Seat swap from explorer sport to ranger
 

Hey guys, I am swapping out the 60/40 seats from my 2001 Ranger Edge for bucket seats from an Explorer Sport
I've done this before with a 98 Ranger that had factory buckets and hod no problem with the wiring, the connector matched up fine.
This time I'm encountering an issue with the wiring for the buckles and air bag sensor or switch. The Ranger seat wiring has one connector with 4 wires, two black and the other two are colored. The black wires go into the buckle and the colored wires go into some sort of sensor or motor attached to the seat frame and where the buckle assembly attaches to the frame.
​The Explorer Sport seats have a connector with only 2 wires that plugged into what seems to be a dummy plug mounted underneath in the seat frame. I did not take the buckles from the Explorer sport, but the had separate two wire connectors.
I'm wondering what that sensor or motor or whatever it is on the Ranger seat is important for the air bag system and if so, how can I make it work or bypass it? I've already considered taking the wiring from the Ranger seat and using it on the Explorer seat but not sure what to connect it to.
Any ideas? Anyone else ever done a bucket seat swap for 60/40 seats? It's impossible to find Ranger bucket seats used.
Thanks!

Welcome to the forum

Seat wiring won't effect airbags, airbags are set off by sensors in the front of vehicles

Seats can have weight sensors and contact switches that show seat belts connected
And some seats can have electric motors for adjustment and air pumps for lumbar support

Wire colors would be year specific and not often the same with rangers and explorers

There are some wiring details in this article, at the end: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...ger-seat-swap/

Ok I understand your reply, but there is some component under the seat that does affect the air bag system. I know this because I also have a 2003 Mazda Tribute, same as a Ford Escape as you probably know. Once in a while the air bag light comes on in the Tribute and blinks a code. I looked up that code and long story short, it is a connector under the seat that looses connection sometimes. All I have to do is reach under the seat and work the connector back and forth or wiggle it a little to reestablish the connection and the air bag light goes off. I bought this 2001 Ranger about 2 months ago and the airbag light was flashing, same code as the Tribute. I jiggled and worked the connector back and forth under the seats and the air bag light went off. So something in the seat(s) is part of the air bag system.
I have taken out the old driver seat from the Ranger and put in the driver seat from the Explorer sport, just to test the fit and its fine other than I have to drill 4 of the mounting holes larger.
My dilemma is what do I need to connect to make the air bag light go off. I'm attaching pics so you can see what I am dealing with. I don't know what the cylindrical thing is that the blue and red wires go into.. Not pictured are the seat belt buckle receivers from the Explorer because I did not take them. But I am planning on going back to get them cause I think I may need them. They were connected by their own wiring separate from the seat and connected to a separate connector coming from under the carpet..
Does anybody know what the silver motor-like looking thing is? I've never seen this before on a seat. But it seems to be mechanically connected to the seat belt receiver. My gut is telling me this is somehow connected to the air bag system. If you look at the connector you can see 2 distinct tubes containing wires coming out of it. One of those are the red and blue wires and the other which are black with stripes (can't see them in the pic) lead up into the seat belt buckle receiver..
NOTE; these are manual seats, no electric motors whatsoever, no lumbar pump. Also, the pic of the yellow connector is what is under the Explorer seat, no wires comin from it though wires go into it from under the carpet.
Anyone who can help me would be much appreciated.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...b1be12e689.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...de8174bc03.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...431596a36f.jpg

Those are the seat belt pretensioners. They tighten the buckle in an accident to further tighten the seat belt.

I swapped some 2001 Explorer Sport seats into my 2003 Ranger Edge, and I ended up mounting the Ranger's pre-tensioners to the Explorer seat. Because this is where the seat belt buckle is attached to the seat, it has to be mounted in a structurally solid way so that your seat belts actually restrain you and the buckle doesn't just rip out of the seat in an accident. I installed my seats seven years ago, so I can't remember the exact details, but if I recall correctly, there is a structural part of the seats that you can mount the pre-tensioner to (in about the same area as on your stock Ranger seats). I remember drilling into this structural section, and then bolting the pre-tensioner to the seat with a nut on the back. I believe I then tacked the nut in a few places to the seat frame to serve as a permanent solution.

These are the seats I installed, they may or may not be what you have for your truck. But mounting the pre-tensioners should be the same regardless.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...fcb0352a45.jpg

Thanks bud, after further investigation, that's what I concluded I have to, do xactly what you did.
I've never seen a pretensioner before, when I swapped out the seats in my 98 Ranger, they didn't have pretensioners, so the Explorer seats fit right in, though I did have to enlarge the mounting holes a bit and will have to on these as well.
Thanks again

One more question. The Explorer seats are lower in the back so I'm going to have to come up with some spacers, about 2", to raise the back of the seat frame up. Any ideas what to use or where I can get some? Also, will need longer bolts but don't know what the thread is to look for, but looks metric and fine thread.
thanks

What kind of cab are the seats going into? Do you have a regular cab, or extended cab? I haven't heard of the seats being too low in the back, at least on a four-door extended cab. Mine fit without issue.

It's extended cab 2 door

That might be the issue then. I'm not sure if the floor is different between the 2 door extended cab and the 4 door extended cab.

Actually, what year Explorer did the seats come from? If it was a 2002 or newer, those seats aren't a direct bolt-in like the older ones are.

Honestly I didn't check. But the brackets do line up. The back mounting brackets are visibly shorter though.

You'll definitely want a thick and relatively large (diameter) spacer if you choose to go that route. Remember that it needs to spread the load in an accident.