For a little while, it sounds like the problem is my five year old.

 

I love my Escape, but for as much as it cost, the fact that you cannot let anything slip under the passenger seat without losing the airbag function is a bit rediculous. I hope that others here will have more technical advice for you, but the advice that I can offer is nothing under the seat. That is pretty tricky when it comes to kids :-) I guess we can be happy that disconnecting and reseating the connector offers a temporary fix. At least our airbags will function. Ford really should offer to fix this. It is definately a major safety concern. I did report the problem to a data collecting site that I had found online. It implied that if an automobile manufacturer receives enough similar reports, that they put pressure on the car manufacturer. I'm not sure if I could find the site again, but I could try.

 

I have a 2002 Escape with the same airbag light problem. This forum just saved me a ton of money. The dealer wanted to charge me $95 just to diagnose the problem. I found the yellow wire under the passenger seat and disconnected it, cleaned both ends with an electrical spray cleaner and reconnected. And guess what. The airbag light is off! Thanks!!

 

I believe there's a replacement airbag electrical connector that can be installed as well.
When doing airbag stuff, it's a good idea to disconnect the neg cable on the battery.
I've heard of one or two folks who have inadvertently deployed the airbag.