2008 jeep wrangler passenger air bag

dose any one know how to diable the passenger air bag on a 2008 2 door jeep wrangler I have contacted the dealer where I perchased the jeep and they wouln not help me i do a lot of out door acticites that require the removal of the rear seat and when the rear seat is out I have to put my 16 month old son in the front passenger seat the dealer told me that the wate from the car seat should not activate the sencor in the seat .my child,s weight my son is 35 lb and the car seat is about 5 lb this puts 40 lb in the seat and turns on the pasenger side air bag this is not a child friendly family car it is a off road 4x4 can anyone tell me how to disable the pasenger air bag so I can safely carie my sone with me in the jeep with me my son is my side kick ,my hunting partener ,my fishing buddy,and my new best friend I would never want him to be harmed by the air bag in my jeep can anyone help or have any ideas
THANKS A CONCERENED FATHER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi! Welcome to car-seat.org.

First, I have an 07 4-door and the airbag sensor is pretty sensitive. Mine goes off with my bag from the library on it, but would stay on the one time I had to transport 4 kids and put a child in a car seat up front. I also wouldn't want to trust a sensor to stay off with a child in the seat. If the child is close in weight just holding a cup full of water could turn it on, or resting your hand there, etc. You can try to go through the red tape to get your airbag deactivated, but you have to petition NHTSA, wait, wait, and wait some more. I'll try to dig up the link for you later. The best option is to not use that seat for a child. Even if it wasn't for the airbag it's not the best idea.

Second, you say your 16 month old is 35 lbs. Are you sure? It's for sure possible, but that's on the heavy side for a 16 month old for sure. What seat is he in now?

I'm sure you're not going to like this, but the safest place for your "buddy" is in the back. My 2 year old is his Daddy's buddy too, but he rides safely in the back seat of Daddy's truck. (The Jeep is mine.) They go work together, drive the tractor, and all of that, but he won't be in the front seat until he's a teenager. Just how it is. Your son is also young enough that it would be better for him to be rear-facing, but forward facing in the back seat with a top tether and correctly installed seat is acceptable and still meet the safety minimums. Your front seat doesn't have a tether anchor (TA) either, which makes it an even worse choice. The TA helps keep the seat and child's head from hitting the interior (dash in front) in a collosion. It also helps keep the child in place if the airbag would deploy. **note, never, ever put a rear-facing child in any seat with an airbag. It is deadly**

The back seat is split in the 08 two door, right? I'm pretty sure it is. In that case the best coarse of action would be to put your son in the back, and buckle some extra gear in the front. This is what I did in our 97 two door when we just had one child. We went off roading a lot then and she was always in the back and stayed rear-facing till she was over 2. She loved facing backwards- especially when the top was off- and was sad when she had to go forward.

I hope that answers some of your questions. I'm sorry it's probably not what you want to hear, but we all want your little guy safe!