulator device off eBay. No airbag light on dash neither. See my thread here:

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=797110