Swapping seat from 2010 TC - airbag and airbag light

[TransitConverter101]

I am replacing the passenger seat (manual) in my 2010 Transit Connect XLT cargo van. The airbag connector for the passenger seat looks like:

 

I have a replacement seat from a 2013 Ford Focus, with a connector looking like this:

 

Of course, when plugging the new seat in, the airbag sensor light is on and does not turn off.

 

1. Given these connectors, is there a way to rewire the new seat to match the TC existing wiring and turn off the airbag sensor?
2. If not, how do I disable the airbag sensor light? (given this option, the new seat will not have built in airbags enabled) I have seen airbag simulators, wondering if I would be able to close the circuit myself.
3. If the airbag sensor light is on in the console, does this disable the drivers side airbags as well?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Edited December 25, 2022 by TransitConverter101

[lowspeedpursuit]

So, first off, I would assume that not sorting this out won't just disable the side airbag inside the seat, but the primary passenger airbag in the dashboard as well. That airbag wants to know if an adult is sitting in the seat, and if they have their seatbelt buckled, in order to work safely.

In addition to the connector you've taken a picture of, there's also meant to be a grey 3-pin connector for the seat pressure sensor. I'm not clear on if the black 18-pin connector for the "Occupant Classification System Module" actually connects between the seat and the body of the van, or if it solely routes wires around within the seat.

 

You'll need to search out wiring diagrams for the '13 Focus, a walkthrough from someone else who's done the swap, or trace the wires in the donor seat manually, make sure they do the same things, and then rearrange the subconnectors to match the body-side connector in your van.

 

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In any event, per the 2010 TC manual, and making no effort to actually look under my own seats, the subconnectors should be coded like this:

 

Yellow - "A", Side Airbag

Green -  "C", OBDII port*

Brown -  "D", Seatbelt buckled sensor

Black & Blue - "E,F",  Seatbelt tension sensor*

Purple? - "B", Power (F162) and ground

 

I would double-check what's up with purple, because my manual shows subconnector B living in the empty spot on your 8-position connector organizer, and nothing where your purple subconnector is. The wires for B are supposed to be purple and black/orange.

* C, E & F just route wires from the safety restraints computer to somewhere else, so those wires might not go up inside the seat at all.

 

At the very least, I assume you're going to need the seatbelt buckle sensor, the seatbelt tension sensor, and the seat pressure sensor connected for the safety restraints computer to enable the passenger airbag.

[lowspeedpursuit]

Following up: since TransitConverter helpfully implied Focus seats would fit in the TC, and the stock TC seats are awful, I grabbed some junkyard seats for pennies from IIRC a '12 Focus. I haven't done anything on the van side yet, which includes actually verifying fitment.

 

Relative to his, my Focus seat connector is missing blue and green (my seats are manual, so I assume one or both of these may be for power seats), and has an additional row at the bottom with the left slot populated by black. I also have brown to the right of yellow.

EDIT: My connector. Yellow was removed to separate the two halves of the seat for cleaning.

 

I can confirm that Focus yellow is still side airbags. I do not know if the airbags are electrically compatible, nor do I believe it's necessarily safe to even check resistance on them. They'll either work when you connect yellow-yellow, or it will be necessary to transplant the TC side airbags onto the Focus seats, or live without them and either spoof them or ignore any potential codes that result. Hopefully they won't just suddenly go off.

 

Focus purple is seatbelt buckle. I'm not sure how it works electrically. I've had other vehicles where unbuckled is open and buckled is either dead short or a particular resistance value. This connector shows high resistance (~42Mohm) whether buckled or unbuckled. It may work if you connect brown-purple, or it may not.

 

Focus orange is the "seat position sensor", which I assume we can remove/ignore since the TC doesn't use one.

 

Focus brown and black together go to the seat pressure sensor. Since these connectors are completely different TC-Focus, I assume it will be necessary to splice wires, or transplant the TC seat pressure sensor into the Focus seat; obviously the latter if your Focus seat lacks a pressure sensor entirely. Since I don't see any sort of box that could be the "Occupant Classification System Module", I assume that will need to be transplanted into the Focus seat for sure.

 

I'll follow up as I make more progress.

