Passenger air back went off when no passenger in seat

[Kenny hepburn]

My son was in a minor bump at a junction. Both front air bags went off even though no one was in the passenger seat. He was driving a 2019 fiesta. Is there a known airbag issue with this year of Fiesta .

[Bobr]

If there's no passenger you can turn the airbag off.   If it's not turned off it will go off whether or not there's a passenger in the seat.

[Aldridge Andy]

On 2/4/2021 at 4:08 PM, Kenny hepburn said:

My son was in a minor bump at a junction. Both front air bags went off even though no one was in the passenger seat. He was driving a 2019 fiesta. Is there a known airbag issue with this year of Fiesta .

You’d have thought there would be an occupancy sensor to ensure only the airbags that were required would be deployed. The TFT screen in the instrument binnacle upon start up would have you think the car was aware of which seats were occupied. 

[Stoney871]

If there was a bag or something that could trigger the seat pressure sensor then maybe that would cause the bag to function.

[Bobr]

9 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

If there was a bag or something that could trigger the seat pressure sensor then maybe that would cause the bag to function.

It doesn't need anything on the seat.   There's no pressure sensor for the airbag.   If you don't switch it off if will deploy whether or not there's anyone in the seat.

[TomsFocus]

On modern Fords, both front airbags deploy in the event of a head on impact with enough speed.  This is is why it's nearly impossible to buy a used dashboard as the majority of new cars in breakers have been in front end collisions.  Interestingly, the seat pressure sensor is still used - if it senses an occupant on the seat without a seatbelt being worn, the airbag timings are altered slightly to reduce the risk of injury from the bag itself.

Other airbags (seat, curtain, knee, etc) are all dependant on the speed of the crash and the angle at which the impact occurred.