Since the side air bags are installed inside of the seats, is it safe to put seat covers on? Will seat covers prevent the side air bags from inflating properly? I understand that there is some kind of a mechanism for them to break from inside of the seat, but I suspect that seat covers might get in their way. Unfortunately the manual doesn't have any information on the topic. What do you think or better yet what do you know about this?

 

Personally, I wouldn't. I can picture the seat covers preventing the air bag from inflating properly. Want to make some serious money? Invent the seat cover with velcrow where the air bag would deploy

 

I've heard not to use car seat covers because they will interfere with the side airbags. I thought that it was in the manual. I don't have it with me to check though.

 

Right on page 101.

 

Interesting, thanks! What about "sideless" seat covers? I saw some mentioned on the web. They should work, shouldn't, they? I would hate to wear off the seat cloth over the years, but my head and torso are more important. Btw, here is a link to the crash tests including videos:
http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/3307.html

 

bump

 

Well my side airbag went off last weekend. It comes from the top side of the seat. As long as your sides are open you should be fine.

 

Thank you. I hope you're OK and your Stang gets fixed soon! What happened?

 

WHy'd your side air bags go off? How much does it cost to reinstall?

 

I would think (but you can't sue me if I'm wrong) that it would be fine if you had sideless seat covers, especially considering what the upper post said about his airbags deploying.

My question is, has anyone found any sideless seat covers that look good and would be OK on the red leather? All I can find are sheepskin ones, and that's not quite my style.

 

schmads - I am with you on the sheepskin covers, being software engineer and being in mid 20's Seriously, though, I haven't found any good sideless covers except those from the sheepskin made by one company. They say they're patented the design. could it be why they are the only ones selling it?

 

Personally, I think that absurd, but not impossible. OK, so no-one else can sell a seatcover shaped like this, because they patented the shape. darn... I'm gonna make a new shape and put a patent on it... |====\ I call it a rectasquarethingy. Nobody else do it or I'll sue you! It's for seats with butt-air-bags.

Seriously though, this is a disturbing idea. I wonder if it would be possible to find a good seatcover and remove the sides, but I doubt it. The sides are probably what holds it on properly. Funny, those sheepskin people could make a bunch of money if they made less "pimpin" seatcovers!