Occupant Classification System

• What is occupancy mat? 
  
  • The front passenger seat occupant detection mat determines if and how the passenger frontal air bag should deploy in a crash. In a frontal accident, if impact is severe enough to cause driver airbag to deploy, airbag module will check the passenger occupancy  mat status to determine whether passenger airbag also should deploy or not. If no one is sitting on a passenger seat, or if there is a small weight object like a car seat, front passenger airbag will not deploy. Often, due to age, they go bad , giving Faulty passenger occupancy sensor/mat trouble code in the airbag module.
• Disablement Implications. 
  
  • Disabling the mat will make front passenger airbag DEPLOY in frontal crash REGARDLESS of whether passenger seat is occupied or not. Needless to say, whether you have occupancy detection system or not, you should never place car seats  with children on the front seat; front airbag deployment can kill them.
  • It's also worth noticing that many cars worldwide don't offer occupancy detection system by default, so for many countries its an optional equipment.