I have seen numerous threads on this but most are quite old. If this is beating a dead horse please let me know. My 2000 does not have the key switch to turn off the passenger air bag, GM retro kits are no longer available. I have seen some old comments about behind the glove box you can remove a yellow connector to shut off the passenger side bag completely, however you would still need the modern belts correct?

Can anyone comment on this plan? I am looking for a 2000 and up tan belt with the modern retractors plus I will try to remove the air bag connector. Is there anything else I should be aware of? If there are kits available with the switch I would be interested, but I am having 0 luck finding anything like that anymore.

Or, can I simply buy the loose switch off Ebay and hard wire it inline?

 

You can get this and buy a used tan belt from corvette recycling.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CORVETTE-C5...YAAOSw50JbMBui

 

Thanks for the reply, I did see that. The ad is a bit.... non informative. I reached out to the seller for a bit more information.

I am still earning where all the corvette info is, that corvette recycling site does have the 2002 style belt for cheap, if that kit is a bust I might snag a belt and just disconnect the bag.

 

Quick interim solution, I found the air bag plug under the glove box, with that disconnected the bag is 'dead' and I can use the seat belt retraction trick to hold the car seat in temporarily.

 

I looked into this quite a bit as I have a 1999 model car and my kid rides in my car quite a bit with me. I have to effectively do the same thing you do every time, but "every time" is now maybe once or twice a month.

From what I was able to research, the GM retro-fit kit was discontinued fairly early on. The biggest reason was a huge liability issue. Originally despite being able to personally order the kit you still were supposed to have an authorized GM service center install the switch for proper NHTSA compliance. GM I'm certain realized very early on there were a lot of liabilities, even themselves doing the work.

The other issue is something I feel we don't talk about enough with C5s - people not driving their cars enough. Had more people of all ages been driving C5s GM would have likely realized there was more of a demand for a good retro-fit fix. This is one of the reasons - I argue - that so many parts like EBCMs and SWPSes for early C5s have no replacements. Not enough people drove their cars, so GM had no real gauge on what replacement parts were needed.

Personally I plan to eventually install a proper later style switch with later function belt. Ideally a OEM style light needs to be installed (the bigger of the issues you'd have to deal with). The biggest unknown I'm currently trying to research is how to deal with the SDM module itself (the air bag module). Stock, all SDMs are programmed to sync with their accompanying car's EBCM. When C5s are repaired or have the SDM replaced they have to have the SDM programmed to match the ID placed into the EBCM. This requires a Tech2 to properly do, since you have use it to program the car's VIN into the SDM and then use it to program the SDM ID into the EBCM. Early SDM's that do not have an airbag kill switch will display a B0090 DTC code for the passenger air bag any time a signal loss for the passenger air bag occurs.

 

Take a look at this Post. I suggest you ask @Velocity_Vette what he ended up doing.

That NOS kit linked above seems like the real deal and definitely something to consider.

EDIT: Oops, Velocity_Vette beat me to it while I was typing!

 

I am waiting to hear if that kit is going to work. I assumed disconnecting the air bag will lead to a code, but that is something I can tolerate for the times when I have a car seat in there. Quite annoying that my car's build date was a month or two before these became standard. I didn't catch it when I purchased sadly.

 

The Ebay seller said it is a drivers side seat belt? Perhaps their kit is for aftermarket steering wheels? Sounds like I am going to be pulling air bag plugs for the future.

 

Moved to C5 Tech.

 

That's interesting because they are advertising it as New Old Stock (NOS) 100% Genuine OEM with part number 88895994 and that corresponds to the "normal" retrofitting kit (passenger side)...