Safety Belt Tension Sensor

The safety belt tension sensor:

• is part of the front passenger safety belt buckle assembly.
• is used in conjunction with the occupant classification sensor (OCS) system.
• is a 3-wire Hall-effect sensor that is part of the front passenger safety belt and retractor assembly.

The safety belt tension sensor is used by the OCS system to identify the presence of a child safety seat on the front outboard passenger seat, when the child safety seat is installed according to manufacturer instructions. The safety belt tension sensor senses the tension on the safety belt assembly then provides an output to the OCS system ECU, indicating that the safety belt assembly is cinched. After sensing the weight applied to the seat by the occupant and using the safety belt tension sensor input, the OCS system determines how the occupant should be classified and communicates this information to the RCM. If the occupant is classified to be a child, the RCM will then automatically deactivate the passenger air bag module.