You would think it was, I have an UP and have previously had a BMW where it was an optional extra.
couple of Mercedes recently that just knew you had a child seat and switched off automatically without a switch. I’m wondering if that’s the case with the newest generation Up.
On the first generation Up the ones with air bag deactivation have a light on the dash near the A/C controls that illuminates when you switch off the air bag. Not all have it.
These are both 2018 GTI’s. I’ve not seen a current model yet with the light and dealers have been vague via email communication. I’m heading for a test drive and face to face this week so I’ll post a definitive answer for others 🤙
Some countries do not allow cars to have a passenger air bag deactivation and thus promote car seats to be secured at the back seat but vw knows that not everyone will put their child at the back so what they did is to install a weight sensor in the front passenger seat to activate or deactivate the airbag. If it doesn't have a dash light then it probably doesn't have a deactivation switch on the side of the dash and the car automatically switches the passenger airbag on and off using the weight sensor in the front passenger seat. With the first generation its a bit tricky when using a car seat because if a forward facing seat is used that doesn't push enough weight onto the passenger seat then the airbag stays deactivated... you would know this by starting the car and only fastening the drivers seat belt, if the cluster seat belt is on then the seat has enough weight and the airbag is active then you can secure the car seat with a seat belt. forward facing car seats don't have enough weight so the airbag stays off. I suppose the newest gtis with the light between the sun visors also do not have a deactivation switch and the light stays on until there is a passenger I stand to be corrected
My 2019 GTI doesn't have the airbag deactivation switch, it is part of the City Crash sensor pack which was an option. It may be standard on the 2020 onward models though.
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