Hi,
I just failed an mot and one of the things i need is a new steering wheel because i picked some of the foam off when i was bored and now theres a big bit of metal showing which isn't on apparently.
The guy offered £220 for a replacement so i told him no thanks.
Now i have i spare i got from a scrap yard, and a pretty good idea of how to go about it, but i'm a little worried about the airbag.
The guy at the garage said if the airbag comes out then the computer needs reset otherwise the light will stay on and it'l fail again.

Is this right or is he just tying it on? if i take the airbag off, swap the wheel, and put the airbag on again will the computer pick up on it? will it need reset? or is that just if i try and start it up without an airbag?

thanks in advance

not sure how you get the airbag off but i would disconnect the battery anyway and leave it for a while before i would start work on it. then i presume if the battery is disconnected while you do the work the puter may not pick up the change good luck and say how you get the airbag off etc as i am thinking of changing my steering wheel

The spare wheel i have now has 3 allen key type screws for the airbag, one at each side and one at the bottom, all on the back.
guess theres no harm in trying, must be cheaper to just get the computer reset if it comes to it than the whole swap over anyway.

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!!

Leave it at least half an hour, this will minimise the risk of the airbag deploying when you disconnect it.

Not only that but if you disconnect the battery, before removing the airbag and re attach it only after you've put it all back together, the the airbag ecu shouldn't register a fault and won't need to be reset.

AndyRKett said:

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!!

Leave it at least half an hour, this will minimise the risk of the airbag deploying when you disconnect it.

Not only that but if you disconnect the battery, before removing the airbag and re attach it only after you've put it all back together, the the airbag ecu shouldn't register a fault and won't need to be reset.

Click to expand...

Yes, disconnect the battery and touch leads off each other before starting work.
By the time you have the screws off from behind the wheel, you shouldnt have to wait much longer before pulling the connector off.
IIRC, the connector just pulls straight off, theres no clip or anything just pull straight out.

Remember to put the plastic protector over the center nut when youve the new wheel on.

thanks guys, going to have a go tomorrow then.
does the center nut need a lot of force? am i going to need a long handle wrench or anything?
I dont have a 24mm socket so im going to have to go shopping anyway.
will it need a deep socket or will a short one do?

ok, job done.
disconnected the battery, but i couldn't get the leads to touch so i just left it for a full hour.
the three bolts in the wheel took a 5mm allen key. quite awkward to get it in from behind.

the connector for the horn needs a small screwdriver or such to release the clip, push in from the centre of the wheel (very simple)
the airbag connector had me puzzled, the bottom half (closest to the airbag) is green and the top half is blue, theres a little green tab in the middle of the blue bit.
I had to pull the green tab out first before the whole connector would come off. The green tab is connected to the green bottom bit by some plastic so it cant get lost.
i have a picture if anyones interested

i had a deep 24mm 1/2" socket and it didn't quite reach, i had to put the socket over the nut and have the ratchet half in the socket to stop the ratchet handle rubbing the wheel and pulling the socket off the nut.

reconnected the battery, car started, no warning lights and horn still works so pretty happy.

Thanks guys!

happy days