Will passenger airbag work independantly of drivers side?

kazama · Postby **kazama** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:12 pm

hey guys,

just wondering if the passenger side airbag will still work if i remove the driver side?

cheers

tescoking · Postby **tescoking** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:00 pm

It should work at the same time, and the airbag will not shoot out unless the vehicle is direct impact from the front

kazama · Postby **kazama** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:56 pm

i meant if i was to remove my drivers steering wheel in favour of a aftermarket unit. legalities aside would the passenger side still work?

tescoking · Postby **tescoking** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:12 pm

It will work, they are two separate launch device. Beside your new aftermarket steering wheel should have the boss kit that will trick your ECU that your steering wheel airbag is still on.

kazama · Postby **kazama** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:20 pm

perfect
thanks a lot mate

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:05 pm

I would be checking an expert - modding airbags is very likely to be questionable- ADR approved etc. If the car has a crash and a bag does not go off then referring to a forum is not exactly proper research.

Snowmotion · Postby **Snowmotion** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:10 pm

Mr Morlock wrote:I would be checking an expert - modding airbags is very likely to be questionable- ADR approved etc. If the car has a crash and a bag does not go off then referring to a forum is not exactly proper research.

Not sure there is any question about it at all. If found to have removed an airbag it would be a defect.

The OP acknowledged there is a problem of legality, he is hoping just not to ruin the whole airbag system if the drivers bag is removed.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:55 pm

I'm with Morlock.

If I were concerned with keeping an airbag functional (ie: the passenger side) I would be wanting more detail than "sure, she'll be right mate"

Yes, each airbag is a separate unit in that each has a self contained charge, bag, and other bits.
BUT, I'm pretty sure the actual part that controls the airbags (ie: tells them to activate) is separate. And I can't say if that unit (or the ECU, or whatever) won't notice an airbag missing and disable them all as a safety measure (perhaps it's been programmed to disable all airbags when one is removed to reduce the risk of them accidentally going off during maintenance on the car?)

Short of contacting Mazda and hoping they can answer the question, there's only one way to be 100% sure..... and the issue is you can only do that test once.

tescoking · Postby **tescoking** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:15 pm

I am not saying I am 100% right, but since the passager side airbag and steering wheel airbag are two separated units. And the aftermarket steering wheel comes with the boss kit (I assume it has airbag deleted function). Then the passager side will not effect by the steering wheel airbag.

But one thing I am 100% sure is if the car come with factory airbag steering wheel, then it is illegal to change to a aftermarket one which without airbag.

Pamex · Postby **Pamex** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:13 pm

I can't be bothered looking up the factory manual, as it's out in the cold, cold garage.

But a lot of airbag systems use a central control module or 'sensor'. I'd be checking this isn't the case. Yes, Tescoking, the bags are separate, but we're talking about the sensors that control the bags. Removing one bag can affect others depending on the system. You'll need to look it up.

Or just set them all off and have a party. Better than fireworks.

Rolley · Postby **Rolley** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:41 pm

The impact sensor for front airbags (drivers/ passengers) is generally bolted to the transmission tunnel (i'm not 100% on the location in an NB but all of the astinas and early 3's have it there) and it controls the deployment of both the airbags. That said depending on how new the system is both bags may not be deployed at once.

Older systems will deploy everything when the sensor is triggered but some of the newer systems have seat/seatbelt sensors on all the belt stalks telling the module which seats are occupied and setting off bags accordingly.

One of the driving reasons behind this is to save on repair costs, 99% off passnger dash airbags will destroy the windscreen when they go off and systems with seat and curtain bags can be expensive enough to write the whole car off just because of the cost to replace the bags and trim even if the accident causes little structual damage.

"If" you were to remove the drivers airbag to fit another wheel "because you wanted to track the car" , the system will show a fault and disable the remaining airbags. There are airbag simulators you can plug into the circuit to trick the computer into believing any missing bag is present (we used to use them for fault finding and diagnostics) and i'm pretty sure you would find one on the bay if you looked hard enough that you could plug into the clock spring and tuck into the boss kit.
The car then thinks the drivers bag is there and in the event of an impact the passengers bag will fire as normal.

Rolley.