I need to carry children in the front passenger seat and am looking for a car that has the airbag as either an optional extra or as a switch that I can turn off. I also need the car to be automatic and to have three diagonal belts in the back. I was due to collect a new scenic in three days but the dealer is refusing to disconnect the airbag even though it will mean he will now lose a sale.
So far the only car that I have found that fits my criteria is the Freelander. I need a new car urgently, any help would be greatfully received!!
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You're going to hate me for this, but newer Citroen Xantias have a switch to turn the passenger airbag off. It's located near the gear shift console and is operated by the ignition key.
You may or may not want a Xantia but I suspect this is a common feature across the Citroen range. Perhaps it is also fitted to the Picasso.
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Peugeot 406 Estate has all these features - you should be able to get a good discount on one of these - make that a Very good discount ! they are a bit plasticcy but nice to drive
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The Picasso certainly has a switchable airbag and three diagonal rear seatbelts but I am not sure that an automatic gearbox is an option.
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I thought the air bag was only a hazard to children in rear facing child seats; am I wrong?
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You're right. Only rear-facing seats are a danger however care should be taken to ensure that a child seat is properly and tightly secured. Perhaps, though, there are implications of side airbags?
I think the solution is to do some legwork going round main dealers, picking up brochures, and getting the answers about airbag deactivation with automatic gears. I can't think of anywhere that would have a database of such information.
Try www.carpricecheck.com for quite reasonable deals when you've found a suitable car.
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If you have no choice other than to use a rear facing baby seat in a car with a passenger airbag, the most sensible thing to do is push the front passenger seat as far back as it will go on its runners. In many cases this will put the child seat out of range of the inflating airbag.
HJ
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Ann should check out Citroen's secret new car: the Xsara HDI 110 automatic. This has everything she wants, plus economy. Presumably the combination will eventually get to a top version of the Picasso. There's a news item on the Xsara HDI 110 auto on this website. To find it, go to News in the LH menu. Go to the bottom of the list of current news items, click on News Archive, then find the old news item in the list that comes up. Sorry this is so clunky. We're going to attend to it when we revamp the site. The good news is that car by car breakdown was downloaded, completely updated and re-uploaded this week.
HJ
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Ann should check out Citroen's secret new car: the Xsara HDI 110 automatic. This has everything she wants, plus economy. Presumably the combination will eventually get to a top version of the Picasso. There's a news item on the Xsara HDI 110 auto on this website. To find it, go to News in the LH menu. Go to the bottom of the list of current news items, click on News Archive, then find the old news item in the list that comes up. Sorry this is so clunky. We're going to attend to it when we revamp the site. The good news is that car by car breakdown was downloaded, completely updated and re-uploaded this week.
HJ
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Having spoken to a colleague who has just bought a Picasso, the passenger airbag can be disabled with the flick of a switch, but unfortunatly there isn't an auto option at the moment. Rumour has it that some sort of auto/sequential gearbox is in the pipeline for next year.
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Yes the Xsara does have passenger airbags which can be disabled but dare I mention Citroen's famous problem with airbag light faults (again)? Also, by the way, I was told by my garage that some Picassos are prone to cutting out as per the VTRs - ECU replacment needed.
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