Need advice on removing air bag

I picked up a new steering wheel for my 97 XJ since the leather on mine is worn out and dry rotted. I need to take the air bag off but I don't want to accidentally set it off. What do I need to do to make the air bag safe to remove?

I've been told disconnect the battery and touch the cables together to discharge any capacitors in the system.

I have to admit to not having done that and simply doing it from the passenger seat so if it did go boom I wouldn't get blasted, but I'm kind of a dumba$$ sometimes.

The good news is that all you'll need is some Torx drivers and a steering wheel puller - it's not a bad job. Had mine off to install cruise control, not scary at all.

Pull fuse. Disconnect battery. It won't bite if it doesn't have juice.

Disconnect the battery and wait 10 minutes.

The clock spring is mounted on the steering column behind the steering wheel. This assembly consists of a plastic housing which contains a flat, ribbon-like, electrically conductive tape that winds and unwinds with the steering wheel rotation.

The clock spring is used to maintain a continuous electrical circuit between the instrument panel wire harness and the driver side airbag module, the horn switch, and the vehicle speed control switches on vehicles that are so equipped.

The clock spring must be properly centered when it is installed on the steering column following any service removal, or it will be damaged. See the Clock spring Centering procedure for more information.


WARNING: THE AIRBAG SYSTEM IS A SENSITIVE,
COMPLEX ELECTROMECHANICAL UNIT. BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO DIAGNOSE OR SERVICE ANY AIRBAG SYSTEM OR RELATED STEERING WHEEL, STEERING COLUMN, OR INSTRUMENT PANEL COMPONENTS YOU MUST FIRST DISCONNECT AND ISOLATE THE BATTERY NEGATIVE (GROUND) CABLE. THEN WAIT TEN MINUTES FOR THE SYSTEM CAPACITOR TO DISCHARGE BEFORE FURTHER SYSTEM SERVICE. THIS IS THE ONLY SURE WAY TO DISABLE THE AIRBAG SYSTEM. FAILURE TO DO THIS COULD RESULT IN ACCIDENTAL AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT AND POSSIBLE PERSONAL INJURY.

Tim_MN said:

Disconnect the battery and wait 10 minutes.

Click to expand...

...or even longer. My Japanese car says 20. My German car says 30.

It's like 2 relaxing cocktails long.

Aren't you supposed to hook up a 9 volt to the airbag first?




oh wait, wrong thread

I would leave the battery unplugged for at least 30 minutes. Every vehicle is different, but to be on the safe side I'd do 30 minutes.

On my 96 the clock spring was not effected. If you have turn signals, horn and hazards the clock spring is still good. There should be a screw to undo to disable the airbag AFTER you disconnect the battery and wait at least 10 minutes. Then you can remove the airbag.

Thanks guys! I plan on doing this tomorrow morning. So excited to have a decent steering wheel again and get rid of my crappy old one!

96 is a completely different system.

Got it in yesterday took all of 20 mins to actually change out and I took my time. I removed the battery cables from the battery and touched them together and left them that way for an hour just to be sure all capacitors had plenty of time to discharge. I discovered that 97+ steering wheels are keyed and it would be very difficult to put these things on wrong. There is no issue with putting these on offset of center.

Here's a good airbag test done in Russia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUZJkti1A3M