Safety Belt Buckle Switches

The front safety belt buckles are equipped with safety belt buckle switches. The safety belt buckles are comprised of integrated circuits called a Hall-effect switch. The safety belt buckle switches indicate to the RCM  whether the safety belts are buckled or unbuckled.

The RCM  supplies current to the safety belt buckle switch. Current flows through the switch, buckled or unbuckled to ground. The RCM  will sense the difference in this current draw, 6 mA (unbuckled) or 15 mA (buckled), and use this information in determining the deployment rate of the dual-stage driver and passenger air bag modules. If the RCM  detects current out of this range, it will set a DTC.

The RCM  uses this information in determining the deployment rate of the dual-stage driver and passenger air bag modules. The RCM  also communicates the driver safety belt buckle switch status to the Instrument Cluster (IC) module, which monitors the information to control the safety belt warning indicator. For information on the safety belt warning indicator, refer to INSTRUMENTATION, MESSAGE CENTER, AND WARNING CHIMES .