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by lowspeedpursuit
confirm year, add picture, links

[lowspeedpursuit]

Okay, so this project is quickly hitting a lot of roadblocks. Pulled the driver's seat out of my van today, figuring that would be an easier swap because it doesn't use as much occupant detection equipment. TC Driver's has 3 subconnectors:

 

Yellow - A - Side airbag

Brown - B - Seatbelt buckle sensor

Purple - C - Seat position sensor (driver's side only)

 

So that should be relatively straightforward, right? Reposition the Focus subconnectors to match up with the equivalent wiring on the TC side and send it.

Except the subconnector slots in the organizer are keyed to prevent reordering. Only Focus yellow will slot where it wants to be to mate with the TC harness. Focus purple/seatbelt and Focus orange/position sensor don't key into the slots they need to connect to on the TC side.

 

More importantly... the Focus seats don't bolt into the TC. It's not even remotely close, like only a few things would need finessing, and since the passenger base is a mirror-image of the driver's, I assume the same is true over there. And while the "feet" on the TC base rails are bolted on, the feet on the Focus rails are riveted, so they can't be swapped. So, putting 3rd-gen Focus seats in a TC will require either drilling out the rivets or otherwise massively reworking the feet.

[Don Ridley]

You may have to get the vehicle side of the Focus seat connector and splice it into the TC wiring harness (cut off the TC connector, splice in the Focus connector to match the Focus seat mounted connector). Another option may be to de-pin the connects and swap but this usually is too difficult.

 

Do you have the wiring diagrams for your TC? I think they will be needed. I only have Gen 2 TC wiring info.

 

Drilling rivets and using the TC mounting rails seems like a straightforward task. Hopefully there are not clearance issues.

 

Good luck!

[lowspeedpursuit]

I have '10 TC Service+Wiring, and enough questions have come up about 3rd-gen Focus parts that I have '12 Focus Wiring in the mail. I'm going to grind out the rivets today if I don't freeze to death.

 

I'd rather not cut up the TC harness if I can help it. I'd prefer to repin using both manuals, or maybe file some of the keys off the subconnectors.

 

We actually haven't even reached the biggest stumbling block yet, which is that I would prefer to graft the armrest onto the Focus seat, which uses a center-console armrest instead. That could be as simple as "cut a square hole", it could take all day, or it could be impossible.

 

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EDIT: Okay, grinding the rivets out is pointless. Not only are half of them in there so absurdly tight that you'll start to deform the rails before you get them out, but the bolt-holes on the rails don't line up the same. In order to transplant the TC feet, you would have to drill new holes in the Focus rails.

 

If you have to remove the rails anyway, you may as well just swap the rails between the bases, and if they're entirely incompatible, I'm comfortable saying these seats are so far from working without fabrication that you might as well use seats out of anything.

 

In any event, it's not clear how the rails come off yet.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by lowspeedpursuit
progress

[lowspeedpursuit]

EDIT: No point bumping this thread again; I'll just update this for posterity with where I ended up:

 

Tried to swap the rails, and it doesn't really work. I've attached some pictures of the tabs you need to bend and grind to get the rails off if anybody ever wants to try, but the ball-bearing slides inside are finnicky and fragile, and honestly it's just not worth it.

You can always fab adapters between the Focus feet and the TC floor, but ultimately I'm concluding that the 3rd-gen Focus seats don't directly bolt in to the 1st-gen TC any easier than any other random seats.

 

What I've ended up doing is what I probably should have done in the first place, if I didn't get off on the wrong foot insisting on trying to adapt the bases. I've disassembled both Focus and TC seats, kept the TC base in its entirety, and replaced everything up from there with Focus parts, which also almost entirely sidesteps the issue of adapting the electrics. So that's the Focus seat-bottom foam, seat covers, plastic side trim, and seatback up through the headrest. The Focus foam and cover fit right onto the TC base (cover pulls a bit taut over one protrusion off the back), and the Focus seatback bolts right onto the TC base. Only the Focus trim will fit afterwards; you need the trim that matches the seatback. The yellow/side airbag subconnector from the Focus seatback needs to be installed in the appropriate slot on the TC organizer, but it's keyed correctly and isn't throwing any airbag codes.

 

 

I've only done the passenger for now, because in order to install the driver's Focus seatback, I still have to fab a way around giving up the armrest.

In a blind study, my girlfriend agrees the Focus foam+back are more comfortable than the TC seat, so that's a win. The Focus recliner can also go completely flat, whereas the TC seats could not.

 

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Reference pictures from removing the Focus rails, which apparently have to be included in the post somewhere or they just insert themselves at maximum size:

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by lowspeedpursuit
hybrid seats