B2290 means the restraints control module received a fault report from the occupant classification system, the setup in the front passenger seat that decides whether the passenger airbag should be armed. The fault lives in the seat, not in the airbag module.
On Ford vehicles equipped with occupant classification, the passenger seat cushion holds a fluid-filled bladder with a pressure sensor, and a small control module reads it. That module works out whether the seat is empty, holding a child or a child seat, or holding an adult, then reports the classification to the restraints control module. The passenger airbag is armed or suppressed based on that answer, and the indicator on the dash tells the occupant which state the system is in.
When the classification module reports its own fault, or the restraints control module cannot get a usable answer from it, B2290 gets stored. The important structural detail is that Ford calibrates the seat cushion pan, the foam, the bladder with its sensor and the classification module to each other and services them as an assembly. They are not designed to be mixed and matched.
Hardware. B2290 points at a sensing system with real parts in it, and the restraints control module is only relaying what the occupant classification module told it. That is why sending in the airbag module accomplishes nothing here. The diagnosis stays in the passenger seat and its wiring.
No. Our airbag module reset restores a control module's memory, and B2290 is a live report from a different module about a sensing fault. The repair path is to find the failed piece in the seat, replace what Ford services as an assembly, and then run the occupant classification calibration with the correct tool. Skipping the calibration is the reason a lot of these codes come back after a seat swap. When the sensor assembly is what you need, start with our occupant classification listings.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from the mid 2000s onward carry occupant classification on the front passenger seat, and B2290 has been reported on cars like the Fusion and Focus as well as on trucks and SUVs of that period. The occupant classification meaning is consistent among the makes that use this code.
Take everything out of the passenger seat, including covers and any cushion someone added, then clear the code and see whether it returns with the seat empty. Next, look under the seat at the connectors, since seat travel and vacuum hoses have pulled plenty of those apart. If the wiring checks out and the code stands, the seat assembly is the repair and the calibration afterward is required, not optional.
Related codes: B1884 (PAD warning lamp circuit), B1620 (SRS module internal fault), and B1933 (passenger airbag circuit open).
Related codes: B1884, B1620, B1933
Keep reading:
Code scope: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury. The same number can mean something different on another manufacturer, so match the code to your make before you act on it.
A reset clears stored crash data. A replacement part fixes a hardware fault. We have read these codes since the nineties and will tell you which one you are looking at.
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