Passenger airbag light

I've had my '05 Legacy GT wagon for a few hundred miles now and I'm very pleased - acceleration, great handling, good fit and finish, flexible cargo space. My only wish is that the governor would declare a driving holiday where everyone else stayed home so I could take the twisties at speed... :twisted: My previous top nitpick was the annoying seatbelt chime but I fixed that with the 2 sets of 20 clicks in 30 seconds (thanks for the life-saving post). I am a religious seatbelt wearer I just can't stand being hounded when the car isn't moving. My new top nit is the passenger airbag light. At night I like a dark cockpit and drive with the illumination at its lowest setting. That makes the dash and radio/computer/climate controls readable but subtle - just as I like it. Unfortunately the passenger airbag status light (on or off depending on the passenger's weight) is beaming all the while at full intensity like some runaway advertisement for intelligent airbag technology. I'm glad it has a passenger airbag and I'm all the more pleased that it adapts to the passenger's weight but I don't feel the need to be constantly reminded of its presence. I'm hoping there's some way to disable the light (either altogether or after some time after startup) similar to the seatbelt chime fix. Barring that I may have to go back to the tint guy and ask for a small square of limo tint that I can stick over the light (a little tacky but restful). That being said this is admittedly a nit and it doesn't affect my tendency to grin as I accelerate through a curve. :D

We were talking about this at work the other day too (work at a subie dealer). When we get time one day we are going to yank that panel off. A tech thinks it's just a plug there just to illuminate the air bag light part and not just one harness for that entire piece there for the temp, time, mpg etc. I'll let you know when I get the chance.

I wonder if there isn't any way to disconnect it, or if you don't want it totally disconnected, if one could slip a little peice of smoke tinted plastic film, to dim down the light... If it is a bulb, perhaps a lower wattage one (3 watt to 1.5 watt, or something) Just some ideas.

I was taking various parts of the dash apart the other day- BTW, the vents on the side of the dash are really easy- just pull- and it looks like the center portion just pulls out- might need something soft to get under the edges to pry it out though, as to not damage it. At any rate, I'm with you on the orange light being annoying. I'm going to take that thing apart and figure out what makes it orange and change it to white. I did a few things like that on my WRX. That orange light is just obnoxious. Actually, I may just turn the whole computer thingy to red like the other parts of the dash.

[quote name='jaycee']I may have to go back to the tint guy and ask for a small square of limo tint that I can stick over the light (a little tacky but restful). :D[/quote] As a quicky fix, why not cover it with a small pice of Scotch tape. Not great, but that would dim it down. Regards, Dan.

This is almost as quick- about 20 minutes. [url]http://www.legacysti.com/viewtopic.php?p=36509#36509[/url]

Great instructions Jedi - now I've got to work up the courage to take a screwdriver to my car while it's still in diapers. I think just dimming it down radically will do the trick for me. I do like your photos of the new "quiet" dash.

You'll be fine- just make sure you wrap a rag or towel around any part of the screwdriver that will touch the car. And be gentle ;)

Thought I'd check back in on this topic with the quick 2 minute solution... I took an old sheet of the plastic film that folks put on their back windows to keep the sun from shining on the baby. The film sticks with static electricity, there's no adhesive on it. Anyway, I cut out a one inch square with rounded corners, stuck it over the outside of the airbag light display and voila! A much reduced and now tolerable airbag warning light. The plastic film is not noticeable at all at night and is very hard to see even in daylight. It's still the annoying high-alert yellow, but its intensity is way down. I still want to get rid of it completely some day (I will likely follow Jedi's instructions and mask it completely from the inside) but it's much better than it was - for little effort. (Oh yeah, and for tidiness purposes this should probably be moved to interior like the other airbag light topic).

Good call. 8)