[tyreno91]

still waiting for the parts on my mazda and i been out of a car for over a month so i just pulled my back bumper off and now i'm back on the road with the CX-3! but idk if this problem is an all over thing or just my car.. but the past few days if i put my iphone 6 Plus in the passenger seat my car will start dinging telling me to buckle up the passenger seat.. i've never noticed this to happen before and it started like 3 days ago.. i didn't think an iphone would be that heavy that the car thinks that a person is in the seat. idk if its normal or something may be wrong. i would take it to a dealership and not bother anyone on this forum but i live 2 hours from a mazda dealership and i don't want to go and sit for an hour just to be told it's normal and working fine lol

 

[Slev]

I had the same thing happen today for the first time. Hopefully just a fluke.

 

[anchorman]

Sure your wallet wasn't on the seat ;-)

There might be a TSB on this. I will look later.

 

[Vipre77]

I've noticed my sensor is strangely over-sensitive, too. I've had things as light as my phone (also iPhone 6S+) or a small bag of carry-out fast food set it off. I don't need my passenger side airbags going off in a fender bender just because I had a burrito riding shotgun. I've never seen a car with sensors that were so sensitive. They should have something like a 10-15 pound (4.5-6.8 kg) minimum weight to activate. My wife's 2016 CX-5 isn't nearly so over-reactive.

 

[anchorman]

I’ve read something somewhere but it escapes me at the moment.

 

[Levi3xt]

Tried my iPhone on the seat....nothing. Other than that, I can only conclude anchorman might be onto the weight problem (chuckle, chuckle).

 

[Vipre77]

There are certain spots where it seems more likely to trigger the sensor. I haven't nailed it down yet. Seems to be either somewhere in the grey cloth insert section or possibly in the side bolsters. I've noticed that lightly pressing my hand on the passenger side bolster nearest the armrest will sometimes be enough to set it off. Is there an array of sensors in more than one spot directly under the upholstery on these seats?

 

[anchorman]

I can show you where the seat sensor is.............

 

[Geezer]

My guess is that the iPhone gives of a certain amount of RF when it is turned on and this may interfere with the sensors on the seat pad. One way to find out for those who are getting the false alarm is to turn the phone off, put it back on the seat exactly where it was when it triggered the alarm and see if it goes off again.

 

[Vipre77]

If it's just an array of pressure sensors acting as a series of switches, then RF would not affect those in any way unless the RF was sufficiently large enough to induce enough voltage in the wire to arc across the gap on the switches or by producing enough voltage in the wire to make the computer think a switch had closed even when it had not. There's no way there's that much RF being emitted to cause an arc and it's doubtful at best on the latter scenario, too. Also, I've had other relatively light non-electronic objects besides my phone (e.g.: a small bag of take-out food for example) set it off in my car, so there's that, too.

My guess is that they just are either far too sensitive or they're mounted too close to the top surface of the seat. That would allow the pressure to interact more or less directly with the sensor without allowing the foam seat cushion to disperse the load for light objects. There's no excuse for having objects less than 1 lbs (0.5 kg) set these things off, if you ask me. The warning is there to protect passengers, not sandwiches. Or is this just Mazda's way of trying to encourage us to never have unsecured objects anywhere in the cabin space? If that's the case, then they should be getting rid of cup holders next.

 

[DJ9999]

I place my iPhone (6 plus) and at times a daily travel bag which includes my laptop, lunch, paperwork and so on in my passenger seat daily on my commute to/from work. I have never once had the seatbelt chime go off.

 

[Vipre77]

Anyone know if the sensors are arranged and work the same way on CX-5? My wife's CX-5 doesn't exhibit this same insane amount of sensitivity.

 

[anchorman]

Will check later.

 

[Tomkat]

I place all kinds of stuff in the passenger seat. Never had that problem.