flynhi

Anyone tried to install a late model Vette steering wheel with air bag in a C3?

Tom73

Will,
I would really be concerned about getting the sensors set right. Would hate to have it inflate while driving down the road because of a pot hole :(

tom...

Jim Shea

You should NEVER, EVER attempt to install an air bag steering wheel into any car that it was not designed for. :nono:

BSeery

:iagree:

Those thing have killed people. Repair technicians and thieves who try to snag them for money have been seriously injured or even killed when the air bag went off unexpectedly.

flynhi

Hi Jim,
After reading all the posts you have authored on steering columns, I am convinced that you know what you are talking about. So I won't try it.
But I am curious as to why this is so difficult and dangerous.
Can you educate me?

Jim Shea

Here are a couple of reasons why NOT to try and install an airbag steering wheel into a vehicle that was not designed for it. The supplemental inflatable restraint system has to be integrated into the entire vehicle in order to work properly. Here are a couple of reasons:

1) The computer that monitors and sets off the explosive charge in the airbag is integrated into the vehicle computer. There is no "stand-alone" computer to do the work in a C3.
2). "Old Style" non-airbag steering columns were designed to collapse at around a 500 pound crush load. With an airbag the column has to be designed to collapse at over 1000 pounds.
3). Airbag equipped cars have what is called a knee bolster under and on either side of the steering column. The driver's knees strike the bolster and keep the driver erect so that he/she hits (or is hit by) the airbag correctly.
4). The front end "crush" of the vehicle has to be taken into account with respect to the sensors and timing the inflation of the airbag.
5). With the slip rings required in the steering column and the wiring associated with the sensors, computer, steering column, etc it would be extremely difficult, (if not impossible) to correctly wire the system in an older car.

Shark Racer

In other words, the air bag system is kinda like the heater core. They hung it from a wire, then built the car around it!

How about 5-point seatbelts for your car instead?

-Steve

8T1-7T9 BIONIC VETTE

I always thought C3 fiberglass cars are like an air bag in a frontal impact....The fiberglass absorbs most of the energy.......I watched a Corvette go into the side of a station wagon full of people.....Crushed most of the front into a ball of fiberglass....the driver walked away.....Minor scratches and bruises to the occupants of the station wagon......No need for an air bag......You're already driving one. :seeya Cappy