Technical replacing passenger airbag

[ripshot34]

ok guys was wondering i have a 55 plate panda sporting i bought a replacement passenger airbag off a seller on ebay who was breaking similar model. none of my airbags have deployed im just replacing the cover on mine which has a few marks and chunks out of it but i couldnt buy just a cover so had to buy full thing was wanting to know can i put the whole airbag in as it easier than uncliping cover and putting on new one i will do usaul disconnect battery and that or will the car know its been swapped etc and throw up a light on dash? thanks

 

[joshhodgson]

I'd leave the battery off for half an hour either side of touching the airbag. The ECU tends to pick up things even without the battery connected.

Are there any laws/MOT clauses on changing airbags? Does it need to be approved?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

I'd leave the battery off for half an hour either side of touching the airbag. The ECU tends to pick up things even without the battery connected.

Are there any laws/MOT clauses on changing airbags? Does it need to be approved?

The airbag ECU doesn't pick things up, but does hold a residual charge so like yo say needs to be disconnected before hand for about 30min. After doesn't matter.

No laws / approval needed for fitting.

OP as advised disconnect battery for 30 min, remove glove box and all will become apparent from under the airbag. Should take no longer than 30min (after having let it sit for 30min once battery has been disconnected)

 

[johnswlondon]

the only slight worry i have is that if you have bought it off ebay it might not be working.

on my understanding airbags are only available as an oem part so should not be available on ebay. i would not buy one from a right off because it may have had some deployment issue.

if you have an airbag light on it will not be because the airbag has reached its 10 year life because that is not part of the circuit.

i realize i may be wrong here, but i would not replace it with one from ebay but an oem part

hope this helps

john

 

[AndyRKett]

i realize i may be wrong here, but i would not replace it with one from ebay but an oem part

obviously you've never bought an airbag from a main dealer?

go into fiat parts department and ask how much a passenger airbag is

if there are no warning lights after fitting then there is no real issue. airbags are never guaranteed to deploy anyway thats why they are a 'supplementary restraint system'

Always wear a seatbelt kits

 

[Ethan260908]

Finally I get to post on helping someone rather than asking for help :slayer:

I used to work in the airbag industry.

The spec for all airbags that we used to make is that they are designed to work at least until they are 10 years old. That is very difficult to engineer and manufacture to (wrt controlling complex gases inside etc), so in reality they are generally engineered to work well beyond that because if they didn't the OEM would not be best pleased to have his name splashed all over the papers or God forbid VOSA had to enforce the "R" word (recall), sssshhh I mentioned the R word and got away with it (see faulty towers sketch about WW2), the R word was (not sure if if is the same now because I have left the industry and alot could have changed) something no one tempted fate with - not even jokingly.

I remember vividly being on a training course in 1998 with other automotive suppliers when someone attending the course had to be pulled out by his MD on the phone (no mobiles for us plebs then - ah the good old days). They supplied the ABS systems to BMW for the then new 3 series (E46 for the anoraks like me) and they didn't seem to work and the R word was mentioned. All hell broke loose for this poor chap. Airbags like ABS are safety critical items and go through extensive qualification trials (ageing in particular) to prove they are up for the job (I am not trying to suggest that airbags are perfect however - no man made object by definition can be as I understand it).

Thankfully now, we have things like I'm a celebrity get me out of here which makes the front pages of the most newspapers rather than the trivia like whether you airbag is not up to the job (ah the good old days - how I miss them)

HTH

As an aside, from AndyRKett's post above, I was always taught that SRS stood for Safety Restraint System, however coming from Hartlepool, we only pick arguments with Monkey's (French ones at that) in the hope/belief that we can win them with a modicum of conviction - go on hang him he's a spy all day long - ah the good old days - you get the drift