Airbag

[pintopickup]

Looking for info on air bag steering...want to ditch this collumn so I can install a custom wheel...Thanks for any info

 

[Surrey]

Thanks. Due to your lack of effort put into making the post (what info are you looking for, perhaps? I shall put a lack of effort into my response...

Search. Its up there. ^
And over there a bit. >

 

[pintopickup]

OK Fine...I want to install a grant wheel on an air bag equiped steering shaft.I was wondering if anyone elce had done this or if I have to replace the column with an earlier model

 

[racsan]

i bieleive you'll have to change out the whole coulmn for a earlier one, ive been looking for a steering wheel to put on the wife's S-blazer to get rid of the deep-dish airbag wheel. i can find a aftermarket airbag wheel, and a few covers for the current wheel, but no one seems to make a after market steering wheel to replace a airbag wheel with. i could care less about "no air bag" its a '97, who's to say it would even deploy? i just hate having the wheel so close so i can be comfortable with the pedal didtance. the ranger doesnt have that problem and has a rather flat steering wheel. i may put a older coulmn in the blazer someday. or put the stock steering wheel in a press and take some of the dish out.

 

[Surrey]

. i could care less about "no air bag" its a '97, who's to say it would even deploy?

Smash into something. I bet that badboy goes off. The one in my '94 caravan did back in 2006.

Im not familiar with Rangers with Airbags, but I have had several shop manuals for cars/trucks with airbags in some models, and they all have a way to remove the steering wheel... If you can do that, I dont see why you can't install an aftermarket wheel?

 

[racsan]

you have to have the right spline on the wheel/wheel adaptor. the steering shafts ive seen are different for a airbag wheel vs a non-airbag wheel. you dont just want to force a wheel on and possibly not turn the wheels or have the wheels turn when your trying to go straight. i suppose grant thought it would be somehow liable if someone removed a airbag steering wheel and put a non-airbag wheel on. doesnt seem much differnt from taking off stock 29" tires and putting on 35"'s without a brake upgrade.

 

[H311RzR]

isnt there a legal issue with removing air bags from a vehicle....maybe more of an insurance issue?

 

[racsan]

if your the owner and do it yourself, i dont see what the problem would be.the lack of a air bag doesnt make it less safe to drive, just less safe to wreck. so dont wreck. im sure after a certain period of time, 15-20 or more years, the propellant might not work anyways. my airbag equipped vehicles have been more expensive to insure that those that werent. and i only carry liability. once there paid for, i drop coverage to bare legal mimimum. its not like their worth alot anyways.

 

[pintopickup]

Thanks for the info...Splines was what I wondering about.

 

[straycat]

You can't do it with the air bag (legally). I have a 99 and I tried to this as well when my Ranger was about a year old. Nobody would sell me the steering wheel I wanted and everybody told me that this was a big safety issue and bla blaa blaa, and I tried again last summer but, the air bag is supposed to be in my steering wheel the Ford dealer told me then when I went to ask questions about putting on a custom steering wheel. So unless I want the air bag to go off and if I ever were in an accident....my fault or not the insurance company does not have to pay for damages because I altered the vehicle....I even checked local state laws on this and this is true.....I don't hate my stock steering wheel, it is in really nice shape...I just wanted to put in the custom steering wheel I liked....Ahhhhhhhh!!!

 

[racsan]

id still do it if i could. ive seen many instances where a airbag should have gone off but didnt. we bought a montana a few years back that had the airbag light flashing the day we drove it off the lot. i ran a straight pin through the wires to shut the light off, it was still that way when we got rid of it. if removing a airbag will supposedly cause insurance to be void, then how were certian vehicles getting away with a passenger side shut-off switch? yes i know what it was intended for, but whats to keep me from leaving it shut off all the time? (particuarly if im giving someone i dont like a ride lol)

 

[basilfaulty]

if your the owner and do it yourself, i dont see what the problem would be.the lack of a air bag doesnt make it less safe to drive, just less safe to wreck. so dont wreck. im sure after a certain period of time, 15-20 or more years, the propellant might not work anyways. my airbag equipped vehicles have been more expensive to insure that those that werent. and i only carry liability. once there paid for, i drop coverage to bare legal mimimum. its not like their worth alot anyways.

If you ever let anyone drive the truck and they were involved in an accident and got injured the liability would fall on you.

 

[basilfaulty]

id still do it if i could. ive seen many instances where a airbag should have gone off but didnt. we bought a montana a few years back that had the airbag light flashing the day we drove it off the lot. i ran a straight pin through the wires to shut the light off, it was still that way when we got rid of it. if removing a airbag will supposedly cause insurance to be void, then how were certian vehicles getting away with a passenger side shut-off switch? yes i know what it was intended for, but whats to keep me from leaving it shut off all the time? (particuarly if im giving someone i dont like a ride lol)

I sure hope nobody gets hurt in that Montana with the pin disabling the light telling the person driving it there is an airbag malfunction!