Illegal to remove passenger side airbag?

[JK II]

In a few weeks I'm going to start work on fiberglassing my dash and I want to mold a 9 or 10 inch LCD module into the where the passenger airbag is. Is that legal to do or no? I'm guessing its not but I tried searching for it but came up with no results.

 

[Travis Munday]

It's illegal.



But....eh, do it anyway.

 

[JK II]

Thats what I thought and planned to anyways .

 

[Gypsy me]

criminals :lol:

 

[Travis Munday]

Just remember to either remove the actual airbag (if you can even do so, I didn't look when I had mine out), or keep it unplugged. Your airbag light will remain on all the time if you unplug it...and you can't remove the bulb, so put some black tape over the bulb and you're good to go.



My ABS and airbag lights are always on. Dang lights.

 

[Richard L]

Actually, I don't think it is illegal to disconnect or remove your airbags. They are required by the DOT to be installed in all vehicles during manufacturing, but I don;t think it's illegal to remove them from your vehicle.



You may be required to inform your insurance company since there would be an increased risk of injury or death if you were involved in an accident, and they may not wish to continue to insure your vehicle without the airbags.



I don't recommend removing the air bags to install an LCD panel unless the vehicle is to be used only for show purposes.



....Rich

 

[Dale Carter]

If you are ever involved in a wreck, whether you are at fault or not, which injures the passenger, you can (probably will) be sued and you will lose. Case law is there and is the same as disabling the safety on a gun. You will be clearly seen, in the eyes of the law, as negligent in contributing to the injury of another person.



Any reduction or removal of a safety device on anything increases your liability due to negligence.

 

[Johnny O]

The law varies by state I believe. In PA you can get it disconnected if you have a medical condition and get a doctor's excuse or if you're very short. I know two guys who had heart surgery and had to ride in the back seat and let the wife drive for about six months or so until their sternum healed up. If a wreck didn't kill them, the airbag would for sure. If that's me, I just buy an older car with no airbags.

 

[Dale Carter]

Outside of special provisions like the ones JohnnyO named, every level of court will find you negligent if a passenger is injured in a wreck and you removed the airbag for their seat. Negligence is a universal concept in both precedent and the common law which underlies our laws.



The key to the heart surgery is the ST has a back seat so there is an option to removing the air bag. You will notice that vehicles with no back seat, almost always have a key to disable the bag. The short people would be the driver becasue height has no bearing on the passenger. Short people are injured by drivrs bags because they have to sit so close to the wheel to reach the pedals. They cannot sue themselves for negligence if they are injured by their removal of the airbag. The medical condition is the same theory of liability. You have no recourse if your negligent action caused your own injury, unless the manufacturer made it so easy to do that they "invite" or "entice" you to remove it. Given the scenario I presented, even I could win the case and I am not a lawyer, although I do testify as an expert witness in automotive product liability cases.



Yes, there are exceptions, just as one of our members has tint on his windshield and a doctors Rx due to sensitive eyes. There are always exceptions.

 

[Johnny O]

Upon further thought, the airbag door is just that, a door. It either flips up or down and the airbag comes out from behind it. So it isn't like an LCD monitor would hit you in the face (probably). Still I don't think that messing with the airbag or any components is a good idea. I had an uncle who got hit head-on by a skidding semi in an ice storm a few years ago. He had his right hand at about 10 o'clock on the steering wheel and the airbag punched his arm into his face and broke his nose.

He will tell you that they pop out pretty hard, also that he was lucky to get out with a broken nose, and if it weren't for the airbags, him and my aunt would probably be dead.

 

[Travis Munday]

The door flips up.



Do it Jo(h)n, just be sure not to hit anything.



I haven't had use of my airbags for close to 4 years now, and haven't had full use of my ABS for over 5 years now. Eh...doesn't bother me none. The project truck won't have either, either.

 

[JK II]

I plan to do it but once I do it the ST will be hardly driven and I'll end up buying a beater to drive around.

 

[Larry Phillips]

I'm still trying to find a read out of the federal airbag rules to figure out if I can replace my steering wheel with an aftermarket one (legally).

 

[Dre L]

I can't resist:



I'd never get rid of my tracs airbags. I've used them 17 times since I bought her.



I'd love to get airbags in my trac, do that whole bouncing the car up and down, and 3-wheel motion like in California.

 

[JK II]

Larry let me know if you find anything. I've been thinking of getting a billet steering wheel as well.

 

[Travis Munday]

Just go ahead and get the wheel....jeeze, you pansy!

 

[Dale Carter]

I am pretty sure that the airbag door splits open like the steering wheel, but I will find a wrecked one tomorrow and verify.



Anything placed over the airbag will probably become a 200 MPH projectile in a deployment.