I found this little box mounted to the sheetmetal right above the frame but under the battery. It also has a hole under it. Is it the thermometer? or something else. I may want to move it..Its mounted with three bolts in a triangular pattern..

 

That would be an impact sensor. You have one on the other side too. It's a sensor for the airbag system.

 

Can it be moved?

 

If it is a crash sensor you had better leave it there. i would not want the responsibility of moving it and having the air bag fail in a serious crash.

 

Or possibly even worse, having it go off without a crash.


phox

 

good points. Some of those sensors can trigger the airbag while being worked on. Whatever you decide following the suggestions/advice here, be sure you disconnect the batteries and allow capacitors to drain while you do ANYTHING to the system! Nothing will ruin you day like working on an unassuming car part and hearing a loud pop and seeing a white cloud filling the pass. compartment!

One fellow in town adding gauges to his PSD accidently tapped into the airbag system somehow. When he hit the key to test the gauges, he nearly took out his eye from the airbag blast. The friction burn on his face took about a week to go away

 

OUCH

 

I attended a class several years back on airbag safety for mechanics, some of the pictures and info was quite startling.
At that time more mechanics had been killed or injured by accidentally deploying airbags than people who had them deploy while driving. Most common cause of injury was when the bag deployed while the mechanic was working on or under the dash and the bag deployed on the side of their head, breaking the neck.
Another thing that impressed me is why to not store a removed steering wheel with column with the steering wheel sitting on the floor. Picture showed a airbag that had deployed in this position becoming a missile, leaving a steering wheel sized hole in the ceiling 20 feet above.

That course impressed it upon me to disconnect the batteries before working under the dash.

 

I am not touching it!! My plans for forced air through the bumper have been foiled...