I'm installing seat heaters in my '04 4Runner. In the passenger's seat there are membrane switches mounted on the foam. Looking at the connections it must be some type of switch to to determine if somebody is in the seat. This vehicle does not have an Occupant Classification System. The manual states that both airbags fire during a crash regardless of whether there is a passenger.

Does anybody know what these switches do for certain? I'm debating whether to install the pad over them or just cut out a template for them.

Edit: Here is a link to how I wired up the seats using the OEM harness

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Are you sure there's no passenger classification system in your 04? That's really what it looks like. My 07 has a readout next to the outside temperature indicator that says if the airbag is enabled or disabled and it definitely changes when there's something 40 pounds in that seat vs an adult passenger.

I'm pretty sure and I have the seat out so I can't test it. I may have to put it back in. I will say that I have never noticed any indicator that said airbag off (or on) like I have seen on other cars. Page 70 of the manual indicates that "the front passenger airbag is activated even with no passenger in the front seat." It later says kids that can't use seat belts should be in the back because of the air bag.

All of that being said, I see on the display there is printed text that says "Passenger" to the right of the information display. I saw in another post where another member mentions that the '05 models introduced the "Front-Seat Occupant Classification System" and it is mentioned in the manual.

Maybe they started getting the system ready when mine was manufactured. I'll have to take a look a closer look at the harness.

Its a kind of occupant sensor, not for the airbag system per say (i.e. it does not adjust output of the airbag or disable it according to weight or occuapancy in seat.) Its for telling you if the Passenger is wearing a seatbelt or not. (Just played with this a few mins ago on my '04 to verify. Also stated in the wiring diagram that it is for detecting occupancy in the passenger seat to verify the seatbelt is buckled.)

Thanks for double checking for me. I'm just going to install the heater on top of it. If it fails later because of the heat, I'll just bypass it permanently.

I installed mine right on top. One year later and still no worries.

I did the same but swapped the driver's side and passenger's side foam - so I had to actually detach this "strip sensor" and reattach to the swapped cushion - I used super glue lol. It works fine - going on month #2 and no problems with the new katzkins and heaters.

I highly recommend swapping the driver/passenger bottom foam - it really makes a difference with the outer edge wear - the outer edges become the inner edges after the swap and it's like a new seat.

I recently had the seats reupholstered at a shop. I could see where they added a bit of foam to the drivers seat to fix the wear so I understand what you mean with the foam.