Just to elaborate, the Ranger's seat belt receiver (at least in 2004) has a wiring harness that has 4 pins. The Explorer receiver (at least in 1999) has a harness with only 2 pins.

I tried all sorts of configurations for wiring the 4 wires into 2. I could get the seat belt light to extinguish when the buckle was engaged, but I could not get past the airbag fault light (the light will blink for the first few minutes, and then stay illuminated).

The extra two wires in the Ranger seat are connected to a metal cylinder that contains a small explosive charge (with warning stickers all over it). I believe the function of the cylinder is to somehow tighten the receiver in the event of a collision. If someone were sufficiently motivated, I would wager the airbag light could be cleared by installing a resistor to mimic the presence of that cylinder- but it's just easier to swap the receivers.

If someone knows exactly how that metal cylinder works, I would be really interested in hearing the explanation. I've never seen anything like it.

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2004 Ford Ranger FX4 automatic 4.0, 2011 Ford F150 XLT, 2003 Ford Mustang convertible, 1965 Ford Mustang coupe