Abstract: In a vehicle seat occupant detection system, a transponder in a seat cushion is responsive to an activating signal to generate an electromagnetic signal containing unique seat identification data. An occupant detection system module senses a seat characteristic and derives therefrom an occupant detection signal. The module further generates the transponder activating signal and receives and processes the electromagnetic signal to derive the contained seat identification data. The module determines if there is seat identification data in a dedicated memory location in rewritable, non-volatile memory and, if there is, compares it to the seat identification data from the electromagnetic signal. If they do not match, the derivation of a valid occupant detection signal is prevented.