How to bypass rear seatbelt monitors

[Franz01234]

I removed the 3rd seat row in my Explorer. I had to remove the wiring harness from the seats and stash the harness behind some plastic interior panels to keep the dash lights off.

Good news is that removing the wiring from the 3rd seat row looks harder than it is. The bottom seam of the seats is not stitched but held together only via some clips and snap buttons that can easily be opened without damage. Once open you need to remove the two bolts holding the seat belt buckle in place and then cut the cable ties holding the wiring to the seat and remove the wiring harness without damage.

It took me about 20 min per seat to remove the harness.

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

I removed the 3rd seat row in my Explorer. I had to remove the wiring harness from the seats and stash the harness behind some plastic interior panels to keep the dash lights off.

Good news is that removing the wiring from the 3rd seat row looks harder than it is. The bottom seam of the seats is not stitched but held together only via some clips and snap buttons that can easily be opened without damage. Once open you need to remove the two bolts holding the seat belt buckle in place and then cut the cable ties holding the wiring to the seat and remove the wiring harness without damage.

It took me about 20 min per seat to remove the harness.

Did you need to keep the actual seat belt receivers (the female part the belt clips into) connected to the harnesses? Or can those stay on the seats?

 

[Franz01234]

I kept them connected to the harness.
The wire goes inside the reciever with no obvious way to remove it without breaking something.
I figured it was easier to remove a single screw per seat belt receiver that can be reattached with ease instead of risking to break something inside of the seat belt receiver while trying to remove the wire.

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

I kept them connected to the harness.
The wire goes inside the reciever with no obvious way to remove it without breaking something.
I figured it was easier to remove a single screw per seat belt receiver that can be reattached with ease instead of risking to break something inside of the seat belt receiver while trying to remove the wire.

Sounds like good advice. I pulled all the seats back out of storage yesterday, I'll start pulling the harnesses soon and hopefully get the warning messages taken care of. Just out of curiosity, did you add the suggested cross brace after you removed the seats? What year is yours?

 

[robtoledo23]

Rear seatbelt monitor can be disabled in the RCM and IPC without disconnecting anything.

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

Rear seatbelt monitor can be disabled in the RCM and IPC without disconnecting anything.

Dropping bombs here Ok, so as a FORScan rookie should I be attempting something like this? And will this follow suit for the 3 2nd row split seats as well (not captains chairs)? I know there's airbag considerations for at least the 2nd row. Not sure if the same applies to the 3rd row bench. I didn't get an airbag fault until I disconnected the 2nd row seats. Worth mentioning again, this is a 2020 XLT 4WD model.

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

Dropping bombs here Ok, so as a FORScan rookie should I be attempting something like this? And will this follow suit for the 3 2nd row split seats as well (not captains chairs)? I know there's airbag considerations for at least the 2nd row. Not sure if the same applies to the 3rd row bench. I didn't get an airbag fault until I disconnected the 2nd row seats. Worth mentioning again, this is a 2020 XLT 4WD model.

And then again, the whole idea is to disconnect everything...so just the absence of the wiring may still cause a fault. (Perhaps). I'm just going to pull the wires from the seats and hook it all back up.

 

[Franz01234]

I installed a steel plate that is bolted to the car using the same screws that held the seats in.
It is 3mm thick so it should be as strong as the cross brace.

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

I installed a steel plate that is bolted to the car using the same screws that held the seats in.
It is 3mm thick so it should be as strong as the cross brace.


View attachment 341177

That's pretty sharp. How did you make your template?

 

[Franz01234]

I got myself a big piece of cardboard and cut off small chunks until it fit. Once the cardboard was the right shape I drew the outline onto the metal. Cut around the outline and you are done.

I wanted more cargo space and this gained me 8 cubic feet.
Too bad Ford offers the option to remove the 3rd row only in police vehicles.

 

[peterk9]

.......................................
Too bad Ford offers the option to remove the 3rd row only in police vehicles.

I don't know about the 6th gen Explorer but there are members that removed the 3rd-row seats in the 5th gen retail Explorer.

Peter

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

So I started pulling the wiring out of the rear seats for my seat delete project. The 3rd row was no problem. The second row center seat was a little more complicated but the 2nd row left side is turning into quite a project. It's the one with the extra module under it and there's wiring that goes up into the back foam. The wiring also goes through the left side hinge/pivot, that I can't seem to figure out how to get it out. Can anyone who's done this give some pointers?

 

[SteveAZ]

If someone knows who those conversion companies are I'd be willing to make some calls.

B&B Enterprises, Phoenix, AZ 602 414-9973
Installs Police option in the rear of Explorers
I got this info off a label in the back of a police cruiser

 

[Aglareinmyeyes]

So I started pulling the wiring out of the rear seats for my seat delete project. The 3rd row was no problem. The second row center seat was a little more complicated but the 2nd row left side is turning into quite a project. It's the one with the extra module under it and there's wiring that goes up into the back foam. The wiring also goes through the left side hinge/pivot, that I can't seem to figure out how to get it out. Can anyone who's done this give some pointers?

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So I've gotten further along on this. All the wiring is removed from the seats and is hooked back up to the harnesses where the seats were. Used FORScan and found the faults for left/right/center 2nd row seats. Don't know how to clear/reset the faults. Anyone have some direction where to specifically address this in the configurations?

 

[Chester98]

If someone knows who those conversion companies are I'd be willing to make some calls.

I work for a upfitter company. For the PIU we pull the buckle and reconnect the factory plug under the seat brace. We don't handle very much with the civilian vehicles. If you source a PIU buckle you should be able to wire It to the Civilan model and that should show the car the complete circuit.

 

[peterk9]

I work for a upfitter company. For the PIU we pull the buckle and reconnect the factory plug under the seat brace. We don't handle very much with the civilian vehicles. If you source a PIU buckle you should be able to wire It to the Civilan model and that should show the car the complete circuit.

Welcome to the Forum.
Be prepared for more questions to come.

Peter

 

[blockcomm]

Being that in the last 10 years of owning mid size SUVs I have never used my rear seats for passengers, I've decided to remove the 2nd and 3rd row seats and build out a nice cargo area (I'm a contractor and carry tools and materials all the time) and also a flat/level deck for sleeping on when I'm overnight at the racetrack or camping. I've laid some 3/4 plywood from front to rear over the backs of the seats but with the new slanted roofline the "fold flat" rear seating is now on a pretty good slant to the rear as well and I slide down to the rear all night, as do my tool boxes when I accelerate. I had built up the rear of the plywood as a test but its a sloppy solution at best. So out went the seats!

Seats were removed a couple days ago (3 seats on row 2 and 3rd row bench) and I get constant dash messages for "rear belt monitor fault". I expected this from the beginning but I'd like to know if there's some hack for getting the message to not pop up.

There's 3 individual wiring connectors for the 2nd row and 1 for the 3rd row. I'm assuming the interceptor Explorers have achieved this sensor delete since they remove the stock seats when they customize them.

You need to remove the seatbelt and wiring from the OEM seats and plug them back into the vehicle. make sure you match the wiring as the connectors from Pass side and Driver side are different.

 

[tjor]

Rear seatbelt monitor can be disabled in the RCM and IPC without disconnecting anything.

Will this allow the air bag system to work with the 2nd and 3rd row seat harnesses unplugged? If so would you please be able to direct me towards the entry in ForScan to edit? Thank you!